The “advice” that almost ruined Ben Affleck’s career
As one of the most successful artists working in Hollywood, the career trajectory of Ben Affleck has always attracted a lot of attention. Ranging from appearances in Richard Linklater’s seminal Dazed and Confused to mainstream leading roles like The Batman, Affleck’s filmography is diverse in terms of scope as well as subject matter. However, one poor piece of “advice” almost derailed his journey as a burgeoning acting talent.
During a conversation with the Hollywood Reporter, Affleck revealed that his lifelong partnership with Matt Damon was threatened even in those early days. The two of them grabbed the spotlight when they co-wrote and starred in the Oscar-winning 1997 gem Good Will Hunting, which remains one of the most iconic additions to their oeuvres. Since then, Damon and Affleck have collaborated on multiple projects while remaining good friends.
During the making of one recent collaboration, Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel, Affleck and Damon spoke about the advice they had received at the beginning of their careers. At the time, they were instructed to think about their professional trajectories in individualistic terms and were advised against partnering up with each other. Ironically, it is those creative partnerships that form some of the stand-out works in their respective oeuvres.
Affleck recalled: “One of the things we reflected on when we did The Last Duel that caused us to want to do this company together was the fact that we wished we’d kept working together more over the years. We fell prey to this idea that, ‘Well, if you don’t individuate your careers and do your own things, people will always associate you together. That will be limiting’… That was advice we got. And also just a function of the fact that our goal was to work as actors.”
He added: “The motivation behind making Good Will Hunting was to serve as an acting reel so that we could get jobs as actors, not because we wanted to be writers. So when we became successful and had the opportunity to do movies, we took them. And it’s very hard to let go of that hand-to-mouth mentality you have as an actor. The phone could stop ringing at any time, and especially where Matt and I grew up pretty modestly, it was almost irresponsible to not take a job where they were going to pay you a lot of money.”
To this day, they refuse to listen to whoever gave them that terrible suggestion, and it’s still working out for them. Damon and Affleck worked together on another brand new project that came out this year: a sports biopic titled Air. Exploring the incredible story of the creation of Air Jordan, it received critical acclaim for the strong performances as well as the way in which the subject was handled.
Watch the trailer for Air below.
