Ben Affleck Sheds Insight on Directing Instead of Acting in ‘Gone Baby Gone’

Marc Malkin of E! Online (with additional reporting by Matt Donnelly) has a new report on “Gone Baby Gone” that delves into why Ben Affleck went the way of directing instead of acting and touches on what it was like working with his brother.

Ben Affleck doesn’t want to be like Woody Allen [and he’s not] going for a Barbra Streisand career. Unlike Allen and Streisand (who star in the movies they direct), Affleck decided that wasn’t the way to go for him.

Instead, Affleck’s directing debut (“Gone Baby Gone”) stars his little brother, Casey.

When Affleck first bought the rights to Dennis Lehane’s novel, which concerns two Boston detectives investigating a young girl’s kidnapping, Ben and Casey – along with pal Matt Damon and high school friend Aaron Stockard – collaborated on the first screenplay adaptation.

At the time, Ben assumed he’d star in the film. However, when the script was finally in place a few years later, he thought it was time to take a turn behind the camera.

“Once I decided to try directing it, I didn’t want to try acting in it, too. I think that would be far too difficult,” Ben said during an AFI director’s screening Q&A at Hollywood’s ArcLight theater.

“Directing seemed like way, way, way too much to do if I was going to be acting.”

So, how did Ben and Casey get along during the making of the movie?

“They fought all the time!” co-star Amy Ryan joked. “It’s kind of an obvious thing with siblings. It’s a shorthand. You don’t have to use as much dialogue to get a point across.”

If all else fails, Casey cracked, there’s always: “Go f--k yourself!”

As for casting Casey, Ben said: “I knew a spectacular actor who knew Boston, who was a great fit [and] who I could get.”

“Gone Baby Gone” shows as part of the Chicago International Film Festival on Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. at the Music Box Theatre (3733 N. Southport Ave.). Ben and Casey Affleck will be in attendance.