Ben Affleck
Appearances
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
I did a movie where I had like a very blonde wig that was like a medieval. Were you Ric Flair or something? I wish I was Ric Flair. That would be spectacular. I'd love to play. It was actually a good movie. I really liked it. It was called The Last Duel. And it was great director Ridley Scott and he had this idea for it.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And yeah, there's the thing there you see. And I liked the, if no one I think had ever seen me or whatever, I thought that was really interesting. That's you? The problem is that I think what it did was Aaron Carter created noise around, you know, look at this hair. Is this different? And we know it's a way. And so now you look at it and you go, but I know he doesn't look like that.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And so it causes you to kind of think it's false as an example of kind of. probably not being able to go that far away from myself and still have people go, okay, I can sit aside what I know and just watch this story and, and like it and believe in it.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Yeah, there's a bunch of things. The fact that, like, even the online world, for example... you see now that shorter and shorter and shorter clips. Even my son, who's constantly showing me clips of you, by the way. You know what I mean? Is he a nice kid? He's a great kid. Yeah, he's a fabulous kid. And now when I watch him scroll, it's like he doesn't even get through the six seconds.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
I don't know. I see some people like – I don't know. It's hard to tell because, you know, you see some people like doing crazy looking things and you think like that looks crazy. Why are you trying to look 18 years old?
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
You know what I mean? He's like... And a long period of time for him is four or five seconds. And then I'm like, hey, man, let's watch this show or watch this movie. And it's like he gets bored fast. He's got to really love something to sit through it. And then he binges all the episodes. We just sat through and watched Invincible, this animated show. And then it's like, let's keep going.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
So it's this weird dichotomy of on the one hand, it's like, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. OK, then plug in and mainline this one thing and eat it all up till it's gone. And yeah, so it has really changed. You didn't used to be able to pause and select or even have that much to choose from. That many choices is overwhelming to the mind. We weren't made, I don't believe, evolutionarily,
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
and as human beings to like, you know, we're supposed to be living in like a village and see about a hundred people in our lifetimes, right? That's the vast majority of human history. That's how we did it. And I still feel like in a way, that's how we're socialized.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
It's why, for example, if you're feel left out of a group, it's very painful because like in, you know, thousands of years ago, if you got left out of the village, the group, whatever, and they didn't take you to hunt, you died, right? You needed those people to live. So it hits something really limbic inside of you.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And even social media, for example, you're looking at stuff and you're going, damn, why is everybody else's life so good? And seeing the life you're advertising looks so fucking cool. And my inside life feels like shit. That also is like a basic primal thing. And I think that's what this stuff kind of touches.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
But the amount of information now that comes in, because really now everybody's a celebrity. Everybody is a celebrity. Everybody is followed. Everybody's life is out there. There's newborns. There's four months old and 1,100 followers. And it's really – like 1,100 followers is kind of – it's just a – it's not any different from celebrity. It's just a matter of degree.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
But this is a four-month – he can't even open both of his eyes at the same time. And it's – yeah, exactly. And that's kind of become the – As the currency of, man, that looks great, you know, like the currency of like fame in and of itself as a desirable thing. Like people go, man, I want to be rich and famous. Like take rich. You know what I mean? You know, famous is not going to make you happy.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
He kind of looks like Jack Sparrow. I don't know. I don't know what you're talking about, but I can imagine. You know what I mean? You kind of can, like, I think you can go one of two ways. Like, if you see yourself all the time, and especially if, like, the way you make a living is by kind of in part the way you look or whatever, it feels like, you know, people can get, like, obsessed with it.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
It seems like it will because it's like, oh, people will like me and know my name and kind of know who I am and I'll feel like I've done something. I think a lot of times what happens is if it doesn't come with a real sense of like achievement or accomplishment, it actually feels hollow and empty and like bullshit and undeserved.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Yeah, I wanted to- Is that a weird question? But does that make any sense? No, it does make sense. I wanted to – I really – I wanted to fail on my own terms because I had gone through some movies that – where I was like, I don't like this. I don't agree with this. But you got to do – it's like playing a football team or whatever. You got to run the plays that the coach sets up.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
You know what I mean? They're going to run a draw play, get the ball and turn around and run a sweep right because they're not blocking that way. You know what I mean? It's just – that's not going to work, right? So you – that's how – That whole art form is sort of structured by and large. And what I found was, you know, I had a real strong sense of the way I wanted to do it.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And when it didn't work, when it worked, I didn't feel great because it wasn't me that had that feel. You know, I didn't feel like, I didn't feel proud of it. And when it didn't work, I just felt pissed off. Like, fuck, I didn't want to fucking do it.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
God damn, I didn't want to – I said it. And that's a terrible feeling. So I'd rather fail on my own terms or succeed on my own terms. And that's where I kind of got into directing. And I wanted to do it even when I was younger. And I just didn't have the confidence. And at a certain point, I kind of had nothing to lose. And that was really what kind of gave me the courage to take that leap.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Into directing, you mean? Yeah. Yeah, because as an actor, I sort of got real cold and had a couple of movies that didn't work. And then all of a sudden, it can be kind of over for you. That's why it's a tough business. Fuck, yeah, man. There's no seniority. There's no tenure. There's no retirement. There's no gold watch.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
If your show doesn't work or your movie doesn't work and nobody wants to hire you, they're just going to hire someone else. You know, there's 130,000 people in SAG, and there's only 30,000 people that work every year, right? And then there's an even smaller amount of those roles where, you know, you have more than two lines. So it's a very—it's very tough, right?
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And so if you're not—people aren't watching, they're not coming, or it's not interesting, see you later.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
When I was a kid and we went out, there was three channels of nothing on TV. And if you didn't go see the movie in the theater, you had to wait a year for it to come out on VHS or DVD or whatever it was or cable. Or rumor. You just had to wait for it to come out in a diorama. It was bad. The cave painting and shit. How long is it going to take you to paint this on my cave?
