Ben Affleck gave an extensive interview to the LA Times as part of his promotion for The Tender Bar, for which he was “snubbed” for an Oscar nomination. Affleck will turn 50 years old this year (he’s a Leo). He’s trying to brand himself as someone who has lived and learned, made huge mistakes and come back, and someone at peace with where he is. Maybe that’s who he is now, but I still feel like he’s the same old self-saboteur. We’ll see! Some highlights from this LAT piece:

Turning 50: “The common thread I’ve found from the people I know who’ve turned 50 who are the happiest is that they’ve stopped worrying so much about what other people think. I think that’s the gift of that age. When you hit 30, you think, ‘Now I’ve figured it out,’ then you hit 40 and you’re like, ‘I had no idea.’ Now, when I think about being in my 20s, I wonder, ‘How was my brain distinguishable from a gorilla’s at that age?’”

He loved The Last Duel: “I mean, “The Last Duel” came out and every article was like, “It made no money.” And I really loved the movie, and I liked what I did in it. I was disappointed more people didn’t see it, but I can’t chase what’s going to be cool. I’m happy with it. I’m not preoccupied with notions of success or failure about money or commercial success, because those things really corrupt your choices. Then what happens is the movies are less interesting and you’re less good.

Why he dropped out of starring & directing The Batman in 2016: “Directing “Batman” is a good example. I looked at it and thought, “I’m not going to be happy doing this. The person who does this should love it.” You’re supposed to always want these things, and I probably would have loved doing it at 32 or something. But it was the point where I started to realize it’s not worth it. It’s just a wonderful benefit of reorienting and recalibrating your priorities that once it started being more about the experience, I felt more at ease.

Justice League was a horrible experience: “It was really “Justice League” that was the nadir for me. That was a bad experience because of a confluence of things: my own life, my divorce, being away too much, the competing agendas and then [director] Zack [Snyder]’s personal tragedy [Snyder’s daughter Autumn died by suicide in 2017] and the reshooting. It just was the worst experience. It was awful. It was everything that I didn’t like about this. That became the moment where I said, “I’m not doing this anymore.” It’s not even about, like, “Justice League” was so bad. Because it could have been anything.

People used to see him as callow: “I think when I was young, people saw me as somebody who had too much or was successful too easily or looked like some kind of cavalier, insincere, callow frat guy. That was nothing like how I felt. I felt like this sort of insecure, anxious, overly verbal kid from Boston who had tried to break into this business and was dealing with his own stuff. But there is an interesting thing about how we come off versus who we are.

People supporting him when he suffers: “There is something about people going, “Wow, this person really seems like they’re going through a lot of suffering. I feel for them.” But I don’t want to live that way to have you like me. I’m really happy now, and I feel great. I’m not perfect. I don’t do everything right. But I wake up and feel good about the choices I made the day before, and if I don’t, I address it right away. I’ve got to hope and believe that people will still like the movies I make if I’m not in the midst of something they think of as agonizing.

The way the entertainment industry is evolving: “Getting to experience Jennifer Lopez’s life now and seeing the degree to which a massive social media presence — how that’s valued, how that’s perceived by the people who are willing to invest a bunch of money in what you’re doing — is really striking. I’m not sure the option to have 300 million followers was ever available to me, but that ship has probably sailed now… Social media is really good for selling stuff so you can free yourself from having to always rely on being the flavor of the week. By the way, I’d be thrilled. My thing is, I wish I could sell alcohol. I’ve just got to figure out, what’s my angle? “I don’t drink but if I did….” Every time I joke about that, alcoholics laugh. Other people are horrified, like, “You can’t say that.”

He’s a Gen-Xer yelling at clouds: “I’m convinced that there’s a segment of the audience now that is done with movie theaters. It’s just too much of a hassle: You have to pay for parking, pay for this and that. I went out and saw “Licorice Pizza,” and it was amazing. But I hate to say I’m part of that generation — I like to be asleep by 9:30. You know, I probably sound like those people who were like, “Movies were never the same after they introduced sound.” People are resistant to change. We form our identities in certain periods of time and associate that with a lot of stuff that isn’t necessarily connected to them.

[From The LA Times]

What’s funny to me is the way he name-checks J.Lo’s social media, like her online popularity is helping her book jobs, which… is not really the business model for J.Lo specifically. J.Lo is J.Lo, she’s a brand unto herself, and all social media does for her is add to her already extensive brand, which she built for years before social media. Now, do tons of people use the “social media helps me book jobs” business model? Of course. More than half of the fashion industry and a good chunk of Hollywood operates on that model.

I actually agree with him that every year that passes, more people are swearing off movie theaters. As for The Last Duel… I saw that and honestly? Ben was genuinely very good in it. He was kind of the best part – a louche French aristocrat adhering to a strict bro code.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.