Ben
Affleck was born in Berkeley California on the 15th of August,
1972. The 6'2.5" heartthrob had first wet his feet in acting
at the age of eight, in the PBS mini-series The Voyage of Mimi.
He continued getting acclamation in feature films such as Dazed
and Confused (1993) and independent films such as Mallrats (1995).
His big break came, however, when good friend Matt Damon and
him co-wrote and co-directed Good Will Hunting, which came out
in 1997. Since then Ben never looked back. On December 4th,
Ben Affleck talked to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association
(HFPA) about a number of things, including upcoming movie Paycheck.
Have
you ever done anything strictly for a Paycheck?
I mean, I guess I did appear on an episode of a television show,
which I probably wouldn't have done had it not been for the
$1900 I was getting paid. It wasn't that rewarding an experience
and I've been lucky enough not to have to that again.
Your
relationship to technology, can you talk about that?
My relationship. I love it I've been dealing with computers
since they were out. I love working with them and pulling them
apart and putting in video cards or sound cards or disk drives
or what have you, so that part was easy for me to do without
having to research and I felt very comfortable. It's scary in
a way. Technology will probably be the death of us all but I
like it.
Looking
back over this year, can you talk about what you might have
learned and how you might do things differently and whether
you want to be a Greta Garbo and stay away from the press?
This year has been interesting. Daredevil came out and that
went really, really well and then Gigli come out and that was
a spectacular bomb worthwhile to be a part of. Professionally
speaking, on balance, I feel like two out of three is a pretty
good average so I'm pleased with it in that regard. There has
been a lot of tabloid and press attention on my relationship
with Jennifer and it's not really something I control. Maybe
perhaps we made the mistake of being too available in a certain
way early on in the relationship and I don't think I realised
what a giant bonfire of a story it would become. I suppose I
would have done it differently if I knew then what I know now.
Can
you talk about your relationship with Matt Danon and what its
like working with him?
We spend a lot of time as friends and in acting class and writing
together and a lot of things. I'm very lucky that I have a friend
who does the same job I do and we're more or less at the same
spot and so we can compare notes and that sort of thing and
he's somebody who has no agenda other than my well-being and
I am the same for him, I'm very lucky to have that kind of friendship.
Matt's extremely bright and very, very smart about movies. He's
the smartest person about making movies and making them good
-- that I know.
When
are you going to start producing and directing?
I would like to start also because it would hopefully diminish
some of the other attention on the frivolous parts of my life
that is frankly, unwelcome and a drag so ideally I would like
to delve into directing if I can and then, I would probably
continue to act but more character parts, stuff I did like in
Boiler room or Shakespeare in love or Dogma, small parts.
What
are some of the memories that you would like to keep forever?
I think most of the best memories have to be the times I've
spent with my family and some really great friends that I have
and yes there's moments like, Golden Globe Awards in '97 which
I'll cherish. But, you know, non-career related stuff is really
more close to my heart. They're all just the little things.
Some of that includes mistakes I've made and bad things that
have happened to me. I think all those things help build character
and give you something to learn from and I think it's healthy,
I want to keep them all. I don't want to have to give any of
them.
You
canceled the wedding. Are you still together?
We postponed the wedding. We're still together.
Do
you aspire to be the kind of debonair name star like Cary Grant?
One
of the qualities I admire is a certain sense of integrity that
gets conveyed in a performance and Cary Grant had it as well
as other actors like Peter Dinklage and Denzel Washington; something
I think I see when I look at my brother's acting and Matt Damon's
acting -- it's present in a lot of people. Benicio Del Toro.
Part of it sometimes is a look but mostly I think it radiates
from a strong sense of your reality and your personal integrity,
which I think sort of comes through.
Who
are those people you admire?
Well, that's those are people I named like Matt, my brother,
Benicio Del Toro, Denzel Washington, Cary Grant, Clark Gable,
you know, Rod Steiger, Larry Storch from F Troop.
Are
you in the Habit of Making new year's resolutions?
I am in the habit of making New Year's Resolutions. I've tried
to quit smoking the last three New Years. Obviously, the answer
is no, I don't keep them so I am not going to make any New Year's
Resolutions this year because I think it's bad luck. Whatever
you resolve to do in New Year's will inevitably not happen the
following year.
What
do I hope for myself in the New Year? A little more
peace perhaps. And I hope that my life continues to be interesting.
Is
there a character in particular that you would love to play
like Indian Jones who can come back several times or a historical
figure a character that you are passionate about?
Thoreau would be an interesting character to play. I'd like
to play Martin Luther King but I don't think anyone would hire
me. Gandhi, but that's also been done -- I could shave my head.
One of the things I that appeals to me is sort of America of
the '30s and '40s and anywhere else but particularly America
that was just on the cusp of modernity, of becoming a sort of
unified place and it was before the country became so homogenous.
JFK would be interesting but it's been done a hundred thousand
times. In like twenty years or so I could get cast as the George
Bush role I can do a good George Bush. Clinton would be a good
one to play. That's something that hasn't been done.
Which
are your favourite J'LO Albums?
Probably "This is Me Then" is my favorite album and
I like J'LO a lot. There's great remix that's coming out this
Christmas, in fact, of "Baby I Love You" with R. Kelly
that's really very good. Pick it up. You'll enjoy it.
Your
co-star in Paycheck Uma Thurman speaks highly of you that you
are the absolute catch, a spiritual person. Do you have a good
clear vision on who you are?
I think I am pretty comfortable with who I am, with the frailties
and the flaws and the strengths and make an effort toward bettering
myself as much as I can. Uma's a pretty extraordinary woman.
I mean, she's really wonderful and she's very smart and she's
a real pro and she's just magnificent. I would like to do every
movie with her. She was such a pleasure. I've worked with most
of the actresses out there by now and she is by far the most
professional, grounded. She's got these two wonderful kids.
She had them on the set all the time. She's a wonderful mother.
I just developed such a fondness for her over the course of
this movie because at her essence, I admire her acting and yes,
she's gorgeous and beautiful but she really is a rare exceptional
good person.
What's
your take on Arnold Schwarzenegger? Do you keep an eye on what
he's doing?
I don't think Arnold is a stupid guy. I think he's actually
a smart guy. Politics is increasingly about image and spin and
manufacture and reductivism and selling and when you sell you
sell one liners basically. So then it's no surprise that, in
fact, the people best suited for that particular role are people
who've done it successfully already. He has this name brand
recognition. He's never been a politician so he doesn't have
a record to attack and it's a sort of fantasy wish fulfillment,
like the benevolent king kind of an idea, and he embraced that.
I mean, he ran on the I'm going to terminate the budget deficit.
What's discouraging is that he didn't (as I had hoped that he
would) take the opportunity to also talk about what his policies
were, instead of saying that the people don't care about numbers
because I think some people do care about what the numbers are
but that being said, he's the Governor now and I support him
and I hope he does a good job because the state is having a
lot of problems. I wish him the best.
(Interview
courtesy of Munawar Hossain Piyal,
of the HFPA)