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
like afraid to get older i guess or you'd be in like in a yeah i think it's a tricky thing right like you you know nobody wants to get older right because what it means is like you're gonna die and nobody wants to really face that and also you just find out like you know i you know you're 50 man you'll when you get there you'll see like just regular shit that used to be normal hurts like moving around you're like damn what happened to me today you're like oh i why is my back hurt oh because i got up and then i sat back down you know what i mean like
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
If you want to get people to go to the theaters, movies have got to be really good. Like, you can't just – you used to be like, okay, let's go to three movies in the theater every weekend. People are going to go to one of them. Now you've got to have a reason to – want to go out and see it.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And I'm lucky because the reason why I'm really confident about this movie, The Accountant 2, is it actually plays great. It's a really good movie. People love it. But I was the one where I was like, let's test this movie. Let's take it out there. And I'm like, OK, this movie belongs out there theatrically. And it's still more difficult. In the old days, this movie would end up
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
home run easy obviously i'm like the movie's great it works great it's a big smash hit now you have to like okay work hard to get it out because because ahead of time you screen it for people you see what they say and the reaction is pretty consistent interestingly so but now it's like you know i think your point about uh what you have to do like the minecraft movie or barbie or you know it almost has to become like a cultural event like where people are going acting the scenes out like there's a whole reason to go do it kind of you know or else it's really really good and that's
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Not like that. I would sort of talk around it or talk about, well, there's some things I like about it. But now I wouldn't even want a movie to go out theatrically. I didn't think it was going to work theatrically because I think, well, you know, there's people that will watch this on streaming because I do think the bar is lower.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And I think that different kinds of movies work on streaming and, you know, great movies work on streaming too. But I would say I would choose to do that. This was one that was supposed to be, I wasn't, you know, it wasn't like we're going to go out theatrically. It was when the movie came together and worked as well as it did.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
You know, we thought this is definitely a theatrical movie and it's, it's, I think it's really good. I'm really proud of it. I love it. John Bernthal's great. It's funny. It's better than the first one.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
yeah that's to me and it's we're like a two-hander yeah yeah y'all are brothers in the movie he's not my real brother but yeah yeah he's he and he's fucking amazing in the movie and he plays your so wait so who is the accountant or you can't tell no it's me right i'm this guy's accountant who's got who's are you a cpa we're i'm a cpa but it's sort of one of these things where it's gonna sound a little bit uh far-fetched when i tell you but it's actually very plug which is
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
We grew up, obviously, together as we're brothers, and we had this father that was very tough on us, like heavy-duty military guy. This is in the first movie, right? When we were kids, you see flashbacks, and he kind of was, you know, trained us. Oh, we'd have seen this movie. You've seen the first movie, right? This is the second.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
You saw the first one, Me and John, came out like eight years ago.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
I didn't put it together. But I think this actually, you know, which is rare, and I definitely wouldn't say this if it weren't true, is it's better than the first movie. It's funny. It's got more kind of heart. It's more broadly accessible. The action's better. And I really liked the first movie. And you directed this one, too? No. I acted in it. A guy named Gavin O'Connor directed this movie.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
He was a really good director who directed the first one.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Thank you. But I guess the way you decide that, honestly, is by watching their movies. You look at it and you go kind of, you know, and if it's something that you do, you sort of watch it and you can tell. Even movies where there's instances where it's like might not be my kind of movie or it might be my taste, but you can still say, okay, well, this is somebody who really understands.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
This is like a master. This is somebody who's very competent. Or it really is to my taste. And I'm like, this is amazing. But, you know, it's hard to get good at. So, you know, there aren't very many great directors. And that's one of the really tricky things about making movies. This is the third time I've worked with this director, Gavin. And I really like the guy. He did Miracle.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
He did this movie Warrior. Warrior is with the boxer? Jake Gyllenhaal? No. Why am I forgetting his name? The dude from Venom. Tom Hardy.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And he did Miracle, which is about the Olympic hockey team.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Yeah. I petted a small dog. It's like small injuries all the time, you know? And so you start to get a little bit that, that can kind of affect you. And I think if you, um, I think part of it's, you gotta just get comfortable with the fact that, uh, you know, and I guess I'm lucky cause I'm, I don't feel like, Oh shit, I better look young. And.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
I liked him. So that makes it fun. We came really close with him on this movie. Yeah, we just hit it off really well. And it's like, I'm sure you experienced this in your line of work. Some people you kind of just hit it off with. It works. It's great. Like, oh, my God. You don't even know kind of how it happens. And sometimes the chemistry is just not there.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Yeah, Shane Gillis is funny. But I mean, so what I'm saying, like for you personally, right? Like you might find that like you sitting down talking to somebody works, even if somebody's great, they might come in and you guys just don't hit it off or you might be great. In this case, I really felt like with John, like we got really lucky and we both kind of – it's like a two-hander.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
It's like a kind of odd couple sort of – because I'm very reserved, very straight. He's very tough and ballsy and so like – you know what I mean? And so we're kind of opposites, but we love each other, but we're kind of brothers. We drive each other crazy and we're frustrated with each other and there's kind of –
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Those kind of relationships, dynamics, and stories really depend on the chemistry you have. And John's just an amazing actor, but also it was great to work with him. And I love the guy. I respect him. He's a good man. He's a great father. He works hard. He's just everything.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Like, is there a way to kind of... Yeah, because the way they set it up is like, you know, and I don't think this is like optimal necessarily, but because of how you got to get everybody together and, you know, build the sets and do all this shit and all at once, you know, it gets, you end up working like, you know, 14, 16 hour days.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And, you know, there is, you know... it's a function of just the, some inefficiencies and the way it works. And sometimes that's what you have to do. So you, you're constantly working on sort of all you're thinking about morning, moon, night, and you go home, go to sleep, wake up, go back to work. So you can get burnout on it, but you can also like with account too, it was like,
