Ben Affleck in Pearl Harbor (2001)
German postcard. Photo: Touchstone Pictures / Bueno Vista International. Ben Affleck in Pearl Harbor (Michael Bay, 2001).
Tall and handsome Ben Affleck (1972) has the looks of a matinee idol and the résumé of an actor who honed his craft as an indie film slacker before flexing his muscles as a Hollywood star. Affleck became a star when he and Matt Damon wrote and starred in Good Will Hunting, winning a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for their work.
Ben Affleck was born Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt in Berkeley, California in 1972 to a schoolteacher mother, Chris Anne (née Boldt), and a drug rehab counselor father, Timothy Byers Affleck. His middle name, Géza, is after a Hungarian family friend who was a Holocaust survivor. His younger brother, Casey (1975), also became an actor. When he was very young, Affleck's family moved to the Boston area, and it was there that he broke into acting. His first acting experience was for a Burger King commercial. At the age of eight, he starred in PBS's marine biology-themed The Voyage of the Mimi (Richard Hendrick, D'Arcy Marsh, 1984), endearing himself to junior high school science classes everywhere. The same year he made Mimi, Affleck made the acquaintance of Matt Damon, a boy two years his senior who lived down the street. The two became best friends and, of course, eventual collaborators. After a fling with higher education at both the University of Vermont and California's Occidental College, Affleck set out for Hollywood. He began appearing in made-for-TV movies and had a small role in School Ties (Robert Mandel, 1992), a film that also featured Damon. Further bit work followed in Dazed and Confused (Richard Linklater, 1993) and Mallrats (Kevin Smith, 1995). Around this time, both Affleck and Damon were getting fed up with the lack of substantial work to be found in Hollywood, and they decided to write a screenplay that would feature them as the leads. Affleck's brother Casey introduced them to Gus Van Sant, who had directed Casey in To Die For (1995). Thanks to Van Sant's interest, the script was picked up by Miramax. (According to IMDb, it was friend Kevin Smith who took the script to the head of Miramax in 1997). Their story of a troubled mathematical genius living in South Boston became known as Good Will Hunting (Gus Van Sant, 1997). Before the film's release, Affleck starred in Chasing Amy (Kevin Smith, 1997) that same year. The tale of a comic book artist (Affleck) in love with a lesbian (Joey Lauren Adams), received good reviews and showed Affleck to be a viable leading man. Good Will Hunting (Gus Van Sant, 1997) was nominated for 9 Academy Awards and won two, including the Best Original Screenplay Oscar awarded to Affleck and Damon. This success effectively transformed both young men from struggling actors into Hollywood golden boys. Having won his own Golden Boy, Affleck settled comfortably into a reputation as one of the industry's most promising young actors. His status was further enhanced by widespread media reports of an ongoing relationship with Gwyneth Paltrow.
The following year, Ben Affleck could be seen in no less than three major films, ranging from his self-mocking supporting role in the Oscar-winning period comedy Shakespeare in Love (John Madden, 1998) to the thriller Phantoms (Joe Chappelle, 1998) to the big-budget box-office monster Armageddon (Michael Bay, 1998), starring Bruce Willis. In 1999, Affleck continued to keep busy, appearing in a dizzying four films. He could be seen as a dull bartender in 200 Cigarettes (Risa Bramon Garcia, 1999), an errant groom opposite Sandra Bullock in Forces of Nature (Bronwen Hughes, George Casey, 1999), a supporting role as a ruthless stockbroker in the crime drama The Boiler Room (Ben Younger, 1999), and a supporting cast member in Billy Bob Thornton's sophomore directorial effort, Daddy and Them (1999). Finally, Affleck reunited with Smith and Damon for Dogma (Kevin Smith, 1999), starring with the latter as a pair of fallen angels in one of the year's more controversial films. In 2000, he would appear as an ex-con trying to mend his ways in the action thriller Reindeer Games (John Frankenheimer, 2000), with Charlize Theron. Re-teaming with Armageddon cohort Michael Bay again in 2001 for another exercise in overbudgeted excess, Affleck flew into action in Pearl Harbor (Michael Bay, 2001) Despite unanimous lambasting from critics, Pearl Harbor blasted to number one at the box office, earning $75.2 million on its Memorial Day weekend opening and beginning a summer-2001 trend of high profile films with precipitous box-office runs. Following a self-mocking return to the Smith collective in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (Kevin Smith, 2001) and