Ben Affleck's career circa the mid-2000's was not in a happy place. A number of high-profile box office and critical duds like
Gigli, Jersey Girl and
Surviving Christmas had left his profile tainted and he would only appear on-screen in two movies (
Hollywoodland and
Smokin' Aces) in the five year period between 2004 and 2009. But in that time span, Affleck decided to reinvent himself as a director by adapting the first feature film screenplay he had penned since his breakthrough movie,
Good Will Hunting. The movie he would make his feature film directorial debut on was
Gone Baby Gone, a sobering drama that, to date, is his only directorial effort that he does not star in.