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
it started to just work better and better than I thought. And so every day I was thrilled to go to work.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And I found as I get older, I'm like, I want to work with people that I really like that make, cause like so much of your life is spent at work. That becomes kind of what, like, obviously, you know, I have my family. That's the number one thing in my life. And I just make the time for that. I have my kids. I'm divorced. I have them, you know, half the time. So I got them half the week.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
then I'm like with them, those part of my life, I'm going to spend at work. And that's, so I've realized like, we want my life to be happy. I got to have fun. Then I want to be working with people that I really like and respect and enjoy being around. And it's not always easy to choose that. Not everybody can, you get lucky when, you know, and so I was with, this was really lucky.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
I, you know, kind of am who I am and, and I'm all right with that. And also kind of what I, what I like, what I'm interested in more and more is stuff that doesn't necessarily involve like how I look like that pressure. I think like for women, I, for anybody who's sees himself all the time,
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
People have a whole different attitude. That's something I've found.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
yeah uh early on i made a you know a bunch of movies that were like independent movies that you know they didn't have like distribution they have like a studio that said okay we're paying for this and when it's finished we're gonna put a bunch of money in advertising because you got to spend a bunch more money to advertise a movie after you make it right and or at least you know and that that's one of the big things that's changing now people are like okay how can we do this in a more intelligent way because all that money spent on television commercials just a wasted now that's that's why i'm here like this is a much more effective way to
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
The movie's really good. If you had a movie that wasn't good, you kind of do a few of the basic things and Because look, it's going to turn out like, you know, you're going to, it's going to be a bell curve one way or the other. The better you are, you're going to move your bell curve a little bit further down and have a better chunk of movies.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
But I got about like 12 movies that I really love and I'm proud of. And about 25 that are like, I like this. I didn't like that. You know, and about 10 or 12, whatever that are like, That's fucking terrible. I hate this. I can't watch it. It was awful. And when I did independent movies, sometimes they just didn't get distribution. Like no one wanted to put it out or I went to a film festival.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
I haven't had movies that were so like just something so terrible happened when the studio already was making it that it wasn't put out. But, you know, you have like they changed their plan. You can kind of see, oh, now we're going to shift to this or that. Now you can put something on streaming and you don't used to be like you were going to go out theatrical. So you kind of were like naked.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
You just had your you know what I mean? And if it didn't work, everybody knew because they say, look, this movie made 10 cents this weekend. And, you know, you'd want them to take the fucking billboard down, drive past the billboard like.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Chris Nolan's a brilliant, brilliant guy. Tell me about your movie with Dave Spade. Who do you play? Is it comedy?
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Let me tell you, that first cut of the movie, when I see the first cut of my own movie, I want to kill myself.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
really like you should not go crazy seeing the first cut and not like it i almost have never like now i have a company and we make a bunch of movies and you know the first cut it's this is one of the only movies where the first cut came in i was like it's great really 90 percent of time you're like okay we got a long way to go it's a very iterative process they get better and more work is done after you finish shooting to make it good yeah that's what i'm doing so
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Sit down and be like, this is what's supposed to be funny about this scene. Like, and explain it to them. What you think is funny and is good because they, it may seem obvious to you and it probably doesn't to that person. Like you can lose track of you go, look, the reason it's funny is because you think we're going to do this. We, we know this about us from the first, you know, whatever scene.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And when it come in, it's that take where I like yell that the guy, that should be a surprise. Like, You'd be surprised how often, it's hard to go in and tell them.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
It feels shitty too to put all that work into it and look at it and go, what the fuck is this?
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Yeah, and like that's what you want to do, great. Right. But it's a very tricky thing for other people to like get you.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And to know, you know what I mean? Your sense of humor, your worldview is all obvious to you, right? But it's just not to people. So a lot of times you have to spend like more time than you would have thought literally going – here's what should be funny. If you can explain the joke, like you're a super funny guy, funny comedian, you understand comedy very well.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
So you can sit and break it down to him and go like, you gotta know this about it. What's funny is that, you know, we didn't expect me to do this. That's a callback to this other moment. Or the whole thing that when I did it, what I thought was funny is this take where I did that.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Like, because on the set, I'm sure, you know, if you're doing a comedy and you shot it, you had moments where you were like, that's funny, right? I think that's funny. I think that's good.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
sometimes it's literally about going back into the dailies and saying like, okay, go find the closeup or find this two shot. The thing where I said to David and David looked at me like this and whatever, that was the one where I left and thought that works. Like there's no mystery or magic to why they're doing it a different way. They oftentimes just need feedback.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
It's, it is, this is not like sculpting or writing a novel. It's not a single person, you know, it's collaborative. It has to be collaborative, right? If I'm directing a movie with you in it and it obviously is going to have your comic sensibility, like, I got to know and get what's funny to you or I'm not the guy. And I'm going to need help along the way.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Any director is going like, so how come, what do you imagine about this? Or what do you think? You know what I mean? Like, that's why you have to explain it and sort of talk about it because that person's got to understand all those things that, made you be funny in the first place and start going, oh, people are laughing when I say, oh, these are funny. You know what I mean?
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And you've put it together and professionalized it. But like, you got to share that with them. Otherwise, really. And then this is also where people sometimes get into fights, of course, because people's ego gets in the way. But ego will kill you. You have to be able to hear, I don't care what you do. You have to be able to hear like, this doesn't work. This is dog shit.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Because the audience will tell you. You know what I mean?
