On board with 'Baby'

Affleck bros. get going on 'Gone'

By MICHAEL FLEMING

Affleck

Monaghan

Affleck

Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan are set to star in "Gone Baby Gone," the Miramax Films adaptation of the Dennis Lehane novel that Ben Affleck wrote and will direct.

Miramax president Daniel Battsek has set a summer start in Boston. Written by the author of "Mystic River," the novel concerns two private investigators who hunt for an abducted 4-year-old in the seamiest side of the Boston underworld.

Affleck plays PI Patrick Kenzie, Monaghan plays Angie Gennaro. LivePlanet's Sean Bailey is producing with Alan Ladd Jr. and Dan Rissner.

Casey Affleck, who starred in the last film his brother scripted, "Good Will Hunting," is coming off "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," playing the latter title character in the film, opposite Brad Pitt. He also appeared in "Ocean's Eleven" and "Ocean's Twelve." Monaghan, who most recently starred in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" and "North Country," just completed "Mission: Impossible 3."

"I am a first-time director given an opportunity to pursue an artistic ambition I would not likely have the chance to elsewhere," Ben Affleck said. "The budget is excruciatingly tight, I am regularly abused and I expect to be fired sometime before we shoot. It's nice to see that, at Miramax, continuity has been maintained."

Affleck, who as an actor will next be seen in "Hollywoodland" for Focus Features, partners in LivePlanet with Bailey and Matt Damon.