David Fincher explains why he cast Ben Affleck in Gone Girl

David Fincher has been discussing why he chose to cast Ben Affleck in Gone Girl , and explains that the actor’s tabloid travails gave him the perfect experience for the role.

“I enjoyed working with him immensely,” says Fincher. “The baggage he comes with is most useful to this movie. I was interested in him primarily because I needed someone who understood the stakes of the kind of public scrutiny that Nick is subjected to and the absurdity of trying to resist public opinion.”

“Ben knows that, not conceptually, but by experience. When I first met with him, I said this is about a guy who gets his nuts in a vice in reel one and then the movie continues to tighten that vice for the next eight reels. And he was ready to play.”

“Actors don’t like to be made the brunt of the joke. They go into acting to avoid that. Unlike comics, who are used to going face first into the ground. Nick is someone who has skated by on charm and has that as a deflection mechanism. And that’s what crucifies him. And Ben got that.”

Affleck has certainly had to fend off more than his fair share of flak over the years, and in that light, he certainly seems like an excellent pick for the role. We’ll get to see all that experience brought to bear when the film opens in the UK on 2 October 2014.

George was once GamesRadar's resident movie news person, based out of London. He understands that all men must die, but he'd rather not think about it. But now he's working at Stylist Magazine.