Dennis Lehane fans in the U.K. will have to wait a little longer to see Gone Baby Gone.
Variety reports that Buena Vista International U.K., the film’s British distributor, has “suspended the release indefinitely” due to “the story’s similarities to the case of missing British girl Madeleine McCann, who disappeared from her Portuguese holiday apartment in early May.”
Madeleine McCann’s disappearance hasn’t dominated American headlines, but recent developments — specifically, the naming of her parents as official suspects in the case — have increased public awareness. Director Ben Affleck, speaking at the Deauville Film Festival, was quoted as saying:
“We are acutely aware of the situation. We have a greater concern for that than the release of our film, which is just a commercial matter, whereas this is a matter of life and death. I’m not up to date on the details, and it is not something that has taken off in the United States in the way it has in the U.K….It is only when someone said there was this case that was very similar to my film that we looked it up. We don’t want to release the movie if it is going to touch a nerve or inflame anybody’s sensitivities.”
Gone Baby Gone is still scheduled for an October 19 release in the United States.
Source: Variety