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
There's things I really like about it and things I really don't like, right? And I wish they didn't have to be together, but they are, right? Like it's kind of life. You got to take the good with the bad. I don't really like to – Like do big social events or go out much. I'm kind of shy. I don't really want to be on.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
That's valuable because not everybody does. So what you have, right? is that awareness. You don't think about it. You don't have, you feel it. Right. You're like, that feels funny. Or when you see something, you're like, that feels wrong. Like makes you uncomfortable. Right. You see.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
So that is a thing that's unique to you. Right. So you need to like give them access to that and get it. And when you, you know, and if somebody is going to like take it personal, it's, it's not personal. Like it's your, you know, and when David thought was funny, like, okay, like it's, You have to be connected in that way and you have to understand that it's not about like, okay, fuck you guys.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Now I'm going to go make my vision of this thing. No, that's a disaster.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Then you should definitely be hands on because by the way, no one's gonna do it for you. Oh, I agree with that too. It's going to get better on its own, man. It's going to get better if you get in and work on it. And by the way, you're going to see it again. And you're going to have to go, okay, closer. Now let's try this. Let's try that.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And then again, the way movies get better really is iterative. It's like coats of paint. You know what I mean? You got to keep on going. It's like a good paint job on a car. It's like 12 coats of paint. That's why it looks good. You know what I mean? Do movies take a long time to edit sometimes? Yeah. 26 weeks is the post-production schedule for most movies, right? That includes music.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
That's half of one year. Yeah, and it's longer than the production. You're trying to grab everything you can during production. It's more expensive every day to shoot. Editing is, you rent the editing room, the facilities.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Do they charge more if it's like, you know what I mean? Like if you can get a chicken, they're not endangered. You can kill that shit, just cut his head off. That's $10 for the owl. You can get a tall chicken. Right. No one's going to know the difference. You can take the chicken, break his neck, and he's turned around. You can get a tall, curious chicken. We'll give you that.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
I think maybe that's just like one of those things where it's like, what's the rate for owls? You just get to make it up if you sell owls.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
about it. I wouldn't make a movie that I didn't, it'd be like making a movie with you and not getting your humor, right? Like it would just be crazy. Like you, as the director, you got to care more, be more interested in that movie than everybody else. Everyone else is going to be bored of it, right? And you've got to love it the whole time through.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
So the big key is like, this is going to be interesting to me. There was a lot of things that were interesting to me about that movie. One was the real story, the CIA agent who had done it, the people that I met and talked to at the CIA, the actual nature of, like, intelligence work versus, you know, what you had seen with a, like, you know, like, super spy shit that's not really realistic.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Certainly when I'm like in my regular life and I'm walking around in my, you know, whatever underwear and T-shirts. I don't want people looking at me. I like my family and my kids and my life. I wish that were more private. I don't I don't know how many people really want. to be sort of scrutinized in that way. But I, I really like making movies and I like telling those stories.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And this story was really interesting to me. And also I thought – it was like the fact that they had this like bizarre connection to Hollywood and the solid would make up artists. And that we try to bridge those two worlds was, was really interesting to me, but it was a scary, challenging movie because the director's main job is tone, right?
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Like that's the main dress that the director is going to really create is like, what's the tone of this? Like, what's the vibe? What's our, is this serious? What are we interested in? Like, what do we consider funny? What do we, you know, all those things.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
that that you know go into all the choices we make in life from the car you get the closure by all that what kind of what is your taste and not everyone's gonna like it right some people it's just not gonna be their taste you gotta at least make it as good as you can to your own taste like you said your own instincts yeah you gotta find that tone that matches because people want to believe they're going to expect a certain tone from you as well i think you know and
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And when you don't, when that tone doesn't work, you're like, this is kind of crass. Jesus fucking, you know what I mean? Corny. It's like, it's, it seems silly or whatever. And it's like, because you're asking someone to take something seriously that they can't take seriously or, or think is funny that they don't think is funny.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And, and that's where it's a, it's a tricky kind of nebulous job, but that's the most interesting to me, important thing about it. And that's, yeah. You know, do you, would you let your children act? Do you think? Well, I wouldn't let him act professionally while they were children, no.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
But I would let, you know, if they wanted to do plays and shit and make their own kind of stuff with their friends, that's fine with me. I don't think it would be, I don't know judgment against people that do it. I've done playing movies with, you know, child actors and stuff.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And that's fine. from my experience, uh, acting as a kid and what I, and what I want for my children is not, uh, is, is not that, but also you got to understand that then they, you know, I got a 19 year old, I got one 16, I was 13. Oh wow. They make their own choices.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Yeah. I mean, that's the whole job of life. It's like for me before I had kids, you know, I didn't really realize what my life was about. And then this becomes the central challenge of your life. And, and if you have a, everybody has complications and tricky shit in their life.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And that's part of being a parent is managing that with what kind of life am I bringing my kids into making a good life for my children? How do we, you know? And that's part of that is my kids are growing up out here in LA. I didn't grow up in LA. I didn't, I never met a famous person or actor or anything. That shit just seemed like a million miles away to me. And,
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And so look, the truth is I always knew that was kind of a part of it. And so, you know, I deal with it. I don't, there's things I, I don't love about this business. A lot of them, you know, it can make you kind of crazy, you know, it can record and there's stuff that's just no fun for me. Like, you know, events and shows and stuff like that.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
I remember I was 12 years old in Boston and I saw this. Christopher Lloyd who played the dude on Back to the Future, you know? And I saw him walking down the street. I think he was doing a play.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
I followed the guy for like six blocks. Like now I'd be like, there's this fucking 12 year old kid following me. You know what I mean? Like I stalked him. Like I couldn't believe it that it was the guy from Back to the Future. I lost my mind. Yeah. And it was the only celebrity, famous, whatever person I'd ever seen or known. And so my kids are now – they are seeing different stuff.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Some of it's useful for them because it disabuses them of some illusions that I think are worth being disabused of. And also – but I'm also like I don't – look, they're going to – if you – kids are going to kind of be and do who they are, what they want to do, which your job is to –
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
