The unlikely performance that stunned Ben Affleck: “As good as anyone’s been in anything”
Longtime friends who work in the same industry will inevitably develop a competitive spirit, so it’s definitely worth wondering if Ben Affleck harbours any jealousy towards Matt Damon over the fact that he’s the only half of Hollywood’s ultimate platonic love story to earn Oscar nominations for acting.
Then again, he does have the better track record, largely because his on-camera efforts haven’t been recognised. Affleck has been shortlisted for two Academy Awards and won them both, making him one of the few multi-time Oscar winners who boast a 100% success rate.
Damon has three acting nods, and he’s walked away empty-handed every time. Does that make him a better actor than Affleck? Some people would think so, but it makes sense Affleck would never be caught lurking on the Academy’s radar when he thinks one polarising performance is among the best in cinema.
When Brad Pitt devised the accent he used in Guy Ritchie’s Snatch, he drew his inspiration from a number of different and equally unusual sources, including Father Ted. Mickey O’Neil was intentionally indecipherable, and while it’s a character with plenty of fans, just as many have lambasted Pitt’s exaggerated turn and egregious overacting. As it turns out, Affleck has his own thoughts on the matter.
“I think Brad Pitt is as good in Snatch as anyone’s been in anything,” he declared to The Daily Beast. “That whole weird, gypsy accent that he does, and the way the labyrinthine plot stretches, and wraps itself around the movie, up and back, and all the characters are really well drawn.”
While there’s nothing inherently wrong with watching Pitt in Snatch and getting a kick out of it, Affleck went heavy on the hyperbole. “As good as anyone’s been in anything” technically lumps his outing as the bare-knuckle boxer into the same category as Marlon Brando in On the Waterfont, Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Al Pacino in The Godfather Part II, three performances that are widely regarded among the best ever committed to film.
Not to sound too cruel, but it’s not even in the same stratosphere. Obviously, it might come across as unfair to pile on Affleck for slathering Pitt and his role in praise that it doesn’t necessarily deserve, but he’s been around the business long enough to know that words are only worth something if they’re backed up.
Is it the best performance in Snatch? It’s debatable. Is it the best performance in a Guy Ritchie movie? Maybe, maybe not. Is it the best performance of Pitt’s career? Not by a long shot. Is it equally as good as any actor has ever been in any movie? Don’t be ridiculous. Then again, Affleck has two Oscars and most people don’t, so he can say whatever the hell he wants.
