Netflix fans can’t believe Scott Peterson’s “crazy” resemblance to Ben Affleck character

Following the release of Netflix’s American Murder: Laci Peterson, Scott Peterson is being compared to a memorable Ben Affleck character, and not only for the “crazy” resemblance. 

For the uninitiated, Scott was convicted for the 2002 murder of his wife Laci and their unborn child Conner. Though it’s been covered extensively over the years, there’s renewed focus thanks to both Netflix and Peacock releasing new docu-series on the case.

As he fights for a new trial, true crime fans couldn’t help but notice the parallels between Scott Peterson and Ben Affleck’s Gone Girl character Nick Dunne. 

Firstly, there’s the physical resemblance. “It’s crazy how much Scott Peterson and Ben Affleck look alike,” wrote one on X/Twitter. “I know he already did Gone Girl, but if they ever do a movie about Laci Peterson, Ben has got to play Scott.”

Another said, “I’m watching the new Laci Peterson doc on Netflix and it is INSANE how much Ben Affleck’s character in Gone Girl was modeled off of Scott Peterson.”

“This Laci Peterson true crime doc is eerie, and every-time I see Scott I’m like dang, Ben Affleck should play him in a movie, they have a similar somber face,” added a third.

Then there are the similarities between the fictional Gone Girl narrative and the real-life Peterson case. 

Both instances involve a missing woman and a husband who becomes the prime suspect, with media scrutiny and public opinion playing significant roles in shaping perceptions.

However, in the David Fincher movie, based on Gillian Flynn’s 2012 novel of the same name, it’s ultimately revealed that Nick’s wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) staged her own disappearance to frame her husband. 

In contrast, the Peterson case is rooted in real tragedy, with Laci being murdered while eight months pregnant, and Scott Peterson ultimately convicted of her death.

But that hasn’t stopped the similarities from being pointed out over the years, with many suggesting Flynn drew from the case as inspiration. 

Taking to Reddit in 2020, one Gone Girl fan said “the whole thing is basically the Laci/Scott Peterson case (with a different ending).”

“Scott Peterson and his Gone Girl counterpart Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) were each considered the perfect, All-American husbands, ostensibly: Beautiful homes, ‘happy’ marriages, good career,” they said.

“But in truth, they were struggling – financially especially. Scott was in major debt before Laci went missing, and the character of Nick lived mostly off his wife’s trust fund.

“And in both cases, collecting life insurance off their wives was a motive considered by prosecutors.

“The post-crime optics also mirror each other: just like Affleck’s Nick, Scott struggled to show any true emotion while his wife was missing.”

The Redditor also noted the pregnancy, as Amy’s character reveals she’s expecting at the end of the movie, as well as the media circus surrounding both the fictional and real-life incidents. 

In a 2012 conversation with Entertainment Weekly, Flynn denied basing Gone Girl on any one true crime case, although she did acknowledge the similarities.

“I definitely didn’t want to do anything specific. One could point to Scott and Laci Peterson – they were certainly a good-looking couple,” she told the outlet. 

“But they’re always good-looking couples. That’s why they end up on TV. You don’t normally see incredibly ugly people who’ve gone missing and it becomes a sensation. 

“It could be any number of those types of cases, but that was what kind of interested me: the selection and the packaging of a tragedy. 

“In a way, I reverse-engineered some of it. What’s going to amp up the media’s interest in this, and what’s going to make it believable that the media’s going to descend on this?”

Fincher was a little more direct in his comparisons, with the Evening Standard quoting him as saying Affleck “looks more like Scott Peterson than Ben Affleck.”

American Murder: Laci Peterson is streaming on Netflix now, while Face to Face with Scott Peterson is on Peacock, and Gone Girl can be viewed on MGM+ via Prime Video.

For more on the case, read about what happened to Laci’s dog McKenzie, what the American Murder director believes happened to Laci, and everything you need to know about the Face to Face doc.