Kaiser just won a longstanding bet we had. We had a wager that Ben Affleck would go to church with his estranged wife, Jennifer Garner, around the time Batman v. Superman came out. I wasn’t convinced either way but I bet against it. He did go to church yesterday but it was a big deal Christian holiday, so I’m not sure I have to pay up. (I still have to pay up, don’t I?) You can see those photos here.
Affleck has been diligently doing the press circuit trying to promote Batman v. Superman this weekend. Now that the box office numbers are in he doesn’t have to stare into space when he’s confronted with the awful reviews. WB can also breathe a sigh of relief because the film made at least $424 million worldwide. Zach Snyder will go on to make more depressing superhero moviesconfusing plots and unlikable characters and Affleck can go on playing one of them. To be fair to Affleck, his portrayal of Batman was said to be one of the highlights of the film, as was Amy Adams’s Lois Lane and Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman. (I saw it and I walked out after two hours. I thought Affleck was passable but none of the characters made the film interesting enough for me to sit through.)
As far as Affleck’s interviews, he’s had to address the poor reviews but he did it in a roundabout way. Unlike the first time he was confronted with them and became a meme, he’s learned to parrot the company line about how the film was made for the fans not the critics. (I don’t think it was made for the general public either.) He also gave his oft-repeated PR lines about how he and his estranged wife, Jennifer Garner, are putting their kids first. That does seem to be the case. Here’s some of what he’s said in various interviews.
On critical acclaim of his performance as Superman
Don’t scare people into thinking this is a critical film. We’re not going for the film critic’s circle. This is an audience movie. People will actually like this movie. – From The Tonight Show
He was asked ‘what’s been the most difficult part about this past year’ and he deflected
We sort of put the kids first and she’s been running around… she’s got a great movie, ‘Miracles from Heaven.’ That’s out, you can catch that in theaters and she works very hard, she’s great with the kids and like I said, we put them first and take it one step at a time and do our best. – From ABC News
He compared his first Oscar win to the moment before a car crash
Everything sort of slows down and you’re spinning around. That was how it kind of felt [when] they said our names… I was 24 years old. I barely knew anything at all. I think it was in some ways trouble to get that much recognition early on… I think I certainly appreciated later on what it meant.On winning Best Picture for Argo
I had been through so many ups and downs and humiliations and highs and lows at that point I had three children and I had the whole life, I appreciated it. I also knew what it meant and what it didn’t mean… It was a really nice night and I got to share that with people that I really loved. – From Graham Norton
[From ABC News, The Tonight Show and The Graham Norton Show]
It’s like he talks himself into a corner every time, do you know what I mean? Read his quotes on winning Best Picture, “I had been through so many ups and downs and humiliations… I had the whole life.” He’s describing a moment three years ago as another era for him because things have changed so much. He “had” the whole life but he doesn’t anymore. It’s telling.
Affleck, Amy Adams and Henry Cavill were on Graham Norton over the weekend (where some of these quotes are from). Affleck explained that the Batman voice was actually changed post-production digitally because the theory was that Bruce Wayne, as a famous billionaire philanthropist, would have a recognizable voice so there was supposedly a digital device underneath his suit changing it for him. Of course this was never explained in the movie for whatever reason, because Snyder wanted to make it as confusing as possible.
Ben talks about winning the Oscar:
Ben on how his son thinks the Fedex guys is the joker and how he dressed up as Batman for Samuel’s birthday party. (He’s told this story before.)
Ben Affleck and Jimmy Fallon take the pup quiz. We all win because puppies.
photos credit: WENN, FameFlynet and Pacific Coast News
It’s Easter. Most people who don’t attend regularly attend on Easter. It doesn’t surprise me that he went with them. I must have grown up differently. Easter Sunday was a big deal, and we all dressed up. Jennifer Garner couldn’t have looked any more average. Their daughter Sera looked adorable.
And wasn’t the bet that he’d go before the movie came out? He hardly looked like he was on a pap stroll. He’d have at least smiled if the intention was to improve his image. Jennifer is the only one smiling in the photos.
Is Easter Monday a holliday in the US? I’m surprised there are posts on Celebitchy, I thought they’d take the day of!
We don’t get “Easter Monday” off here in the States.
Oh you poor things. Apart from grocery stroes that work till noon, nobody works on Easter Monday here. No school either.
No, it’s not a holiday in the US. Schools and businesses are open…
I’m in the states and the schools where I live are closed. So it depends on where you live.