spearheading, along with Damon, the innovative HBO series Project: Greenlight, Affleck returned to the Hollywood machine with roles in the thrillers Changing Lanes (Roger Michell, 2002) with Samuel Jackson, and The Sum of All Fears (Phil Alden Robinson, 2002) with Morgan Freeman. Filling the shoes of Harrison Ford as a green version of Ford's famous Jack Ryan persona, The Sum of All Fears contemplated a radical group's plan to detonate a nuclear weapon at a major sporting event during a time of particularly sensitive public distress at such an idea. With the massive success of Spider-Man (2002) prompting numerous comic-book superhero revivals, Affleck would next suit up for the role of Daredevil (Mark Steven Johnson, 2002), with Jennifer Garner. As a lawyer turned into a true public defender following a mishap involving radioactive waste, Daredevil's incredibly enhanced senses enable him to get the jump on New York City evil-doers, and with his athletic physique and heroically protruding chin, Affleck seemed just the man to suit-up for the job. Rebecca Flint-Marx at AllMovie: "The lukewarm performance of that particular effort would hardly compare to the critical lashing of his subsequent efforts Gigli, Paycheck, and Jersey Girl. A notorious flop that couldn't be mentioned to movie lovers without fear of derisive laughter, Gigli alone would have likely sunken the career of a lesser star. Though Hollywood gossip rags were indeed talking about Affleck, it was more the result of his turbulent relationship with singer and Gigli co-star Jennifer Lopez than it was anything to do with his acting career."
After his relationship with Jennifer Lopez had ended, Ben Affleck married Jennifer Garner in 2005. Affleck subsequently skewered Hollywood materialism in the showbiz comedy Man About Town (Mike Binder, 2006) with John Cleese, before making a cameo in pal Smith's eagerly-anticipated sequel Clerks II (Kevin Smith, 2006). By this point, Affleck strapped on the famous red cape to portray original television Superman George Reeves in the Tinseltown mystery Hollywoodland (Allen Coulter, 2006) with Adrien Brody. As the 2000s rolled onward, Affleck appeared in a number of films that garnered a lukewarm reception, like Smokin' Aces (Joe Carnahan, 2006), He's Just Not That Into You (Ken Kwapis, 2009), and State of Play (Kevin Macdonald, 2009), starring Russell Crowe. He would reverse that trend with a vengeance, directing and writing the critically acclaimed crime thriller Gone Baby Gone (Ben Affleck, 2007), starring his brother Casey Affleck. He followed that up by directing and starring in the crime thriller The Town (Ben Affleck, 2010), which put Affleck back into audiences' good graces. He immediately got to work on his next big project, working both behind and in front of the camera once again for the political thriller Argo (Ben Affleck, 2012). It garnered strong reviews, solid box office, and nabbed Affleck his second Oscar, as a producer of the film. Affleck played a romantic lead in Terrence Malick's experimental drama To the Wonder (2012), appeared in the poorly-reviewed thriller Runner, Runner (Brad Furman, 2013), opposite Justin Timberlake, and played the accused husband in the hit Gone Girl (David Fincher, 2014) with Rosamund Pike. He starred as an autistic accountant in the action thriller The Accountant (Gavin O'Connor, 2016), which was an unexpected commercial success. Affleck also starred as Bruce Wayne/Batman in the superhero film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Zack Snyder, 2016) opposite Henry Cavill, briefly reprised the character in Suicide Squad (David Ayer, 2016) and did so again in Justice League (Zack Snyder, 2017). In 2015, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner separated, and in 2018, they divorced. They have three children. Recently, he received praise for his performance as a recovering alcoholic in the sports drama The Way Back (Gavin O'Connor, 2020). The themes of the film were "close to home" for Affleck. He relapsed during pre-production in 2018 and the film was shot in the days after he left rehab. Affleck agreed to put his salary in escrow and was accompanied to set by a sober coach. In 2021, Affleck will star opposite Ana de Armas in Adrian Lyne's thriller Deep Water, an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's novel. He has a supporting role in the Ridley Scott-directed The Last Duel and co-wrote the film's screenplay with Matt Damon and Nicole Holofcener. During the COVID-19 pandemic, production of Robert Rodriguez's action thriller Hypnotic, in which Affleck plays a detective, was postponed. Affleck will star in an adaptation of the memoir The Tender Bar, directed by George Clooney. In addition, both Affleck and Michael Keaton have agreed to reprise their roles as Batman in The Flash (2022).
