by Michael Dequina
Ben Affleck on Kevin Smith: "You know, you can't believe anything Kevin Smith says. Don't pay attention to anything that man says; he's a liar!" Okay, so Affleck's comment was a flip joke (or, at least, it seemed like it was) in response to the suggestion that writer-director's mocking portrayal of him in last summer's JAY & SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK bore even a slight whiff of truth. But then consider this statement he would later make about his career path, eerily mirroring the JAY & BOB Affleck's "safe picture/art picture" speech. "Basically my simple plan is that I try to do a movie that has a shot to make some money, so the people that run the town say, 'This is a guy that we can put into a movie because we have more of a likelihood of making it back.' If I do that, then I'm in the position to be cast in movies like CHANGING LANES, like SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, like BOUNCE, like BOILER ROOM--all this stuff that's more interesting and a little bit more risky."
Joke or no joke, that philosophy has paid off for Affleck, and never has that been clearer than in recent months.
In April he earned some of the best reviews of his career as (to use Affleck's own description) "a deeply flawed,
fucked-up guy" in Roger Michell's dark drama CHANGING LANES, which emerged as the spring movie season's surprise hit.
Currently he's enjoying even greater box office success with THE SUM OF ALL FEARS, the fourth big screen adventure for author Tom Clancy's stalwart CIA analyst hero, Jack Ryan. SUM being an installment in an already-proven film franchise, it could be taken as a conventional popcorn blockbuster, but Affleck doesn't necessarily see it that way. "I think this is a summer movie for adults; I really do. I think it's smart, and I think it hopefully holds your interest in a way that some of the movies that are aimed at kids, really, might not hold the interest of an adult."
But before a single frame of SUM was shot, some eyebrows were raised by the casting of Affleck, who at 29 is a veritable "kid"-in more ways than one--compared to his most immediate predecessor in the Jack Ryan role, Harrison Ford. Needless to say, however, age compatibility is the least of anyone's worries when following the biggest box office star of all time. "I certainly don't liken myself to Harrison Ford or say, 'Hey, I'm the next Harrison Ford!' or I'm as great as this guy is. I'm a huge fan of his and only look at his career and what he did [in the role] with humility. I wouldn't have done [the film] if I was going to say, 'I have to follow what he did. I have to step in and continue that.' I can't play an icon, and I certainly can't follow one up."
Despite the intimidation factor, Affleck quickly felt comfortable with his new role once he learned of the changes being made to the Jack Ryan character. "What I thought was interesting was taking it back to showing [Ryan] when he was green and new [at the CIA] and a little unsure of himself, making mistakes. When you see who this guy is before he polished himself up, when he was a little rough and uncertain and halting, wearing the wrong clothes to work and being admonished for that--that's something that Harrison Ford would never do. And so I thought, that I can do; I can play a guy who's learning on the job and still figuring it out."
What Affleck and filmmakers certainly could not have possibly figured out while filming SUM was how its scenario of a terrorist attack on American soil would so closely resemble real life events. "Unequivocally [the film] has a different resonance post-September 11. We went and made a movie that was an escapist political thriller where we thought the big hurdle in terms of promoting the movie would be in trying to get people to not say, 'Oh, this is too far-fetched. This would never happen.' And now, tragically, that's not an issue at all."
As with all other Americans, terrorism is an issue on Affleck's mind, but not an overwhelming one. "People are scared a little bit jittery about it. It's a real danger, and that's something we have to be mindful of. By the same token, if I want to go see the Super Bowl, I'm going to go, you know what I mean? I'm not going to sweat, 'Well, I'm going to stay home because what if there's a bomb at the Super Bowl? Well, what if there's a bomb at the L.A. Convention Center?' You can talk yourself into staying under your table at home, and then the carbon monoxide will get you from the heater. So I think ultimately you have to just be willing to say, 'I'm not going to allow the fear of something to interrupt the way that I live my life and thinking reasonably and logically.' I look at [September 11] through the same prism that everybody does, which is that I watched this horrible terrorist attack happen, I became increasingly aware that this was possible, and it's become a part of the reality of my life. I think I have the same trepidation probably that everybody has. I certainly don't have any more. I don't know if Osama Bin Laden is particularly worried about me or [George] Clooney, you know what I mean? I think celebrities who think they're going to be a more likely target of terrorists are truly flattering themselves."
