Ben Affleck’s career resurgence came partially thanks to making the transition to directing. The actor filmed several successful projects like The Town and Argo that both cemented his legacy as a filmmaker.
But his newfound status as a director sometimes got a different response out of his fellow actors that made him feel excluded.
Ben Affleck felt actors treated him differently when he became a director
Affleck didn’t think the first feature he directed would’ve received a warm welcome from critics. He debuted Gone Baby Gone not too long after a time he’d been ridiculed and scrutinized by the media. The actor thought that tradition was going to continue with his directorial efforts.
“I just assumed it would be received poorly, because it seemed the way that people wanted to talk about me,” Affleck once told GQ.
Although he asserted not many people went to see the movie, Gone Baby Gone actually enjoyed favorable reviews from critics. Affleck didn’t stop there, however, and continued directing more features. The years following Gone Baby Gone saw Affleck filming The Town and Argo, the latter of which won an Oscar.
But he also wondered if becoming a director created a small rift between himself and his fellow actors. He noticed subtle changes in other actors’ behavior after he became a director that Affleck found off-putting.
“I’m not one of the guys any more. I remember I was walking over to the house guests and I heard one of the guys talking about getting stoned – I think somebody had brought something into the house – and as I arrived everybody clammed up,” Affleck once told Shortlist. “I thought ‘When did I become this guy? What am I, the dad?’ I’m an asshole all of a sudden.”
Ben Affleck felt directing made him a better actor
Directing movies not only benefited Affleck’s career, but it also played a part in making him a better actor as well. Filmmaking gave Affleck the ability to watch professional performers in a way that he never did before. This would soon inform Affleck’s own performances.
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“I’ve kind of changed as an actor, my approach, particularly from before and after I started directing, because it was really instructive,” Affleck once told Variety’s Actors on Actors. “I learned more about acting from directing than I did from acting classes and being an actor. There’s something really valuable about being on the other side, and seeing what works and seeing what doesn’t. And seeing what you can do editorially.”
But Affleck also believed his age had an influence on his craft as well.
“I feel like my own acting, at least by my own standards, has gotten better as I’ve gotten older, and had more life experiences and gone through more things and had more stuff to access,” he said. “I have to find ways to make this as realistic as possible and trust that if I feel the way the character is feeling, then it’s good.”
Ben Affleck found being a director rewarding
One of the advantages of becoming a director was Affleck’s ability to use the kinds of instincts he had to ignore while acting. The Air director once confided to Rotten Tomatoes he used to secretly crave more control over some of his film projects.
“’I wish that we were doing X. This is what I think. I think we should do X,’” he remembered thinking sometimes while on a film set. “The director wants to do Y, well OK, but that would be madness. I’d say, ‘Let’s not do Y. Please let’s not do Y!’”
Directing offered Affleck the kind of creative outlet he didn’t have while acting. It was an experience Affleck enjoyed no matter how his film would’ve been judged by critics.
“The rewarding thing about this for me, even before this movie came out, is that, you know what? If you don’t like this movie, fine. I’m the guy to see. If you like it, I’m the guy to see. It doesn’t matter, and I don’t care. I’m at home with that,” Affleck said. “I’m at peace with the fact that there are things that I would reshoot about this movie. I’m at peace with the ways in which I feel I f***ed up. And I’m at peace with the fact that there are things that I wanted to do that I like about the movie. You know, ultimately that’s comforting, and I can live with that.”
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