“My family unanimously hated the look”: Ben Affleck’s Transformation For His Oscar Winning Movie Caused a Trouble in His Married Life
Ben Affleck is one of the most celebrated actors, director, and producer in Hollywood. The immensely talented personality came to the spotlight with Good Will Hunting which was co-written by him along with his great friend and actor Matt Damon. The actor duo was also awarded an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the critically acclaimed movie.
Ben Affleck directed and played the protagonist in one of the best projects of his acting career Argo. The political thriller drama was based on the 1980s Iranian hostage crisis. He played the character of CIA agent Tony Mendez, who was on a covert mission to liberate six US employees from the war-stricken area. Despite being the brains behind one of the greatest movies of all time, the actor’s look was disliked by his family members.
Ben Affleck Admits His Family Disliked His Look In Argo
Ben Affleck’s directorial venture Argo brought out his potential as a filmmaker to the world. He was also awarded the Academy Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama, and Best Director for the political thriller drama. The actor’s look was quite different in the movie for the character of Tony Mendez. He went on to change his hairdo in order to fit into the character of the experienced extractor.
During an interview with the reputed media outlet US Weekly, the actor recalled how his family disliked his look in Argo. He said-
“I hated it. I had to grow out this Davy Jones/Barry Gibb thing I had on my head. I knew I was doing the movie far enough in advance that I knew I could grow it out.”
He further added-
“My family [which includes wife Jennifer Garner and their three kids Violet, Seraphina, and Samuel] unanimously hated the look, for different reasons, I think. There was a united front. I kept trying to tell my little kids, [they] kept asking why can’t I shave my prickles. I said, ‘Oh, I gotta wear this for work.’ And they said, ‘What kind of work would make you look like that?’”
His ex-wife with whom he shares his three kids, Jennifer Garner was not a great fan of his bearded look in Argo. According to the Gone Girl actor, he himself did not like his look but it was important to go with it in order to authenticate the plot of the movie.
Ben Affleck On Directing His Academy Award-Winning Movie Argo
Ben Affleck’s Argo was both a critical and commercial blockbuster. Based on the real-life story of an operation to rescue six US diplomats from Tehran during the Iran Hostage crisis in 1980, the movie was a show stealer during the 85th Academy Awards with seven nominations and three awards. During an interview with The Washington Post, the actor spoke about Argo and how as a director he feels responsible to tell a story behind the real-life incident. He said-
“It’s that struggle, between … the bookkeeper’s reality and … the poet’s reality, and you make judgments as a director. And my judgment falls really cleanly on the line of, ‘It’s OK to embellish, it’s OK to compress, as long as you don’t fundamentally change the nature of the story and what happened.'”
He admitted that as director he had the liberty to go ahead with the right way of storytelling as when one is making a movie based on a real-life incident or a personality, they do not have many options to experiment with the plot. Made on a budget of $44.5 million, the political thriller went on to collect $232.3 million worldwide.
With an IMDb rating of 7.7 out of 10, Argo is available for streaming on Amazon Prime
Source: US Weekly
