Last updated 11:36, Thursday, 05 June 2008

BEN Affleck proves that even the crash and burn of a high profile Hollywood romance can have a silver lining.

At the height of his tabloid-blazing relationship with Jennifer Lopez four years ago, he started writing a film script of Dennis Lehane’s disturbing novel Gone Baby Gone.

Initially he thought of it as a vehicle for Lopez, but instead it has become an acclaimed directing debut for the 35-year-old actor.

It stars Ben’s younger brother Casey as dogged private eye Patrick Kenzie who refuses to give up on looking for the missing child. Set in the gritty world of working-class Boston, it’s full of tough miscreants and losers.

“I just felt that maybe this was a way to have a sense of authorship about what I was doing without having to stick my face out there,” says Ben about sitting in the director’s chair.

It’s a film that raises all sorts of issues about how we live, and how we treat children, he says. “At first you think the girl is a victim. Then you see her mother is really foul and you see the squalor the girl lives in and your heart goes out to her not only where she’s been taken to but for where she used to live.”

Ben has gone back to his roots to get a handle on his career again. “I wanted to do a movie set in Boston. I thought it would make me feel more secure because it’s a place I know better than anywhere. I wanted to show the city the way I know it and to say something personal.”

The film has echoes of the press frenzy over the Madeleine McCann case, but Ben cut back on making the media the bad guys in the film.

“I scaled back on that because Lehane really hammers the media in the book.

However, plans to show the film at the London Film Festival last October were put on hold by Disney because of the ongoing McCann case.

“We just thought it was better to err on the side of discretion and good taste,” says Ben. “I’m proud to be associated with a company that made a decision I thought was respectful.”