It does depend where you live. I’m in Florida, and none of my neighbors put their garbage or recycling out this morning… but I checked, and the pickup service is still running as scheduled. The post office and schools are open too. On my calendar, Easter Monday is marked as a Canadian holiday… but I could’ve sworn I’ve had the day off before.
Like Lisa2 said the schools where I live are closed. I’m in NY.
Watching those interviews, I think he got fillers in his cheeks. He can’t smile very wide and that’s usually due to fillers. Also a little bit of Botox in his forehead.
Ben always has a tight smile on TV interviews. He’s never relaxed like Matt Damon in interviews. HIs face is actually back thinner again, Thank God.
And yet, to me, he menages to be more likable than Matt Damon. Always has. I’ve never liked Matt, even before his mansplaining debacle.
During the puppies game on Fallon he starts laughing and smiling and he can’t manage more than a grin. It’s odd looking. I wasn’t convinced he did anything until I saw that.
I preferred his oscar answer to Damon’s. Norton asked them both the same question.
He definitely looked different, even in the Sad Affleck video
His personal life aside, I like him. He’s a good director, he should focus on that ( even though Argo was awful).
I don’t like Marvel movies ( apart from Deadpool, that was AWESOME). The darker, bleaker DC ones are better. This one I haven’t seen yet, but apart from Amy and Jesse, all the main actors are horrible ( I’ve only seen Gal in the FF movies, and Holy Jesus was she awful, Ben and Henry are rarely decent), and with Snyder as the director, no wonder the reviews are bad.
Amy is lovely. Ben and Henry are decent to OK but the writing fails them at every turn. Liked the set up for Gal very much but she’s barely in it. Fingers-crossed basically. Jesse is utterly miscast and an absolute disaster.
I like him too. He’s made some mistakes but I honestly don’t think he’s as bad as people make him out to be. I hope he gets over or at least learns to control his demons.
I like Ben too. People seem so fixated in portraying him as this narcissistic, sleazy asshole and I just don’t see it. I think he’s a pretty decent guy, flawed like everyone else, going through a public midlife crisis.
I agree.
I don’t like Ben but he makes good films. His personal life shouldn’t be a concern
“there was supposedly a digital device underneath his suit changing it for him. Of course this was never explained in the movie for whatever reason, because Snyder wanted to make it as confusing as possible.”
That is not true.
If you saw the movie, there is a scene when Batman comes back from fighting and Alfred is fiddling with a voice changer that seems to come from under the neck of Batflecks cowl.
I don’t want to give too much away about it, but the movie DEFINITELY touches on the Batfleck’s voice and shows the audience he has a voice-changer in his suit.
It wasn’t the best movie, and there were some unexplained/weird stuff, but that part about the voice changer was most certainly addressed in the film.
Late to this post but thanks missmerry. I was just about to say that. It was explain in the movie.
This is why a lot of people on this board is saying the movie was bad. They didn’t quite get it or missed certain things and points in the movie such as this.
Also here’s a little help with the unexplained weird stuff. I couldn’t say much on Friday because some had not yet seen it. I saw it Thursday. I already posted this on the BvS thread but here goes again. The dream sequences are this.
Batman overlooking a post apocalyptic world or alternate reality. This has something to do with the villain Deadseid. Those flying minions were his Parademons, the demons that Luthor was referencing in that painting. Did you notice the Omega symbol, that’s the symbol for Deadseid.
Evil Superman who kills Batman men and rips off his mask is angry because he is blaming Batman for the future death of Lois.
The Batcave sequence. Remember The Flash can travel through time. He was warning that Superman was evil and that Batman was right. However Flash realized that he had traveled back too far and that the present Superman was not evil. That’s why you hear him mumble something like too soon. He gave that warning too soon. But Batman took it as he heard it and went after Superman. And let’s keep in mind Batman was furious at Superman for destroying Wayne Enterprise and killing a lot of innocent people such as the little girl’s mother.
When Flash says that Lois is the key. Whatever is happening in the future has a lot to do with Lois. Some are saying that Superman will become evil and join Deadseid once Lois is killed. The Flash came to warn Batman that he must keep Lois safe in order to prevent Superman from becoming evil.
I hope that cleared some things up.
