Ben Affleck ''hated'' growing his hair for 'Argo'.

The 40-year-old actor stars as a CIA specialist in the political drama, which he also directs, and while he didn't enjoy growing his hair to look like the late Monkees singer Davy Jones and Bee Gees musician Barry Gibb, he was pleasantly surprised that none of the actors showed any vanity about changing their look for the film.

He said: ''I hated it, Alan Arkin got away with keeping his current hairdo. But I had to grow out this kind of Davy Jones, sort of Barry Gibb thing that I had on my head. I knew I was going to be doing the movie fair enough in advance that I could grow it out.

''Everybody really went for it, there was no vanity with the actors - Rory Cochrane with his moustache and his wig, and everybody else with the moustache and the glasses, there was no, 'No, I gotta look good in the movie.' It was all, 'How much can I look like the real people.' ''

Ben's alter-ego concocts a plan in an attempt to rescue six Americans trapped at the home of the Canadian ambassador in Iran in the motion picture, and he insists his fellow cast members made his directorial duties feel ''really, really easy''.

He added to FlicksandBits.com: ''It kind of sounds like ass-kissing, but the truth is that it's a lot easier to be directing when you don't have to deal with the actors at all, you know?

''Everybody showed up, they knew what they were doing, they were really good, and often times they came up with ideas that were much more interesting than mine.

''They all came in and made it great and made the job feel really, really easy. I kept thinking, 'In a way I'm going to get credit for this! For these guys work!' ''

'Argo' will be shown at the London Film Festival, which runs from October 10-21.