Afflecks arrive for Chicago debut

Ben Affleck is a Cubs fan, but he hopes his new movie will be the breakthrough that his adopted team couldn't make this year.

Affleck and his brother Casey arrived for the premiere of their new movie, "Gone Baby Gone," to the screams of fans at the Chicago Film Festival Tuesday.

Casey is the star of this adaptation of a Dennis Lehane novel, while Ben stayed behind the camera for his directorial debut. If it's successful, he hopes to do more directing as well as acting in the future, citing role models like Clint Eastwood and Warren Beatty.

The film is already getting rave reviews and Oscar buzz, and doesn't open in theaters until Oct. 19.

Ben drew the screams when he arrived on the red carpet at the Music Box theater, but credited Casey and the rest of the cast with telling the complex story of the search for a missing child.

One advantage he cited in directing his brother was knowing when to tell him his approach wasn't working.

"You could tell when he was faking being sick to stay home from school in the fifth grade," Affleck said. "So you can tell when he's faking some emotion right now as an actor."

On the way to the theater, Affleck saw Wrigley Field for the first time, and said he'd been pulling for the Cubs to meet his hometown Boston Red Sox in the World Series.

For fans lined up outside the theater, the brothers' appearance was well worth an hour wait in a cold drizzle.

"Better in person," declared Carly Jacks, a 27-year-old Batavia native who now lives in Chicago.

Jacks and her friends got Affleck to smile and wave by calling his name while he did media interviews, and later got his autograph.

"We melted like 3-year-olds," fellow Batavia native Sara Ahmed said. "He and Casey are in my top five. They're casual and so the anti-celebrities when you see them."