“Ben is definitely a charmer and a half. And the nice thing is it’s sincere,” agreed Smith, who gave Affleck his first leading role, in “Chasing Amy,” and also helped get Miramax to produce “Good Will Hunting” at a time when other studios weren’t biting.
Affleck says that while he is indebted to many, Smith and Miramax co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein were most instrumental in building his career. Smith, meanwhile, told Playboy magazine last year that he has a crush on Affleck, whom he called “a god among men.”
“He has a level of gratitude that you don’t usually see in front of the camera,” Smith said recently, noting that even as busy as Affleck is now, he still occasionally signs on to Smith’s Web site to converse with fans. “People tend to forget that they owe their jobs to the people who come to see you. You’re only as good as the lowest fan who digs you. The nice thing about Affleck is he doesn’t feel he’s owed it. It’s something you earn.”
Frankenheimer, who says Affleck was his first choice for the lead in “Reindeer Games,” has noticed that same quality in the actor.
“I needed a very vulnerable actor, a very masculine, strong actor and a very, very good actor. Ben is all those things. But the other thing is I really love is his work ethic,” said the venerated director, who has involved Affleck — at the actor’s request — in much of the pre-production process. “He approaches the work with great enthusiasm, great respect for the process and great professionalism. That means a lot to me.”
Gus Van Sant, who directed “Good Will Hunting,” once said that Affleck, when excited, resembled nothing so much as “a giant golden retriever with a ball.” But as surely as Affleck comes off as one affable puppy, he is also one shrewd hound. He may be navigating his own route to stardom, but he’s not confused about what he wants. And he’s willing to do what it takes to get it.
Director Michael Bay, for example, recalls being reluctant to screen-test Affleck for “Armageddon.” But when he did, heeding producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s advice, Affleck won him over.
“The first time someone said, ‘Yeah, go look up Ben Affleck,’ I said, ‘I saw “Chasing Amy” and he’s got a fat face and a goatee,’ ” said Bay, who tested Affleck while “Good Will Hunting” was still in production. Bay recalls the broad-shouldered actor “sitting there on the couch, with big wide-stretched arms, saying, ‘I want to be in a Michael and Jerry movie so bad!’ He was reciting quotes from my other movies. I said to Jerry, ‘He’s a geek.’ And Jerry said, ‘No, he’s going to be a star.’ ”
Bay offered him the job but set a few conditions.
“I wanted him to work out and to get a tan, because he needed to look like he worked on an oil rig and to stand his own with Bruce Willis ,” Bay said. “And I wanted to fix his front teeth, because I like low angles and I’d already planned a lot of the shots low, at chin level, so you’d see a lot of teeth.”
Affleck didn’t hesitate. He got capped — on Disney’s dime. And the movie, for which he was paid about $ 600,000, gave him a global celebrity that, while it feels weird at times, he clearly enjoys. No snob, he.
“It wasn’t my childhood fantasy to work with Truffaut or to be in ‘Das Boot.’ I was bored by those movies — my mother dragged me to them as a kid. I like ‘Midnight Run’ better than I like ‘The Bicycle Thief.’ I really do,” he said, ticking off the movies that made him want to be an actor: “Back to the Future,” “Lethal Weapon,” “Blade Runner,” ‘Die Hard.” “I was 5 years old when ‘Star Wars’ came out and I saw it, like, 20 times. Doing ‘Armageddon’ represented fulfilling a childhood fantasy.”
Affleck grew up in a middle-class section of Cambridge, Mass., near MIT. His mom, Chris, was a fifth-grade public schoolteacher. His dad, Timothy, held a variety of jobs and had a drinking problem. Affleck was the oldest of two (his brother, Casey, is also an actor), and he remembers often playing the role of peacemaker.
