Ben Affleck in David Fincher's next flick

The US actor and director has clinched the lead in "Gone Girl," which David Fincher plans to shoot in the fall, reports Deadline.com.

Ben Affleck is apparently going to star in this adaptation of a bestselling suspense novel by Gillian Flynn about a woman's disappearance on her fifth wedding anniversary. Affleck is to play her husband, the ideal suspect in the eyes of investigators.

According to The Playlist, Natalie Portman, Charlize Theron and Emily Blunt are in the running for the role of the wife, a 30-something ex-journalist who decides to open a bar in Missouri with her sister before she goes missing, but none of them has been called in for talks yet.

Ben Affleck will be directed by David Fincher before getting back behind the camera again for his fourth film to date, an adaptation of "Live By Night" by Dennis Lehane, the author who also inspired his first feature, "Gone Baby Gone." He'll have the backing of Leonardo DiCaprio as producer of this thriller, which is due out next year.