Posted by mlc at authorized_proxy6.cogeco.net on March 21, 2004 at 15:55:36:
Hope this hasn't been posted already. Nothing ground breaking, just a little blurb from Podium-land.
Ben's in a Jersey whirl
Ben Affleck hooks up with Kevin Smith -- and all seems well again
By BRUCE KIRKLAND -- Toronto Sun
NEW YORK -- Call it the winter of Ben Affleck's discontent.
His engagement to diva Jennifer Lopez self-destructed in an orgy of gossip about Affleck's reputed erratic behaviour, from gambling to gamboling and his apparent unwillingness to commit to a family life.
His career had already taken an ugly downturn, thanks to the stench remaining from the Bennifer bomb called Gigli. The 2003 romantic-action comedy -- which Affleck himself admits is so bad it's "dogs--t" -- recently swept six prizes at the Razzies, the anti-Oscars. It has become the most reviled Hollywood film of the new millennium.
Meanwhile, the John Woo sci-fi flick Paycheck was not enough to burnish Affleck's Hollywood star back to its original brilliance. Now it is up to his longtime pal, filmmaker Kevin Smith, to do his Affleck magic. Hello to Jersey Girl.
While the notion is a stretch because it ignores excellent work in films such as Changing Lanes, it is suggested to the 31-year-old, Berkeley-born, Cambridge-raised Affleck that he gives his best performances in Smith's films.
"I sort of feel that, too, and I like myself the most in his movies," Affleck says. He starred in Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma and, in a hilarious, self-mocking segment with collaborator Matt Damon, in Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back.
"Maybe it's comfort," Affleck says of working with Smith, the ebullient, profane, New Jersey writer-director who has created his own niche market. "Maybe it's the willingness to be vulnerable. Maybe they're better-suited roles for me."
In Jersey Girl, Smith's least offensive and most charmingly emotional movie, Affleck plays a slick New York publicist. He falls in love, marries and fathers a daughter. But his wife (played, perhaps unfortunately although she is good in the role, by Lopez) tragically dies while giving birth.
That is just the first dozen minutes of the movie. After that, Jersey Girl is the heartfelt story of a single dad struggling to grow up himself and to raise his daughter (played at seven by Lopez lookalike and superfan Raquel Castro). Lopez is never seen again -- no flashbacks. Affleck gets to mature in the role and eventually he tries to negotiate a new love affair with a video store clerk (Liv Tyler). The movie focuses entirely on the complexities of relationships.
Affleck says Smith knows how to use him as an actor. "I think he does understand (me). Like any friend, with Kevin I see the best of him and he sort of sees the best of me, which is what you hope for from friends. Those are the people you can count on to be supportive."
Smith, being such such a rascal, puts it in slightly different language when talking about how crucial Jersey Girl is: "I would love it to be a comeback film for Affleck because he would really f---ing owe me big time!"
In a more mellow state, Smith elaborates: "I just get along very well with Ben and I like him. You make movies for two, three months at a time. You're kind of stuck on set with people who you may or may not get along with. You want to get along with them, particularly the ones you're going to work with the most. And he's a dude I love -- I absolutely love -- in a really platonic kind of way."
Smith also confesses he looks up to the actor and sometimes muses on actually being Affleck. "I'm not the kind of guy who wishes I was someone else but, if I was, I would want to be Affleck. And not because of the success and the fame and the money, although that would be nice, but just because he's a real genuine human being. He's a really great guy: Funny, charming, witty, very f---ing smart, well read. He's cut from God's own wood.
"So he's a dude who's not only a friend, but I really look up to him as well. I also believe in him big time as an actor and I write to his voice so I like how he delivers my dialogue. I tend to gravitate to him all the time."
Smith also has a fixed idea on Affleck's professional needs, even after he became a Hollywood star commanding up to $15 million US, his reported salary on Paycheck.
"I think it's important for him to mix it up. He's happy to do the big studio stuff but he likes to act every once in a while. So there was never a fear that he wouldn't come back. And I'm not above going, 'Dude, you owe me! I put you on the map!' S--t like that. Thankfully, I've never had to pull that card but, hopefully, this movie really pans out big time so I'll be like, 'Dude, you really owe me! I saved your bacon!' "
Something more subtle is actually in play. Affleck is concerned, but more about his reputation as an actor than as a movie star. He is proud of Jersey Girl. He feels it contains "substantive" ideas and emotions as it charts the course of the father-daughter relationship, as well as a father-son relationship (with George Carlin playing Affleck's dad).
Affleck often gets to emote, especially in his reaction to the death of Lopez at the beginning. Says Affleck of that scene: "This is like saying, 'Hey, I'm an actor with depth and range and I can do this and I ought to be able to show it.' "
The post-death scene was actually trimmed down to its essentials, to Affleck's chagrin. "I got into retching and sobbing and maybe it was scenery-chewing but it felt really authentic to me. It was something really radically different from the sort of conservative way (a movie star gets to act in) a movie like Paycheck. You never even get the chance to approach a thing like that."
In the meantime, Affleck finds refuge with Kevin Smith. "I trust him completely, which is a really rare thing with a director. I trust him and I depend on him.
"He has offered me the most interesting roles of my career. I depend on him for that, although the next one he's doing will be the first Kevin Smith movie (since Chasing Amy) that I will not be doing with him because he's selling out on The Green Hornet. He's gone Hollywood! Not me, I'm indie. I'm keeping it real!"
Affleck breaks out in a mischievous grin. His lousy winter is almost over.