How McCann case stalled Affleck flick
Updated on 14 September 2007
It was due for release in the UK, but now Ben Affleck's new film - his first as director - has been put on ice indefinitely.
Why? Because it tells the story of a four year-old girl who is kidnapped while she sleeps - her parents away from the house.
The obvious similarities with the ongoing search for Madeleine McCann, who went missing from a Portuguese resort on 3 May, has forced Affleck into a rethink - especially as Madeline O'Brien, who plays the missing girl Amanda McCready in the film, bears a close resemblance to Madeleine,
The film's distributors, Buena Vista International and Miramax, said in a statement that they were "sensitive to the depth of feeling surrounding the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
"We have been closely following the case and have decided to delay the release of the film in the UK,"
Affleck said earlier this week: "All the people involved in the film have much greater concern for Madeleine McCann than we do for the release of our project.
"The movie will not be released if it is going to touch a nerve or inflame anybody's sensitivities."
The film is based on a 1998 novel by Dennis Lehane.
This is not the first time a film's release has been hit by big news events.
In September 2001, the makers of the Spiderman movie had to pull trailers for the film which featured the eponymous hero swinging between the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the film and the trailers were re-cut.