Lastly, Ben didn’t have to tote the family off to church because of his movie as the article suggests. The comic book/moving going audience could give two craps about Ben’s love life. They only care about the movie. Did anyone really think people were not going to go see this because Henry is dating a 19 year old?
i agree with your thoughts on the dream sequences, I just wish they had been better assimilated into the movie. I thought they were confusing and disjointed. I’m also annoyed that Batman was having these dream sequences / premonitions anyway, since it’s out of character. I think they could have gotten the information across in a different, better way.
The supervillain is Darkseid, by the way. From the planet Apokalips, iirc, which always bugged me. Just call him Darkside from Apocalypse, ffs! 😒
As one review pointed out, this whole thing with the voice is silly when the bottom half of his face is exposed, with his distinctive mole showing. Also, in his Batman movies, didn’t Michael Keaton disguise his own voice with, you know, “Acting!” (referring back to the Jon Lovitz thread).
Yes Keaton just went an octave deeper. .
“this whole thing with the voice is silly when the bottom half of his face is exposed, with his distinctive mole showing.”
And in keeping to we are supposed to suspend all belief of reality when it comes to these Superhero movies. Are we supposed to believe that people don’t recognize Superman once he puts on glasses. So if people can’t tell Clark Kent is Superman of course they are not going to recognize Bruce Wayne because of a mole showing. It’s make believe darling. 🙂
I agree regarding Batman, his disguise is within the realms of believability for a super hero film. The Superman glasses thing is just stupid. Thank God they didnt go with “Lois is an intrepid reporter who cant tell that her colleague is the alien she has a crush on except he wears thick lens glasses”.
Everybody I know who’s seen it so far loved it.
Yeah, I know three people who’ve seen it and they all really liked it. Two and a half hours long, though.
It really doesn’t seem as if you’re sitting for 2 hours.
Garner and Affleck seem to be as disconnected as Sean Penn and Charlize. I wouldn’t want to be a kid between them.
Ok, this is a serious question. Do you think Jennifer Garner actually makes an effort to dress that badly to hammer home her mumsy image?
You can all shout, but I feel a bit sorry for Affleck! He messed up, he was an awful husband and he has to do what she says. He really does! But noone held a gun to her head. She hung on and hung on until he did something she simply could not ignore (probably the nanny).
I think that Jennifer wanted to be a Hollywood wife and she did everything to cling onto that. She likes the status. Who wouldn’t? Also, its scary being single in your 40’s. She has three kids. But they seemed totally mismatched. I would never see him with this type. J-Lo is absolutely more his type from the way she dresses etc. Ben n Jen are two totally different people.
She has played a blinder and knows exactly what she is doing. I am sorry, all these pap strolls? enough. She was on the cover of Vanity Fair because of her marriage. Not her career.
After this film, they need to go away for a bit. Please.
When Bennifer 2.0 got married, his image and career were in the toilet and she was the one who’d just come off a hit tv show and successful romcom. She looked poised for mainstream Hollywoid stardom but basically stepped back to play the mommy role.
And while pap shots of Violet went a way towards recovering his image as less ‘drunken joke’ and more ‘dad of adorable toddler’, it wasn’t till The Town that Ben’s career started recovering so really, Garner was doing herself no favours in the career stakes by marrying him.
He earned respect in the industry with Gone Baby Gone in 2007
On Graham Norton he talks about living through career failures and humiliations before he hit back on success. This was the period in which Jennifer married him and stood with him. He was no catch when they settled and a comeback was extremely unlikely at that point.
Actually, J-LO is way too high maintenance dresswise for Ben and makeupwise, hair, etc.
If anything, Gwyneth Paltrow back in the day was the most like his type for all-over day to day look. She was very casual, too, like Jen, just not so mom-like in looks (most of the time), and she was sexier than Jen, but not high-maintenance looks like J-LO. Ben does seem to like a more natural girlfriend, lower maintenance.
Gwyneth and Ben
http://images.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/Gwyneth—Ben-Affleck-gwyneth-paltrow-310249_350_505.jpg
At least he got to eat gluten and refined sugars at home with Jennifer Garner, though. (-;
@Ally, that we know of. LOL
I always thought Ben and Jlo were a terrible match. Ben may be shallow but Jlo is another level. I think he, as most men do, would have found a woman that fixated on her appearance exhausting as the marriage settled. Instead of passive aggressive quotes about middle America and minivan mums, he (and his homie, Matt) would be dropping quotes about how they prefer women “with substance” or that “you have to live with her when they paint comes off, and thats hard to do when her mind isnt as precise as her eye liner” – that type of thing.
