I’m always described as ‘cocksure’ or ‘with a swagger,’ and that bears no resemblance to who I feel like inside. I feel plagued by insecurity.
BEN AFFLECKI’m always described as ‘cocksure’ or ‘with a swagger,’ and that bears no resemblance to who I feel like inside. I feel plagued by insecurity.
BEN AFFLECKI’m a writer. An amateur photographer. An actor.
BEN AFFLECKI just feel like sometimes I’m a force to be dealt with. My talents are sometimes overused and also sometimes underused. It’s not easy being me.
BEN AFFLECKSometimes I get insecure about being a real director because I look at the great directors, and they have such command. But maybe that keeps me critical of myself. Maybe it keeps me moving forward.
BEN AFFLECKI like acting for myself as a director. I act and I know that I’ll have a chance to have some say in what gets used and that I’ll be able to give myself enough takes and be on the same page as myself about how the scene should play.
BEN AFFLECKThere is currency to celebrity, or celebrity is a currency. You can spend it in a lot of ways, or you can squander it. You can be taxed, as well. I really started thinking long and hard about how to use that currency as long as I had it.
BEN AFFLECKI remember back when I was a kid there was a comic strip called Plastic Man. His body was elastic and he could make his extremities as long as he wanted. As a youngster I didn’t fully appreciate. But I’m now thinking Plastic Man was probably pretty popular with the ladies.
BEN AFFLECKEvery single director-actor I talked to, from Warren Beatty to Clint Eastwood to George Clooney, said the biggest mistake they made is not shooting enough footage of themselves.
BEN AFFLECKI’ve seen high and lows. When things go well that doesn’t make me feel like some genius. Nor will I allow the next disappointment to make me feel like a complete failure.
BEN AFFLECKNo matter how much you change, you still got to pay the price for the things you’ve done.
BEN AFFLECKIt wasn’t my childhood fantasy to work with Truffaut or be in obscure films. I like Midnight Run better than I like The Bicycle Thief. It was films like Die Hard and Bladerunner that made me want to be an actor.
BEN AFFLECKA friend of my mom’s was a casting director so, really as kind of a lark, I had a couple of acting jobs that had just enough exposure to give me the option to continue if I wanted to. I followed through with it.
BEN AFFLECKI’m trying to make people feel welcome and feel valued.
BEN AFFLECKA lot of my shows in the past have been more theatrical than others, but you really get the bug for it when you direct on stage.
BEN AFFLECKThe trap for an actor is that you become too successful at what you’re trying to do, and you can find yourself stuck there.
BEN AFFLECKI feel like fame is wasted on me.
BEN AFFLECK