let them know that they're loved, that they're, keep them safe, you know, provide them opportunities and also not, you know, you gotta resist the temptation to try to get everything out of the way for them because you're not gonna learn anything or develop any grid or resilience if shit's just easy for you.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And it's hard watching your kids, like, even trying to climb over something. Your instinct is to pick them up, take them over. But you have to, like, yes, you don't want them to put their finger in a socket, you know what I mean, or off a cliff. But that doesn't mean – life has to be hard. It has to be difficult in some ways. It doesn't have to be – shouldn't be traumatic, shouldn't be –
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
you know, awful or painful, but things have to be hard for you to learn to do hard things. And this world, like it or not, is going to demand that you do hard shit.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
If you want to have anything, you know, if you want to be able to provide for your own family, have your own dreams, have, you know, the things that you want to have because if you don't do it, the guy next to you is going to do it better or, you know, or the woman over here is going to do it better and you're going to lose out. And also, you know, I don't want my kids to have that first big –
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
tough experience in life and like kind of fall apart. You know, you got it. Like some of the best lessons I ever learned in life were from failure. In fact, for sure. I didn't learn much from success. I learned a lot from failure. You know what I mean? But the most important thing you learn is that you can survive it. You can be okay. Yeah. They can knock you the fuck down.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And, you know, it's like getting, like when I was a kid where I grew up, I mean, we used to get in fights all the time.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And you found out that you'd get punched in the face and get your ass kicked. And that's not, and he'd be like, yeah, he kicked your ass. And you go like, and you get up and you come to school the next day.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
and you know i mean it's kind of like a tough day dude that first day was so tough yeah like damn randy i know it's worse that you have to hear about it than like just getting hit five times it's like yeah you kind of get your bell rung you know what i mean and but it's the like that's kind of going back to that thing about like embarrassment like kids will suffer more from being humiliated than physically hurt for example like that's the shit that really is painful
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
But now I don't, I don't wish to be clear that on my kid, like you don't need to be fighting and shit all the time, but it's, you know, it is valuable to know that you can fail or have something difficult happen, really painful, or get your heart broken. Have some girl be like, you know, be like, I don't like, you know what I mean? Embarrass you, whatever. You're going to be okay.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
I don't, some people really know how to have a good time. I wish I did. I wish I was out there like, great, we're going to hit it. And I'm going to, you know what I mean? Like, as if I had that attitude, I'd probably be happier about it.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
These things are not going to kill you. And in fact, they actually do make you stronger. If you kind of go like, okay, that was, if I didn't have some of the resilience that I picked up by, you know, my early life trying to, you know, I would have just kind of given up or collapsed or had bad shit. I'd be like, Oh, you know, and I'd fall down and never get up again.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Here's the thing, getting better at anything really never feels good. Like if you're building resilience, it's not a time that you're liking, you know what I mean? It doesn't feel good. Like, so that's what, okay. I don't like this.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
This feels like shit, but because it's hard because I can't lift these weights anymore because I can't, these other, you know, I'm exhausted and the other kids are still, you know, running sprints or whatever, you know, but like those are the moments for what it's worth where you're getting better.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
I mean, the thing I really that I care most about, and it's true of all three of my kids, is that all of them have like an innate like goodness of character, like a kindness. They don't they're not trying to go out and hurt other people. They and they have empathy like they care about and respect other people doesn't mean, you know.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Um, that obviously they don't make mistakes or they're perfect or whatever, but that basic thing about them is, is really, really important. I think it's, it's definitely also credit to their mom who's, who's amazing and who's spectacular and it's great. Like we're divorced, but we, we, I think do pretty good together, uh, raising the kids, going back and forth and all that stuff. And they're,
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
I mean, they're all, look, I think, you know, like any parent, you're going to be like, my kid's so cool.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
I'm not trying to. No, not at all. Listen, I think truly there's so much that I don't want. I just don't want to come off. And I know my kids will be like, dad, don't. fucking go on there and talk about me.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
So I was like, my son especially is like, dude, he's right now watching. It's like, oh no, no, no. But here's the truth. My oldest one has got a beautiful like commitment and sense of like wanting to make the world truly a better place. And she'll put her money where her mouth is. Like she doesn't want to do something. She's not asking other people to do. She makes personal sacrifice.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
She has that kind of integrity. You know, my middle child is really,
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
um is this incredible like feels things deeply like artist you know uh kind of is brilliant and so funny and my son has got like this incredible like joy of life and magnetism and sweetness and goodness to him um and like that's the stuff where it's like whether you can like dunk a basketball or write a great paper like great and i'm not you know but like that that's the shit that to me is more important that like kind of internal character stuff yeah that's cool dude
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
I agree. I think it's so important. It's the most important thing in the world.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
But, but, and I think absolutely boys need, um, and so do girls like you need to see that there's good men. You need to understand that good men are accountable and tell the truth. They can say they're sorry when they make a mistake. They're strong. You can rely on them. They're funny like that. They can show you strength and love and,
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And all this stuff that is good and beautiful and the people you want to be drawn to in your future life about masculinity, you want to know and see that modeled. And if you don't, First of all, there are children who are expecting, because there's children expecting to have that. If you don't, it fucks you up. And if you don't see what that looks like, you don't know kind of what to look for.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
That's funny because I was going to say, oh, I don't have that kind of memories of my dad, really. But the truth is, like, you know, after he got out of the house, you know, as a kid, he worked at bars. And so that's where I'd go see him, up at the bars. And he was like a bookie and, you know, taking bets on the side.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Yeah, a little bit. And he was – but that's what he did. He was a bartender for that period of life when I was kind of – 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, whatever.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
They had a jukebox, and then he'd be like, oh, go get in the cigarette machine. And I went in the bar, and it was cool to visit him in there. Remember the cigarette machine that had that pull-out thing?
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
But that was the days when they'd be like, tell you the kid, go to the store and get me some cigarettes. You walk in, eight years old, buy cigarettes. So yeah, exactly. But yeah, and also we were, I mean, my brother and I went to the bar. And those were, there was some, I do have some kind of fond memories of that. I wish I had more of them, which is one of the reasons why
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
like it's important for me in my life to make sure I don't fuck, you know, that I create those for my own children.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
You're like, what is that guy? I didn't, I don't know that character, but it's like, you're like, is he pissed?
