There has been many rumours as of late as to what director David Fincher would do next. Starting off with moody thrillers like Seven and Fight Club, Fincher’s career has become much more surprising with him helming The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and the history of Facebook movie The Social Network (a project I still can’t believe has actually happened). In the last week there has been plenty of rumours, such as Fincher directing a segment of Heavy Metal, based on the erotic (!) sci-fi comic book. And there’s the older projects such as Chef (a comedy about a culinary wizard) and Black Hole (another comic adaptation). But today comes news that Fincher’s next project will be a film called Pawn Sacrifice.

Based on true events, the film will tell the tale of US chess player Bobby Fischer, who beat Russian champion Boris Spassky in a famous 1972 match that was nicknamed “The Cold War Battle”. Tobey Maguire is attached as a producer and may play the lead. But the real challenge will be for Fincher, who will have to muster up all of his directorial virtuoso to make watching chess seem exciting. It already feels like an uphill struggle, but at least it can’t be any worse than Benjamin Button.

In other Fincher-related news, Empire are reporting that the man is interested in remaking the Swedish thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (out this week in the US), and is eyeing Oscar-nominated Carey Mulligan as the lead.