Sense of humor obviously unfazed, Affleck has continued with his regular routine, which is to work practically non-stop. The Oscar-winning screenwriter has started to pick up the pen once again, most notably on ABC's fall series PUSH, NEVADA, an interactive mystery he co-created with Sean Bailey, one of his partners at the integrated media company LivePlanet. Mostly, however, he's been keeping busy in his usual way, in front of the movie camera. Earlier this year, he finished filming on Martin Brest's crime comedy GIGLI (due out next May), which co-stars Jennifer Lopez, with whom he will reunite later this summer on (no lies here) Kevin Smith's next film, the romantic comedy-drama JERSEY GIRL. Between these presumably "art"-oriented pictures, he's currently doing work on a "safe" one, filling another hero role: that of blind, billy club-toting Marvel Comics crime fighter Daredevil, in Mark Steven Johnson's live-action film adaptation of the same name, set for release February 14.
Being a longtime fan of the comic, Affleck says it was a "no-brainer" to take the part, but that certainly hasn't been the case in playing it. "He's not exactly blind. He can't use his eyes, but he has this kind of sonar ability. It's not that he can't see it all, it's that he doesn't see from his eyes. He sees in some kind of 360-degree way of objects; he just doesn't see texture. I don't have eyes all around the back of my head, so I have to perform all these tricks. I got them to give me these contact lenses that actually make me blind. But the problem with that is then I really do walk into tables and stuff in the scenes, which he wouldn't do because he's a superhero. So it's a challenge, and we're working on it."
Another challenge Affleck has had to work on as Daredevil is a more commonplace one on superhero movies: the action and stunt work. "All the acrobatic stuff I've spent a lot of time trying. The great about movies like this, one of the other reasons to do them, is that they're really the single thing that can motivate me to get into shape because otherwise I won't do it. So when the people are hounding me, when the studios go, 'We really want you to be doing the flips!' I go, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right.' So then you work out and try to do the flips. Look, I'm not one of these actors who are going to sit up here and lie to you and be like, 'Yeah, I did all that. I did everything in the movie; that's me.' Anybody who tells you they did all their own stunts or their own fighting or their own acrobatics is bullshitting you. But you want to do as much as you can so that it looks real and right. There are guys that are doing [the major acrobatics]-it's a whole suit and everything, so you couldn't really tell that it's not me. And so they kind of indulge me by letting me do a couple of things, and then they say, 'Let's bring in the world-class gymnast.'"
While Affleck's athletic ability may not be world-class, his celebrity is certainly on a global scale, and with that comes its share of negative press coverage. With friend and GOOD WILL HUNTING co-star/co-writer/co-Oscar winner Matt Damon toplining the competing spy thriller THE BOURNE IDENTITY this summer, ongoing media speculation about a rivalry between the pair has intensified-speculation that Affleck is quick to debunk. "There's certainly no rivalry. I think [the speculation] is inevitable because of the publicity hook. Our publicity thing--that we were a part in, no doubt--in terms of promoting GOOD WILL HUNTING was saying 'Isn't it cute? These two friends, they wrote this movie. Isn't it sweet? Aren't they sweet? They brought their moms.' All that shit. The media and people then pay attention to it; they cover it and cover it and cover it because it's a fresh story. 'Who are these guys? They're friends. They did this thing.' Then that story has been written and done, and there's a million outlets and a million entertainment magazines and a million entertainment shows, and what are you going to say now? You have to say the next thing, so then the next thing is like, "Matt's movie did better than Ben's movie! Ben's movie did better than Matt's movie! Oh, they're not that cute! They're not that sweet! They weren't even that sweet to begin with! William Goldman wrote their movie! Well, FUCK these guys! They're not that good! I watched GOOD WILL HUNTING again; it wasn't that funny!' What happens is inevitably a byproduct of the first part of it, and there's an element of that I accept that you go through. There's this weird thing that happens where the first story's old, and then what's the next story? I just try to keep working so the story's about the movies."
However, with the age of 30 coming for him in just two months, Affleck is looking to make the next story in his life not only about the movies. "It would be much more satisfying and interesting for me personally and for my life than just to continue to make movies. There's another step of life, which is family and love and children. I absolutely am at a point where I feel like I believe that what's important to me and what will be important to me is not just work but something beyond that, and I also anticipate that. I want to have a family; I want to have kids-I want to do that. I want to take those steps, and I finally feel ready to do that. I like the path that I'm on, and I'm happy. And my happiness also doesn't hinge on whether or not people like me in THE SUM OF ALL FEARS."
But just when you think Affleck has developed a softness and maturity more befitting someone already in his thirties, the wicked, twentysomething wit swoops back in. "I say that now. You write bad things about me, and I'll be in the bathroom hanging by a wire."
When not writing about movies for Movie Poop Shoot, writer Michael Dequina continues to beat that dead horse
at his website, Mr. Brown's Movies.
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