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Uh, not at all. Um, you know, I guess, yeah, a little bit like in the sense that he was in Good Will Hunting with me and Matt and he was brilliant in it.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And then, um, but you know, like anybody like, and Matt's like, who's like, you know, my best friend as a kid and stuff like Matt Damon, you know, you had like, and he got more famous of Good Will Hunting and then my brother, you know, so you kind of, and you know, people, if you're really like,
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
try to map it out, like those sort of how famous are, which is kind of a weird and a hard thing to tell.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
It kind of moves around, but my brother was always a working actor, and then he became, you know, he really established himself, of course, won the Oscar for acting and kind of established himself just as a great actor and had a more steady kind of arc.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Uh, Oh yeah. Um, um, you're talking about, uh, yeah, Manchester by the sea. Yeah. Yeah. That's what he, what he won the Oscar for.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Uh, We are. You know, we're close. He's got great kids. I love his kids. And he's a great guy.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Well, that's what happens when you kind of really like get older. And then we were like up to 30 or whatever. I was just like hanging out with guys all the time. You know what I mean? We were going out, we're doing this or whatever. And that was kind of life most of it. And so you see all your friends all the time.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And my brother was one of the, you know, we'd all hang out and then you have kids, you have family. And then it's kind of like, okay, I'm going to have Friday at five or whatever for seven.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And then you kind of have to, you lose a little bit of that bigger network of like, who are, who are the, like, I know who 10 of these guys are, who are the other six, you know, that starts to kind of go away and, and you kind of have to be more selective. But, um, You know, my brother is a brilliant, funny, amazing guy. And his kids, it's a joy to see his kids grow up and be, you know.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Well, here's the thing. If the only time – like when somebody is taking a picture of me, I'm bummed because usually I'm with my kids. I'm trying to go somewhere, and then there's four guys. We're like – And I'm like, hey, man, can you give me some time? I'm trying to be with my kids. Do you mind? You know what I mean?
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Yeah, being an uncle is fun. Oh, it's the best. Because then you don't really, you can kind of just like let them do shit. You know, you don't have to be really the dad.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Yeah, because they'll tell you stuff that's kind of like... You can't talk to your parents about, like, whatever, you know, something. But you can kind of let, you know, the uncle kind of know. So you can be kind of on the side a little bit, a little cooler, even if you're really not that much cooler. And they're like, don't try to play it off like that.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
But you kind of get away with it a little bit. And, you know, you got to, like... you can't, you can't push it. You know what I mean?
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
In fact, that's at our office. And it's, it's one of those things people like, it's like, it's one of those things that sort of like, I don't know. People like to see it. It kind of reminds me a little bit of, like, Planet Hollywood a little bit. I'm always like, I don't get this rubber bat suit here. But it's like, I don't know. It's hard to tell. Like, look, I get it.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
That's a kind of a cool movie souvenir. Sometimes I feel like if you put a grapefruit on, like, TV every week. You know what I mean? And then you just put it to the mall. People will go by and be like, Oh, there's that grapefruit from TV. You know what I mean?
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
So it's sometimes I would tell whether something's interesting because it's interesting or because, but, but I can see how that is kind of interesting. The most interesting thing about it when people see it as like, damn, how do you wear this? Um, And it's true.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
It is, like, of all those type of roles and stuff, like, the superhero thing, the outfits make it a lot harder to do your job because you're kind of constrained and they're real hot. It's like, you know when, like, wrestlers, like, when I was a kid, you used to run around with, like, trash bags to lose weight because you'd just dump all the water. You know what I mean?
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
So the look on your face is kind of like, and then they go away, not taking the picture. You go inside and you're having a good time. But it's this selective experience of like take a picture of somebody every time they're feeling irritated. They're going to look irritated.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
I did it for my kid's birthday when he was, yeah, my son's birthday and he was like, He was a little young, but it was fun. I got the pictures now. Now he's like, I guess that was cool that you did that. At the time, I didn't know what the fuck you were doing. And I'm like, but it was cool, though. Do I get credit for it now? He's like, I guess. That's dope. But I had fun.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And that was the whole reason I did it. Like, I'm going to be Batman. My son, like, how cool is it your dad's Batman? Yeah. My son was like three and shit, and so he was scared of the movie. But since then, it's become kind of, in retrospect, I think, kind of cool. It's hard to tell what your kids think is cool, because most of the time they're kind of like, uh-huh.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
I don't have a wife yet, but, yeah, you all – Look, your parents are never going to be, like – because part of the thing is, like, you don't – you can't, like – you need to separate from your parents, right? You need to, like, move away, get out of the house, that whole thing. Like, move on, become your own man and all that stuff.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And if you're too wrapped up in, like, your folks and, you know, you can – you know, it gets in the way of that.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
So there's part of it where they're like, you know, and it comes off like, well, I'm like, hey, you guys want to play some games? I'm like, close the door.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Yeah. It's like, I'll come piss you off and then take your picture and then put, and then be like, look, I pissed off.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
It's, um, no, it's not, I mean, it's not currently, we did it with the company we have them, but we, we are not doing it now. And we took it, we, we had it on for a while back then and then brought it back. And it's interesting. I really liked it. And I thought it was interesting that like, cause it's because that's what I do. And I know, okay, that's tricky. Like it's hard.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
You got all this drama that comes up on a movie, but when we had like a million dollars to make the movie and everybody like a million dollars, like that's like nothing. That's nothing. And now it's almost setting people up.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
It would kind of just be like, then you'd just be doing a show about people getting into arguments and smashing things and having a breakdown because you can't really even do it for a million dollars.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Unions and wages and all that stuff. But I really liked that idea of that show. Because to me, it was about also creating opportunities for people that are outside Hollywood.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Who could come in and be like, look, I know what I'm doing. I want to do something. And then you got to like, okay, well, let's see what you can do. Do you think Tom Brady's good as an announcer? Yeah, I think Tom's good as an announcer. I think he's... Look. Me too, dude. I think he's really smart, obviously, about football.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Right. But, and it's like useful. Cause that's why like, you know, I'm sure you've seen on all this stuff, like the, you know, that's kind of the idea is like, follow somebody around antagonize them. And then hopefully they'll have like a nervous breakdown and go crazy on you. And then your video be worth more money, you know?