Sources: Rebecca Flint Marx (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Ben Affleck in Pearl Harbor (2001)
German postcard. Photo: Touchstone Pictures / Bueno Vista International. Ben Affleck in Pearl Harbor (Michael Bay, 2001).
Tall and handsome Ben Affleck (1972) has the looks of a matinee idol and the résumé of an actor who honed his craft as an indie film slacker before flexing his muscles as a Hollywood star. Affleck became a star when he and Matt Damon wrote and starred in Good Will Hunting, winning a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for their work.
Ben Affleck was born Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt in Berkeley, California in 1972 to a schoolteacher mother, Chris Anne (née Boldt), and a drug rehab counselor father, Timothy Byers Affleck. His middle name, Géza, is after a Hungarian family friend who was a Holocaust survivor. His younger brother, Casey (1975), also became an actor. When he was very young, Affleck's family moved to the Boston area, and it was there that he broke into acting. His first acting experience was for a Burger King commercial. At the age of eight, he starred in PBS's marine biology-themed The Voyage of the Mimi (Richard Hendrick, D'Arcy Marsh, 1984), endearing himself to junior high school science classes everywhere. The same year he made Mimi, Affleck made the acquaintance of Matt Damon, a boy two years his senior who lived down the street. The two became best friends and, of course, eventual collaborators. After a fling with higher education at both the University of Vermont and California's Occidental College, Affleck set out for Hollywood. He began appearing in made-for-TV movies and had a small role in School Ties (Robert Mandel, 1992), a film that also featured Damon. Further bit work followed in Dazed and Confused (Richard Linklater, 1993) and Mallrats (Kevin Smith, 1995). Around this time, both Affleck and Damon were getting fed up with the lack of substantial work to be found in Hollywood, and they decided to write a screenplay that would feature them as the leads. Affleck's brother Casey introduced them to Gus Van Sant, who had directed Casey in To Die For (1995). Thanks to Van Sant's interest, the script was picked up by Miramax. (According to IMDb, it was friend Kevin Smith who took the script to the head of Miramax in 1997). Their story of a troubled mathematical genius living in South Boston became known as Good Will Hunting (Gus Van Sant, 1997). Before the film's release, Affleck starred in Chasing Amy (Kevin Smith, 1997) that same year. The tale of a comic book artist (Affleck) in love with a lesbian (Joey Lauren Adams), received good reviews and showed Affleck to be a viable leading man. Good Will Hunting (Gus Van Sant, 1997) was nominated for 9 Academy Awards and won two, including the Best Original Screenplay Oscar awarded to Affleck and Damon. This success effectively transformed both young men from struggling actors into Hollywood golden boys. Having won his own Golden Boy, Affleck settled comfortably into a reputation as one of the industry's most promising young actors. His status was further enhanced by widespread media reports of an ongoing relationship with Gwyneth Paltrow.
The following year, Ben Affleck could be seen in no less than three major films, ranging from his self-mocking supporting role in the Oscar-winning period comedy Shakespeare in Love (John Madden, 1998) to the thriller Phantoms (Joe Chappelle, 1998) to the big-budget box-office monster Armageddon (Michael Bay, 1998), starring Bruce Willis. In 1999, Affleck continued to keep busy, appearing in a dizzying four films. He could be seen as a dull bartender in 200 Cigarettes (Risa Bramon Garcia, 1999), an errant groom opposite Sandra Bullock in Forces of Nature (Bronwen Hughes, George Casey, 1999), a supporting role as a ruthless stockbroker in the crime drama The Boiler Room (Ben Younger, 1999), and a supporting cast member in Billy Bob Thornton's sophomore directorial effort, Daddy and Them (1999). Finally, Affleck reunited with Smith and Damon for Dogma (Kevin Smith, 1999), starring with the latter as a pair of fallen angels in one of the year's more controversial films. In 2000, he would appear as an ex-con trying to mend his ways in the action thriller Reindeer Games (John Frankenheimer, 2000), with Charlize Theron. Re-teaming with Armageddon cohort Michael Bay again in 2001 for another exercise in overbudgeted excess, Affleck flew into action in Pearl Harbor (Michael Bay, 2001) Despite unanimous lambasting from critics, Pearl Harbor blasted to number one at the box office, earning $75.2 million on its Memorial Day weekend opening and beginning a summer-2001 trend of high profile films with precipitous box-office runs. Following a self-mocking return to the Smith collective in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (Kevin Smith, 2001) and spearheading, along