Ben Affleck snags lead in David Fincher's "Gone Girl"

Ben Affleck is about to get "Gone."

The 40-year-old actor is near a deal to star in "Gone Girl," the next project from David Fincher, based on the best-selling novel by Gillian Flynn.

Flynn will pen the screenplay, along with Fincher, of the story of a woman who disappears on her fifth anniversary and her husband, considered the prime suspect in her murder.

Fox made a deal with Pacific Standard for Reese Witherspoon and Bruna Papandrea, to produce, along with Leslie Dixon.

Witherspoon is only attached to produce, however, and the female lead is yet uncast.

The shooting schedule of "Gone Girl" will push back production on Affleck's directing follow-up to "Argo," an adaptation of Dennis Lehane's "Live By Night" for Warner Bros.