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
I think that, like, it's a – people kind of – you and you are like the greatest quarterback who ever lived. They think, well, okay, now he's going to come in and change broadcasting. And, like, just being a normal human being seems kind of like – I mean, who do you want to listen to analyze something? Like, if I want to, like –
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Somebody tell me about like, you know, a concert like I want to hear from, you know, some great musician. You know, if I'm if you're you figure, well, nobody's going to have better or wiser analysis analysis than Tom. Maybe not about like telling jokes or whatever. That's something different.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
You start to see how much analysis went into that. I still think one of his, like, real – Like, one of the things that really separated him, because, you know, everybody knows about how, like, you know, he was, like, drafted late and all this stuff. Like, and his, you know, his, like, combine numbers weren't, like, you know, so people weren't just like, this guy's going to be amazing.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
I feel like one of the things that he has that people don't really talk about is, like, And this is so fucking important is like, I feel like he has this thing where he doesn't get tight. He just doesn't get nervous. Like, I think that there is a huge advantage. Imagine like you're in the Super Bowl. Oh, yeah.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And it's like, you know, fourth and eight and you got, you know, seven seconds or whatever.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
everyone else's heart rate is banging their head adrenaline i think it's what makes actors good too good actors at certain moments you're getting relaxed the ability to relax intense situations where other people get tense because tension and stress it locks you up you know you panic it's like everything it's all bad oh it's horrible that's when yeah dude it's definitely there's moments the first time i'd ever audition i was like open the windows open the windows and like there's not a lot of windows in here
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Like I can remember a long time ago, you know, years and years ago, like I really had a lot of empathy for Britney Spears because I remember that it seemed like it's not somebody that I I knew or hung out with. But I just like everybody else. You see all this shit that comes through. And I but having had my own experience myself, I knew like these are people are following her around.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Because it turns out, guys, the legal clinic got shut down, too.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
I would sit there with my attorneys. My legal, you know, my probation officer meets me in there. I usually deal out of that place.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Oh, he's a terrific actor, man. He's great. And that's really what you kind of like, no matter what you do, a big part of it is, 90% of it is, as they say, is like picking the right actors. Because there's really nothing you can do. You're kind of like, okay, now go ahead. And you can get about 10% calibration, but the right people for the right role is so much a part of what goes into directing.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
It's what I was talking about, like kind of understanding what people sort of think about or assumptions they have about actors that they are going to watch. There's a lot of actors that I would love to work with that haven't worked with and I'm lucky to have worked with some great ones so far. And I have a movie that I've just finished shooting. called animals.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And I got, and I, I may even direct another movie, uh, next year, which is actually pretty quick. Um, but it's not all set up yet, but it's something that I really love doing. And I'm, I will do it like, especially like, I got one kid that's, you know, in college now and the other two, like by the time my son who's 13 goes to college, then I plan on kind of just directing all the time.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
But like I said, it takes so much focus and energy that one of the regrets I have even about movies that I really like and I'm proud of is like what periods of time that I miss with my kids because that just doesn't come back.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Or like, I do them in LA, you know what I mean? So I'm not traveling, so I can be home for dinner and come, you know, and just make that a, make that the priority. But it's, it's, it's a part of what, why I slow down a bunch from directing because it just, in order to do it in a way that I understood that it required, like it just requires almost total commitment and concentration.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Well, You know, it's tricky because one of the things that's happened is that, first of all, movies just used to be made here. Country music was made in Nashville. That's how it was. And then you had other states and countries that started kind of offering incentives because they felt like,
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
If we bring this business here and it stimulates all our other businesses because there's this huge kind of trickle-down effect from the restaurants, the dry cleaners, the drivers, to blah, blah, blah, blah, all this money into the economy. And LA or California didn't really – I think whatever – I'm not sure what happened. They didn't respond or try to compete.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
They have a small incentive now and they've actually broadened it some and I think they're aware of it. But it's tricky whereas other states – and they're kind of controversial. Some states have felt like they worked out for them and they're happy. Georgia has got a huge incentive program. I mean a lot of Marvel movies shoot down there. I got a place in Georgia and I –
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
you know, that's, that's, I filmed in Georgia. It's in fact, the accountant was, we filmed in Georgia and that's why, right. They start offering the incentives, obviously been successful for California's ego about it in some weird way.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Yeah. I'm not, I don't really know enough about the politics of it to know. It seems to me like, and I think it's like, well, we've always had it here. We don't have to give the incentives. Like that's what's pulling people away. But it's like, but now everybody's moved and moving away and moving around.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
in a time where she may or may not have been having difficulty. I don't know. Cause I don't know her, but I do know that the, the cycle of having people harangue you and yell at you and hassle you and follow you. It kind of seemed like that itself was kind of whipping up the whole thing into a tizzy. So it's, It's like they're not helping. Well, yeah. And they're kind of poking a stick at it.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And if you can't make a movie without the, the crew is what's going to make or break your movie.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Harry Potter movies and all the, like, DZ movies. All these... This stuff goes and shoots, like, out of the country. You know, look, it's... I obviously selfishly, like this is where my kids are. So this is where I want to be. But also the best technicians I believe in the world by and large are here and they're really artists too. And they're ready to work too. A lot of them.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And look, you have these fires and all this stuff. It's like, But look, it's hard all over and I get it. I don't begrudge anybody anything. I would like to preserve like, look, it's a big business for this country, right? Like show business. There's something that we make that everybody buys all over the world. We buy a lot of shit from other countries, right?
