“It’ll probably win best picture”: Clint Eastwood’s ‘Mystic River’ Helped Ben Affleck Make His Directorial Debut as Nobody Wanted to Touch the Script

Shifting to directing kickstarted a new chapter in Ben Affleck’s career back in the 2000s, as he expressed that working behind the lens made him a better actor. Released in 2007, Gone Baby Gone has stood the test of time and is revisited fondly by fans, as it brought Affleck’s filmmaking skills to the light, and the latter years would witness him taking a Golden Globe home for Best Director.

But getting the project started was not an easy task from the get-go, as no one was interested in adapting Dennis Lehane’s work, which the film was based on until Clint Eastwood entered the story.

Mystic River’s Success Paved the Way for Ben Affleck’s Gone Baby Gone

For a while, no one was on board adapting Dennis Lehane’s novels until Clint Eastwood decided to step into the matter, adapting Lehane’s Mystic River for the big screens. As the story goes, the film did well at the box office and even earned six Oscar nominations while securing wins for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. Considering Affleck was a fan of Lehane’s work, the success of Mystic River elevated his desire to adapt one of his dark thriller, Gone Baby Gone. Affleck told ComingSoon.net,

“I was hoping to do some over the next six months. I’m adapting a Dennis Lehane novel, which nobody was all that interested in. Then ‘Mystic River’ certainly did alright and it’ll probably win best picture or whatever, so I’m excited. I think that’ll be the first thing. It’s an interesting process trying to adapt someone else’s story, but it’s like in a genre and in a place – it’s set in Boston, something I really understand and am comfortable with, so we will see.”

Although the movie didn’t compete with Mystic River‘s box office numbers, making $34.6 million from its $19 million budget, the film did score high among critics, which Affleck wasn’t accepting.

Ben Affleck Wasn’t Optimistic About Gone Baby Gone’s Critical Reception

The early 2000s witnessed Affleck landing in some hot waters, following his initial split-up with Jennifer Lopez and a string of critically bombed movies, which resulted in him being constantly ridiculed by the media. This convinced Ben Affleck that his directorial debut might not be received well among critics, but the actor couldn’t have been more wrong. He told GQ,

“I just assumed it would be received poorly because it seemed the way that people wanted to talk about me,” Affleck said. “Nobody went to the movie, but we got pretty decent reviews.”

Sitting at an impressive 94% at the Tomatometer, things couldn’t have worked out better for his first major directing project, and the actor would double down working behind the lens in the following years.

Gone Baby Gone is available to stream on Paramount Plus.