Ben Affleck Interview for The Town - Celebrity Interviews
Ben Affleck
"Like a Boston Phoenix..."
However, one of Affleck's biggest success was not a film he acted, but directed with the critically-acclaimed Gone Baby Gone. Now the 38 year-old hopes to succeed both as an actor and director with his sophomore directorial project The Town and he believes the transition to both actor and director was a creative necessity and acting and directing this film suits this need on both ends.
"It's really just a function of wanting to take a step toward directing, a step toward doing more unusual stuff, Hollywoodland, and then Gone Baby Gone, and then after that, State Of Play, and movies like that," Ben believes, "And this movie, which I was kind of interested in on creative merits and I felt ready to try being an actor and a director, so it really wasn't any meta-planning stuff. It was just creative instincts."
Ben reveals how he was given authority over first pick during casting, starting with Chris Cooper, who plays the father of his character Doug MacRay, the leader of a bank robbing team.
"I was fortunate in that I was able to get all the first choices that I have for this movie," Affleck reveals, "I knew I wanted Chris Cooper back when I was doing Company Men right before this."
"I was buttering Chris up, like, Can I get you a cup of coffee, Chris? A Danish, Chris? Tire flat, Chris? Be right back!'" he adds, "Just endlessly trying to be just sycophancy as a way of getting him in. And ultimately, we shot near his house and sort of just twisted his arm."
Next was Jeremy Renner, who plays fellow team member Jem Coughlin.
"And I got Jeremy as my first choice," he says, "I knew him from [The Assassination Of] JesseJames and just said, this guy is a genius, a genius actor, and won't give you a false note. Then, somebody said, You should see his new movie.' I was like, Alright, I'll see his new movie.' The new movie turned out to be good. I could not be more lucky to have Jeremy Renner. He crushes in this movie."
After Renner was Gossip Girl star Blake Lively, who plays Krista, who is both Jem's sister as well as Doug's ex-girlfriend and mother of their child together.
"With Blake, she came down and read for it and I didn't know," Affleck remembers, "I never watched Gossip Girl, I had no idea who she was. I hadn't seen it. I had no idea about it. I had seen a Rebecca Miller movie,[The Private Lives Of] Pippa Lee movie, and she was tremendous in it. She came in and read, like I said, in a Boston accent. I thought, where are you from in Boston? Still have not seen Gossip Girl. I've only seen her in this movie. I felt I should have only seen her in this movie and no other movies."
Then was London native Rebecca Hall, who plays a Claire, a bank manager who falls in love with Doug.
"And with Rebecca, this was somebody that I admired a great deal as an actress from Vicky Cristina [Barcelona]," Ben says, "And then, I talked toChris Nolan, who was a huge fan of hers, and that kind of made me feel more sure. I met with her. It felt great and at first, I felt, gosh, this isn't going to be a big studio choice because she hadn't been in a lot of $100 million movies. And the guys at Warner Bros. said just said, great, we love her, she's great, she's talented, she's right for the movie, cast her."
Then, Ben talks about how casting almost hit a minor snag with Jon Hamm, the star of AMC's critically-acclaimed drama Mad Men, who plays Adam Frawley, an FBI special agent who pursues Doug and the bank robbers.
"And then, I had a problem," he recalls, "I was looking for an FBI guy and it took a while. The truth is Jon had been greatly... Read the complete interview and others more here Celebrity Interviews
Ben Affleck Interview for The Town - Celebrity Interviews
By: virgin cavalier Know The Best Escort Agencies In London To Trust Limousine hire in London can be difficult Christmas cookie decorating ideas | Christmas cookie ideas,Christmas Cookie Decorating Getting The Best Deal On Grand Canyon West Rim Helicopter Tours Enjoy Trips To The Balearics Plastic Surgeons In Los Angeles Country Collectors -The 2010 Holiday Barbie Doll Is Here Christmas Gifts That Endure Things To Know About Travelling Student Loan Consolidation Comparison - 3 Tips Pointers On How To Create Your Personalized T-shirts For Halloween Unwind And Relax The Natural Way With A Hot Tub Patio Umbrella is Your Cool Partner on the Hot Summer Days