The movie Ben Affleck called “the hardest thing I’ve ever done”
Ben Affleck has never been afraid to get his hands dirty for the sake of a good movie. From his massive starring roles in blockbuster films to some of his greatest turns behind the camera, Affleck has proven himself as a student of the medium that will do whatever he can to get the right take on film. That doesn’t mean that every film he has ever made has been a walk in the park, however.
When talking about getting some of his first acting gigs in movies like School Ties, Affleck wasn’t exactly thrilled to be cast in movies in which he was always playing hateful or unlikeable characters. Once he started to become a superstar after the success of films like Chasing Amy and Good Will Hunting, he was faced with a hefty challenge when taking movies like Armageddon.
Although the movie was one of the first major blockbusters to have Affleck in a leading role, he talked about learning so much from his contemporaries, telling GQ, “I learned a lot about professionalism and the crew was really excellent. It was a lot of fun, but I knew that we weren’t making an art movie. I knew enough to know that this isn’t really an Oscar-type of movie, this is a fun movie”.
While Affleck had previously been merciless when talking about the logic behind getting a bunch of oil drillers to go to space in the Michael Bay film, it became the launch pad for him working on his next big film. Shortly after Armageddon caught fire, Affleck was hard at work training for Pearl Harbor.
Although most of the movie was set around the pseudo-love story going on in between the massive explosions, Affleck put himself through his paces when going to boot camp for the first time. When talking about the training that went into it, Affleck remembered how much of a physical toll it took on him, explaining, “It was a pre-ranger training course. It was incredibly agonising and painful. I would have definitely quit the first day if I wasn’t too embarrassed. It was exhausting physically and to this day it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done”.
Along with the amount of physical strain that Affleck put on, he also had to undergo different flying lessons for certain scenes, having to know how to pilot an aircraft for when he was up in the air. Despite having a miserable experience at boot camp, Affleck felt a lot more grateful once he was able to settle down, later saying, “It was personally satisfying to get through it and after it was over to have the drill sergeants treat me like a normal human being. I just appreciated everything so much more.”
While Affleck may have gone above and beyond what his role demanded, it became a different story when the movie was released in theatres. Despite having a massive turnout, Pearl Harbor didn’t have the best shelf life, being torn apart for certain historical inaccuracies with the actual day.
Even with the lukewarm reception, Affleck has learned to keep everything in perspective, later saying, “It wasn’t as bad as people said. We made over a billion dollars. That’s the way it goes sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes you win but they say you lost”.
