The Scott Cooper-directed film Out of the Furnace, starring Christian Bale, Woody Harrelson, and Casey Affleck, had its world premiere at the AFI Festival in Los Angeles on Nov. 10.

The cast, which includes Zoë Saldana and Forest Whitaker, were in attendance at the event held in the TCL Chinese Theatre. While talking to the press at the event, Cooper compared directing the cast with "driving a Maserati."

"I'm often asked what it's like to direct a cast like this and I say, well, it's what I assume it's what driving a Maserati would be like; I don't know because I drive a Prius." he told Variety. "No histrionics, no acting with a capital A, but it's searing and it's honest and I have to tell you, take after take after take, there was hope there."

The director also talked about taking time to really think about his follow-up to his 2009 film, Crazy Heart.

"I thought that it was important that I shot it like just what was happening these past five years in America," he said. "It's been a turbulent five years...we've had a crumbling economy, we've been fighting wars on two fronts, we've had soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan that suffer from post traumatic stress disorder and have a very difficult time assimilating back into society and I'm sure you all know that we happen to live in one of the most violent nations on Earth."

"So what does that all add up to?" he added. "Well, in my hands, it adds up to the feel-good movie of the year." 

Bale spoke about his experience working with Cooper in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly. He also noted that he was so proud of the film he wanted to watch it over and over again.

"It's stunning. Scott is a hell of a director. I keep calling Scott and going, can I please see it again?' " Bale said. "It sort of hypnotized all of us and the great thing for me is how much has come through in the end. As an actor you hope for the best, and sometimes you get experiences with the work when you're really surprised it didn't happen on film. There's nothing you can do about that...But, this one - holy crap! It really came through."

Watch a trailer of the film below.