The "Armageddon" star was making his directional debut on the film when police mistook him for a drug dealer in Boston.

He revealed: "The cops nearly arrested us a couple of times because they thought we were drug dealers."

"We were working in parts of town where there was a lot of drug dealing going on and a couple of times the cops swooped on us."

"One they talked to us because there was a human trafficking ring in a house nearby. It was wild."

Ben says that while making the film he wanted to "show people a world that they never normally get to see."

He added: "I grew up in a poor, tough part of Boston, like the neighborhoods in the film.

"I wanted to reveal what it's really like in one of those areas the audience would never have access to - bars they would never visit."

"Gone Baby Gone" is released in UK cinemas next month.