Affleck Flick Won't Run in UK

Gone Baby Gone plot closely resembles story of missing Madeleine McCann
By Zach Samalin,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 14, 2007 5:59 PM CDT
Affleck Flick Won't Run in UK
U.S. actor Ben Affleck, left, and U.S. actor Casey Affleck arrive for the screening of the movie " Gone, Baby, Gone" at the 33rd American Film Festival in Deauville, Normandy, France, Wednesday Sept. 5, 2007. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)   (Associated Press)

Ben Affleck's directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone, won't open in the UK because of eerie similarities between the film and the disappearance of British 4-year-old Madeleine McCann, Variety reports. Affleck said it has been withheld out of concern for the McCann connection. A film release, he noted, "is just a commercial matter, whereas this is a matter of life and death."

Aside from other coincidences, the missing girl in the film is played by American actress Madeleine O'Brien, who apparently looks like her British counterpart. The October 26 gala screening at the Times London Film Festival has been canceled. The McCann case has captivated British media attention since May, when the young Maddy went missing in Portugal. Suspicion has now shifted to her parents. (More Madeleine McCann stories.)

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