Ben Affleck’s Gone Girl Co-Star Debunks Wild Rumor

No matter what baseball cap Ben Affleck wears in “Gone Girl” — and whether or not it actually shut down production at any point — it can be argued that the role of Nick Dunne is still, to this day, the best in Affleck’s entire oeuvre as an actor. (I will argue that.) In Gillian Flynn’s novel, Nick describes himself as having “a face you want to punch” — and while I’m not saying that about Affleck, I do think Nick’s other self-assessment helps describe why he’s so perfect for the role of Nick: “I’m a working-class Irish kid trapped in the body of a total trust-fund douchebag. I smile a lot to make up for my face, but this only sometimes works.”

Affleck absolutely nails Nick’s obliviousness and his shiftiness when he discovers his wife Amy Elliott Dunne (Rosamund Pike) has disappeared — he doesn’t actually have anything to do with the disappearance but does have quite a lot to hide from his villainous, vengeful wife. From Nick’s uncomfortable smile during a press conference about his missing wife to his signal to Amy that he’s trying to not look like such a “trust-fund douchebag” — a two-fingered gesture where he covers the cleft of his chin — Affleck is perfectly cast in the role and performs beautifully against Pike, who was the sole performer to earn an acting Oscar nomination for the film. (I think that’s a crime, but I’m not an Academy member.) Whatever hat Affleck had to wear to play Nick in “Gone Girl” was totally worth it; nobody else could have portrayed Nick Dunne quite as well.