On the eve of the release of Gone Girl (which is enjoying glowing reviews), Ben Affleck may have decided on his next project as an actor.  While Affleck was all set to direct his period crime drama Live by Night after Argo, he opted to take on the lead in Gone Girl first.  Then the role of Batman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice came calling, and he pushed Live by Night even further.  Now it appears that Affleck is keen on squeezing one more movie in before he starts production on Live by Night next summer, as he’s in talks to star in the action thriller The Accountant for Warner Bros.  More after the jump.

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Image via Fox

Per Variety, Affleck is currently in negotiations to take on the lead in the long-developing Warner Bros. thriller The Accountant, which was written by Bill DuBuque.  The original story is a simple one: a mild-mannered accountant moonlights as a lethal assassin.  The project has been in development for years, catching the eye of Will Smith when it was with Sony and initially planned as a directorial vehicle for Mel Gibson at Warner Bros.

Affleck is a favorite at Warner Bros. (the studio pretty much offers him everything) and apparently he caught wind of The Accountant recently and thought it would be a nice change of pace before digging into Live by Night, which he plans to start shooting next July.  It’s unclear what this means for Affleck's involvement Justice League, which Zack Snyder intends to direct immediately after Batman v Superman.  One imagines that might start filming in early 2016 once Snyder wraps up post-production on BvS, which might overlap slightly with Affleck’s post-production schedule on Live by Night.

Warrior director Gavin O’Connor is apparently WB’s top choice to helm The Accountant, but an offer hasn’t yet been made and I'd bet that Affleck will have a heavy say in who lands the job.  The actor has taken an unpredictable and actually rather admirable path after winning Best Picture with Argo.  While many expected him to step back and focus solely on directing, he jumped at the chance to work with David Fincher and chose to take on a role that pretty much everyone has dreamed of playing: Batman.  The Accountant is a curious choice for sure, but it could be fun to see Affleck leading a straight action thriller at this point in his career.

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Image via Warner Bros.

Ben Affleck The Accountant