Back in the mid-nineties, Ben Affleck and his little buddy Matt Damon sat down at a computer screen and tapped out a script that led them to the Oscars - nabbing a couple of golden baldies along the way.

Eight years later and Affleck has begun shooting his debut feature Gone, Baby, Gone, which the Good Will Hunting co-scribbler has adapted from a Denis Lehane bestseller – the last Lehane page-turner to make it to celluloid was the critically acclaimed Clint Eastwood helmed thriller, Mystic River.

Ben picked up the megaphone on Monday in Boston and will be barking orders at his brother Casey, Michelle Monaghan, Ed Harris and the recently signed Morgan Freeman.

The story follows two Boston private detectives on the hunt for a missing four year-old girl – the closely-knit neighbourhood is littered with convicts, dodgy cops and tough families that threaten to undermine the case and the investigators' lives.

Although this flick marks the first foray into features for Affleck, he did slip behind the camera for a short film back in 1993… remember I Killed My Wife, Hung Her On A Meat Hook And Now I Have A Three Picture Deal At Disney, anyone? Something tells us it wasn’t a hard-hitting political drama.