To answer the question, though: I didn’t always want to direct. I just liked the idea of it. If a friend was making a short and needed someone who knew screen direction, I would jump in. It would be horrible, but it led to a short, then another, and another. It was like student films. Ben Affleck Read Quote
After 2000 or so, I started to realize I wanted to be doing something else. I didn’t want to be in front of a camera. I was frustrated. I didn’t think I would stop acting, but I didn’t want to be seen. Ben Affleck Read Quote
But when I felt like I had something to prove? Then I got up early every morning and worked all day long. I didn’t know if I had any more talent than anyone else directing, but I knew I could work hard at it, and so I did. Ben Affleck Read Quote
I’m sure I can make a movie that doesn’t feel like a seventies movie! But the truth is, that’s my favorite era in American filmmaking. To me, those were the great years. Ben Affleck Read Quote
As an actor, you can steer a scene in another direction by playing it a little differently. And honestly? I like being an actor, and I want to keep having a career. Ben Affleck Read Quote
The one benefit of having done all kinds of movies as an actor is, you learn the pros and cons of being tempted to do a really big movie because it costs a lot of money. Ben Affleck Read Quote
Sure, I suffered a lot. But it’s not like the end of the world and it’s not who I am. I lead quite a pleasant life and I’m able to divorce a perceived reality from my actual experience of life. Ben Affleck Read Quote
I’ve finally learnt how to say, ‘No comment’. To appear in the tabloids is a real learning curve and a steep one at that. You had better learn quick or you get burnt. Ben Affleck Read Quote
I 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 Affleck Read Quote
I’ve never held myself up particularly high when I had movies that worked, and I never held myself all that low when I had failures. Ben Affleck Read Quote
