Director David Fincher’s next film has secured a prime awards debut.  Variety reports that Gone Girl has been selected to open this year’s New York Film Festival—a prestigious honor that usually coincides with the kick-off of an Oscar campaign.  Fincher’s dramatic thriller is an adaptation of the Gillian Flynn novel of the same name and stars Ben Affleck as a man who becomes the prime suspect in his wife’s disappearance.  Fincher has some good experience with NYFF, as his masterful The Social Network premiered there in 2010 and went on to nab a slew of Oscar nominations before it was eventually steamrolled for Best Picture and Best Director by the forgettable The King’s Speech (I’m not bitter, I promise).  More after the jump.

Last year, Captain Phillips opened NYFF and went on to secure a Best Picture nod.  The festival has become a bigger competitor to the Toronto International Film Festival as of late, premiering its own slew of awards contenders for the fall season.  Last year's roster also included the debut of Her and a screening of Inside Llewyn Davis.  It’s too early to tell if Gone Girl might be a serious contender, but the film is certainly a possibility in the early awards conversation—especially considering this NYFF news.  The New York Film Festival runs September 27th through October 13th, and Gone Girl opens in theaters on October 3rd.

Watch the new trailer for the pic below.

Here’s the official synopsis for Gone Girl:

GONE GIRL – directed by David Fincher and based upon the global bestseller by Gillian Flynn – unearths the secrets at the heart of a modern marriage. On the occasion of his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) reports that his beautiful wife, Amy (Rosamund Pike), has gone missing. Under pressure from the police and a growing media frenzy, Nick’s portrait of a blissful union begins to crumble. Soon his lies, deceits and strange behavior have everyone asking the same dark question: Did Nick Dunne kill his wife?