David Fincher: 'Ben Affleck's smile was perfect for Gone Girl'

Ben Affleck's smile helped land him the lead in director David Fincher's much-anticipated thriller Gone Girl - because it was exactly what he wanted from a suspected killer.

Fincher admits he spent hours looking at shots of Affleck smiling online, convinced that his Nick Dunne character would look just like the Oscar winner.

In the filmmaker's adaptation of Gillian Flynn's novel, Dunne is suspected of murdering his wife after she is reported missing.

Fincher tells Playboy, "You cast movies based on critical scenes. In Gone Girl there’s a smile the guy has to give when the local press asks him to stand next to a poster of his missing wife.

"I flipped through Google Images and found about 50 shots of Affleck giving that kind of smile in public situations. You look at them and know he’s trying to make people comfortable in the moment, but by doing that he’s making himself vulnerable to people having other perceptions about him."