with Damon, the innovative HBO series Project: Greenlight, Affleck returned to the Hollywood machine with roles in the thrillers Changing Lanes (Roger Michell, 2002) with Samuel Jackson, and The Sum of All Fears (Phil Alden Robinson, 2002) with Morgan Freeman. Filling the shoes of Harrison Ford as a green version of Ford's famous Jack Ryan persona, The Sum of All Fears contemplated a radical group's plan to detonate a nuclear weapon at a major sporting event during a time of particularly sensitive public distress at such an idea. With the massive success of Spider-Man (2002) prompting numerous comic-book superhero revivals, Affleck would next suit up for the role of Daredevil (Mark Steven Johnson, 2002), with Jennifer Garner. As a lawyer turned into a true public defender following a mishap involving radioactive waste, Daredevil's incredibly enhanced senses enable him to get the jump on New York City evil-doers, and with his athletic physique and heroically protruding chin, Affleck seemed just the man to suit-up for the job. Rebecca Flint-Marx at AllMovie: "The lukewarm performance of that particular effort would hardly compare to the critical lashing of his subsequent efforts Gigli, Paycheck, and Jersey Girl. A notorious flop that couldn't be mentioned to movie lovers without fear of derisive laughter, Gigli alone would have likely sunken the career of a lesser star. Though Hollywood gossip rags were indeed talking about Affleck, it was more the result of his turbulent relationship with singer and Gigli co-star Jennifer Lopez than it was anything to do with his acting career."
After his relationship with Jennifer Lopez had ended, Ben Affleck married Jennifer Garner in 2005. Affleck subsequently skewered Hollywood materialism in the showbiz comedy Man About Town (Mike Binder, 2006) with John Cleese, before making a cameo in pal Smith's eagerly-anticipated sequel Clerks II (Kevin Smith, 2006). By this point, Affleck strapped on the famous red cape to portray original television Superman George Reeves in the Tinseltown mystery Hollywoodland (Allen Coulter, 2006) with Adrien Brody. As the 2000s rolled onward, Affleck appeared in a number of films that garnered a lukewarm reception, like Smokin' Aces (Joe Carnahan, 2006), He's Just Not That Into You (Ken Kwapis, 2009), and State of Play (Kevin Macdonald, 2009), starring Russell Crowe. He would reverse that trend with a vengeance, directing and writing the critically acclaimed crime thriller Gone Baby Gone (Ben Affleck, 2007), starring his brother Casey Affleck. He followed that up by directing and starring in the crime thriller The Town (Ben Affleck, 2010), which put Affleck back into audiences' good graces. He immediately got to work on his next big project, working both behind and in front of the camera once again for the political thriller Argo (Ben Affleck, 2012). It garnered strong reviews, solid box office, and nabbed Affleck his second Oscar, as a producer of the film. Affleck played a romantic lead in Terrence Malick's experimental drama To the Wonder (2012), appeared in the poorly-reviewed thriller Runner, Runner (Brad Furman, 2013), opposite Justin Timberlake, and played the accused husband in the hit Gone Girl (David Fincher, 2014) with Rosamund Pike. He starred as an autistic accountant in the action thriller The Accountant (Gavin O'Connor, 2016), which was an unexpected commercial success. Affleck also starred as Bruce Wayne/Batman in the superhero film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Zack Snyder, 2016) opposite Henry Cavill, briefly reprised the character in Suicide Squad (David Ayer, 2016) and did so again in Justice League (Zack Snyder, 2017). In 2015, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner separated, and in 2018, they divorced. They have three children. Recently, he received praise for his performance as a recovering alcoholic in the sports drama The Way Back (Gavin O'Connor, 2020). The themes of the film were "close to home" for Affleck. He relapsed during pre-production in 2018 and the film was shot in the days after he left rehab. Affleck agreed to put his salary in escrow and was accompanied to set by a sober coach. In 2021, Affleck will star opposite Ana de Armas in Adrian Lyne's thriller Deep Water, an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's novel. He has a supporting role in the Ridley Scott-directed The Last Duel and co-wrote the film's screenplay with Matt Damon and Nicole Holofcener. During the COVID-19 pandemic, production of Robert Rodriguez's action thriller Hypnotic, in which Affleck plays a detective, was postponed. Affleck will star in an adaptation of the memoir The Tender Bar, directed by George Clooney. In addition, both Affleck and Michael Keaton have agreed to reprise their roles as Batman in The Flash (2022).
Sources: Rebecca Flint Marx (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.