I was going to say he seems to like brunette women with “normal” bodies. Gwyneth would be the physical outlier, though like you said her style (and also her demeanor) is in line with the women he seems drawn toward. As high maintenance as JLo seems, I think she’s relatively down to earth when it comes to actually interacting with people. At the same time, I think one of Jennifer Garner’s draws was that she was the anti-JLo and Gwyneth. Low key personality and low key style and demeanor. Blake Lively would also fit the normal body and pretend down to earth thing.
Yeah, she is hung up on being like “I’m a mom!” Which is smart because she can sell stuff, become the MStew of parenting or coparenting or whatever. Make her own dough.
Ha, you still have to pay, CB. A bet’s a bet. Of course Garner & Sad Batfleck strutted their asses to church.
I hoped he prayed for Hairline Restoration. It is getting my last nerve. Which I can feel, cause my face hasn’t been shot up with too much ‘Tox and filler. He looks like a new purse or something.
I read that “I had the whole life” comment as relating to his life at the time of his first Oscar win, not to his life now. He was just a young guy starting out when he won the first one, but he was more settled in life by the time he won his second.
That’s what he’s talking about. He once said in an interview (before Argo), that as much as he still cared about his movies and how they are received, especially directing, that it’s still not the end all be all if they aren’t, because he has his family that give him balance and meaning to his life.
I did find it a bit poignant when he mentioned on GH that people regarded him as Matt Damon’s dumb friend based on Good Will Hunting. (Maybe this perception endured in Hollywood and that’s why Garner learned to massage his ego with the “smartest person in any room” line.) Poignant, but then I thought, look at the way you run your life, dude. Impulsive, bad decisions, followed by self-pity, followed by more poor, impulsive decisions.
ITA Ally.
Garner played his ego well. She got the Hollywood A-lister lifestyle out of it and probably a good three picture deal from keeping mum about his many on-set affairs with his costars and with nanny Christine Ouzounian. “It’s all the paparazzi’s fault, Ben, you are far too smart and talented to ever screw over our family”
I think he IS Matt Damon’s lesser half, intellectually, but has worked hard overcome it. Now he needs to overcome his self centered addictive personality. It’s also telling that he believes his family is there to give him balance and stability and not the other way around. Narcissist.
@Marie, no way is he Matt’s lesser half intellectually. I doubt many would agree with you.
And I paraphrased what he said because I couldn’t remember exactly how he phrased it. But what is narcissistic about a man saying whether his movie does poorly isn’t the end of the earth like it would have been years ago because now he has more richness in his life now because of his family, his kids.
Jesus. He can do no right by some people. .
How do people (like Marie) still think that Ben is stupid? He’s so good at counting cards that he’s been banned from casinos. That is not the ability of a mental midget.
I just love Ben Affleck, regardless of all of the mess that’s going on in his life. That’s all.
Are they gong to finally for fir divorce now? He will be away win for a long time to film another Batman movie. He is A+++++ actor now so why stay with Jennifer who can’t even dress herself properly.
Seriously? If you couldnt put 2 and 2 together regarding the glitchy mechanically manipulated voice distortion (that cut in and out then stopped working when he was in full battle/beat on mode) than maybe you should have the other people in your crew watch and review this movie genre? Because its been glaringly obvious that you dont like these flicks, and are sick to death of studios making them.
Im 31 year old woman that as a kid, read Little Women, Romeo and Juliet, and Christopher Pike books, while sneaking into my brothers comic book collection when they werent home. I watched Batman and X-men cartoons, and Star Wars, Star Trek, Twilight Zone, and Gundam Wing and Transformers- while watching Dateline and Swans crossing.
I played Zelda, Mario Brothers, Nights into Dreams, Street Fighter, Sims, Doom, Duke Nukem, and everything else in between.
As a matter of fact, my husband and i drank whiskey, tequilas, and ate wings and Mexican food while killing zombies all day on Easter.
I dont watch these movies because i have kids (dont want them, my hubs fixed, and neither does he) I watch them because i enjoy them and im curious which creative direction the director and the studios take on the characters i grew up with. This doesnt mean I dont enjoy my House of Cards, GOT, TWD, Mr. Robot, Making of a Murderer, and Pride and Prejudice.
Reading article after article from someone that doesnt share a similar objective (or at the very least not a constant hate-on) for these movies gets so tiring.
