Oscar winner Ben Affleck (man, that still seems like an odd thing to call the star of Gigli and Surviving Christmas) is finally putting the pieces together on his adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s Boston-based mystery novel Gone Baby Gone, and some of it is genetic.

The heroically-chinned actor, who penned the script and is making his feature directing debut, has supposedly given the lead to his kid bro Casey, whose fortuity doesn’t end with DNA – his partner will be played by adorable incarnate Michelle Monaghan (if you saw Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and didn’t fall completely in love with this girl, you’re either extremely gay or, conversely, a poor excuse for a lesbian). The story follows Beantown private detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro (it’s one of a series of novels featuring the duo) who, while on a child-abduction case, get enmeshed in a web of drug dealers and police corruption. Ah, Boston, you’re my home…

Affleck (Ben, not Casey) grabbed the rights to the novel several years ago, but it probably took him that long just to hack through the necessary paperwork in order to actually shoot the thing here in Boston (historically, Massachusetts is notorious for making film productions difficult, which is why guys like Scorsese just say the hell with it and use NY or Montreal as a facsimile). But at least it’s practically in my backyard, so we’ll see if I can weasel onto the set when the Clan Affleck starts filming.

Meanwhile, Monaghan will next be seen as Tom Cruise’s non-Holmes pretend love interest in Mission Impossible III, while Affleck (Casey, not Ben) shoots his Ocean’s 11 cohort Brad Pitt in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.