(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Ben Affleck has confessed that making his movie The Town almost killed him.

The Hollywood star directed and appeared in the gritty crime drama, which also featured Blake Lively, Jeremy Renner and Rebecca Hall. Ben decided to try his hand at directing after watching legends including Clint Eastwood and Warren Beatty at work.

He was surprised by how difficult it is to be involved in several aspects of the moviemaking process, revealing the project left him exhausted and stressed.

"I'm obviously really proud of The Town and really pleased that people got a chance to see it," Ben told ET. "I worked with a great cast in that movie. And, you know, writing and directing and all that stuff was so much work it almost killed me, so I'm glad that the movie got to come out."

While The Town focused on an FBI agent on the trail of a gang of bank robbers, Bens new movie The Company Men tackles the current global economic crisis. In the film, Ben plays a businessman desperate to keep his job, and despite the gloomy storyline he insists it does have something positive to offer cinemagoers.

"The Company Men is a small movie about something that really moved me when I read about it, the 38-year-old star explained. It has a lot of spirit, you know, even though it's about the economic struggles, there's still a lot of hope in the movie." (C) Cover Media