Celebitchy, gawker, foodspin, bing news, and weather underground are the only sites i frequent daily. Can a similar minded broad please take up these assignments?
There’s a comic book-obsessed site called The Mary Sue that would probably share your glee over these movies! I mean that in a nice way.
As someone who finds these movies annoying, especially in their post-Nolan empty nihilism and prevalence in the theatres, I appreciate being represented in the tone of this post. (-;
Oh of course you should have put money on the fact that they’d do the pap stroll to the church this weekend. You could have also bet $$$ that he’d look rumpled and miserable while she would be grinning like an idiot, loving the attention, and dressed to the frumpy 9s.
Ok, it’s end of March. These two clearly aren’t one of the Wasser divorces in March that were mentioned. Does everyone really still think they’re divorcing? Jayna?? I’m really curious. 😄😄
All I can say about Jen is what I’ve always said. She waited patiently, played the long game, and he circled back around, dependent as ever.
I think Jen is still hoping. But Ben is divorcing, but she has him by the balls. He won’t rock the boat for a few more months. But it will happen. I imagine their financial holdings and real estate have been sorted through for the most part.
I think Ben has seemed somewhat melancholy during his recent interviews. Maybe he has already moved out? He will file soon.
@Tina, I agree. Wanting a divorce but then living it with the realities of their children’s heartbreak and living a new normal, I have no doubt Ben is very sad. When Jennifer said Violet sleeps with her now it broke my heart. Violet is the oldest and has lived ten years with mom and dad together and understands more about what is going on and absorbs it more I imagine. I think she is probably handling it the worst to want to sleep with mom every night since things changed and they told them they were getting divorced.
They are both done. His recent Jen is great PR is laying the groundwork so when the divorce is filed he doesn’t look so bad and maybe people won’t remember the nanny. His image rehab in the making.
Diane, I agree. I think the Vanity Fair article said it all. Once the divorce is filed and he goes to London, we will see a different family dynamic appear. They will visit him in London, but their life will be with their mother. How could it not be? Maybe he will go public with someone. I think the quotes from Jennifer Lopez are interesting, especially since there was a blind item seeming to reference them earlier last week.
I just find it somewhat interesting that Jen never actually mentioned the “divorce” in the VF article, and they seem to be talking about things in a very “open ended” kind of way – as if they’re just taking things one day at a time to see where it will lead. I still believe Jen would try again – and again – especially given her focus on faith/religion, etc.
Reports indicate his is still drinking and gambling. I don’t think she’d go back into that having had a taste of freedom from it. Being in that is worse than you can imagine.
Hmm. What are these reports? I haven’t seen them…
Twitter
I had actually been hoping to not see anything indicating it was ongoing for the kids’ sake.
Were these recent twitter reports or back when he was filming BvS in Detroit? Just curious.
Will be interesting to see what happens with Jen’s bday coming up, which last year Ben spent in Canada sans wedding ring, and also Mother’s Day, which he spent with his own Mom instead of Jen. I’m betting we’re going to see them together on both of these occasions this year…
Oh yeah! Per Lainey, he spent JG’s bday last year with another woman in Canada.
frozen. possibly bad eye job. whatever he’s had done has altered his eyes. plus, the dead, depressed gaze doesn’t help.
Ben will be filing for divorce soon, anytime between now and before Jen’s birthday, and Jen will file immediately after, it’s happening trust me. He’ll move into his new home after he shoots “Justice League” in London, apparently a property in Malibu. He’s been hooking up with different women, some random and two rumored to be famous, just flings but he’s definitely sleeping with them, one lives in LA the other he hooked up with in London.
This marriage is for all intents and purposes DONE, it has been, they just needed to play nice for their respective movies, in fact Ben was advised by the powers that be of WB to speak highly of Jen during promotion, when he was on Ellen he came off cold and uncomfortable speaking about her and they told him to lighten up and to focus on Jen as a “great mom” and he did what he was told for the rest of the press tour.
Wow, you sound like you have some good inside info. Interesting. Now, with moving vans at their house, it will be interesting to see, but I’m not sure why they wouldn’t file before getting moving vans.
The paps follow him everywhere, where does he meet these women? Not like he can bring them back to his place.
JG looked so tired on the pictures today. I hope all will be well for all of them, especially the kids.
I dont have anything to say …except …PUPPIES!!!! <3