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Like this is something that people want to buy from us.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
It's kind of like, I think California, I'm not, I still feel like, even though I'm a resident now like that, I'm from somewhere else, you know, from Boston.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
California is like, is felt, I think in a way like, hey, people come here. You know what I mean? So we don't need to bring people here, but like times are changing. Movie business, like you say, is changing. It's theatrical business changing. It's all... You're looking at one thing that people watch more than anything else, which is YouTube.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Do I take a date? Do I take my cousin? Who do I take? Take your whole family. Everybody you know. Actually, the truth is, it is a movie that anybody can see. My kids can see. Real accountants better like it. That's the core. If accountants don't like it, we're still fucked. I mean, you know what I'm saying? You're going to call the movie The Waiter, and waiters don't go.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
You think anyone else is coming? But it's yeah, man, it is a movie that I think honestly, like works for, you know, it's it's smart. And it's not like, oh, well, only young people like there are only old people like this. It's got everything. It's hard to make a movie that I think strikes this chord and kind of works for a broad audience. And it is better seen in the theater.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
So and it's one that I'm willing to leverage my kind of personal word and credibility. I'm like, go see it. You won't regret it.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Listen, a lot of people listen to your show, so I appreciate it very, very much. Thanks for having me. Tell your son I said hello. I will, dude. That's right there. That's the whole reason for coming right there. That makes me cool right there.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Look, look at it. That's where it felt kind of like that's the first time I thought this is kind of a weird kind of unintentional, I think, culturally, but kind of collective cruelty where. What's taken out of the image that you see are the people around waving the stick at the tiger or poking on it or whatever. And all you see is the growling animal or whatever it is.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
But a part of that is because somebody's coming around and hitting on it or whatever to make it get active. And that's where you think, OK, well, this isn't really news. It's not even real. It's not what would be happening if this effect wasn't taking place. Yeah.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And that's where I thought, OK, you know, the sort of wise thing to do is to just sort of like maintain one's perspective and try to remove yourself a little bit. It doesn't which is what I would like to do. I think there's this sense that that like if you see someone's picture all the time, they must want you to be seeing. Right. Right. Which is not the case at all for me. I'm self-conscious.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
I don't really want you to be seeing that at all. any reason for it as an actor it's no good for you because I don't really want people if they watch a movie to be like that's not him because I saw him yesterday at lunch and I know he's who he really is it gets in the way of you being able to create like the illusion it's
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Really hard work to create the illusion that this person, like the character in The Accountant 2, for example, is a real person in a real circumstance. And in order to get the audience to care about it, to laugh, to find it exciting and empathize with the character, they have to suspend disbelief. That's harder if you're constantly being shown something else. So I think it gets in the way.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
It makes it harder to be an actor. And it's also just – It's also not good for you. People start to resent you if they see you too much, no matter whether or not you're trying to be seen. You go, no, no, I don't want to do this. And nonetheless, like I remember 20 years ago going through an experience where I was like, it feels to the world like I'm trying to shove myself in their face. Ah.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And nobody likes that, right? Nobody wants to be the camera hog, the guy who's trying to get a bunch of attention.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
And I'm like, man, you can just leave me alone, and I would be much happier. So in a way, it also can damage your career. Although I think it's – I don't pretend to understand the nuances of social media and how to manage that as a celebrity, so I don't do it. Some people do it really well. And I think there is a difference now because, like –
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
It's like if you have 100 million followers, that's actually valuable and meaningful in a different way. I still, I'm kind of old school, I guess, in a way of seeing.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
I'm middle school. Yes, exactly. I am a seventh grader.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
going to say that is that when I was a kid I kind of thought Harrison Ford was that guy you know what I mean like that's what Harrison Ford I think he's probably the biggest you know movie star of my childhood and whether it was like you know Indian Jones or Star Wars like he was the guy and I kind of thought he was that guy and so it's a little weird to see that guy just like
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
you know, in his sneakers and his kind of raincoat walking around Brentwood. It's sort of like, of course it's disappointing or it's disillusioning or something.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
Cause you, you have this thing in your mind that's people went to a, you know, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas went to a whole, you know, use all their talent, went to a bunch of work to make this dude look like Indiana Jones and Han Solo. And I think what I've seen now is like I actually don't even want to see the actors that I really like.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
I don't want to go on your social because I don't want to know what you had for lunch because it just makes it harder for me to get into like, you know, what you're doing.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
It's Hollywood sort of adjacent, which is this side of media culture that –
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
profits from and circles and there's a symbiotic relationship between Hollywood and obviously like here I am promote my movie and running around and now I don't want to go on like a tabloid and do that or whatever it is but that that becomes part of that culture too and and then you have like any interview show or all these and you're right in a sense it is Hollywood because if you do a movie at Universal you know you'll see that person's doing all NBC, Comcast,
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
you know, talk shows and appearances, right? Like it's not a coincidence because when they do their presentation in the boardroom for Comcast to their shareholders, they go, look, we make these movies, we spend a lot of money and then we get the stars and we plug them into all of our other shows that we also own. And there's a lot of synergy, so on and so forth. The,
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
The idea, though, is like, OK, there's that's a kind of a tax that you end up sort of paying on your sort of life and the one and on this thing that you're trying to build, which is something that connects with people and moves them and that they want to go out to a fucking movie theater and pay good money to see. And it makes it a little bit harder.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
than to have to kind of go around and do all that other stuff and be like, okay, well, that's not who I really am. And to try to sort of be interesting and relevant in some other way that isn't really what you kind of even wanted to do. And so you're right. It's sort of part Hollywood and also kind of Hollywood adjacent.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
It's a good metaphor. Yeah. Like the, the movie as the kind of lake and the underneath of what's both, what goes into it and what happens behind the scenes and also what's, what it takes is, And it does kind of like, it's interesting, like, yeah, if you overtax it, it lowers the lake and all of a sudden it doesn't look like a beautiful lake.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
It starts to look like the low country marsh and it pulls down. You start to see all the black mud around the edges and the muck. And that's, yeah, I don't know how to kind of balance that. But as a director, you know, you're right. Like, I would say that's the... way, the principal way I've always kind of looked at this stuff.
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
So it used to be that you, you had an actor and you had people knew less about them. And now a part of even casting for me is what do people think or of and expect this person to do and, or be, and how can I both, I have to rely on that and use that, but I also have the opportunity to kind of subvert that in a way. And, and so you have to be mindful, not just of the story you're telling,
This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
#578 - Ben Affleck
but what does the audience bring into the theater with them or or when they turn on television you know expect that's dude that's yeah i think that's advanced thinking to be honest with you i really do it's just uh learned by lived experience mostly you know find out like i even often make mistakes you know like if i sometimes i found if i sort of