Ben Affleck Discusses the New Movie, which open March 25.
On Flying as Superman
Ben Affleck: I think everyone wants to be able to fly right? I mean that’s cool being able to fly and the way it’s done in the movie and the way it’s depicted is realistic and it makes it look like so much fun and so I would definitely take flying as a sufficient bait to switch sides.
Wearing Both Suits
BA: I really portrayed George Reeves in that movie, but I did have the outfit on. But we weren’t trying to convince the audience of the movie that I was Superman. But technically speaking, I wore both suits.
Fascinating Characters for Decades
It’s been such a long time and the comic characters seem to be adaptable, because times have changed so radically and yet these heroes have been somehow stayed current and not gotten dated and remained accessible and my son watches the Adam West TV show which she knows and was big in the 1960s and here we are, whatever it is, 50 something years later watching the same characters and basically it’s hard to know.
Super Hero and Normal Man
I think there is something about Batman as a superhero and a normal person with vulnerabilities and weaknesses like we all have and that makes his appeal kind of enduring because he is not just super, he is also like us.
Son as Fan of Batman
My son just wanted to watch Batman so he would go on and it’s an Apple TV and there are other things like it and so it came up with the suggestion to watch that. And then I was like oh let’s check it out, because I thought it would be appropriate and he loves it. He loves Burgess Meredith as The Penguin.
Reality Weirder than Fiction
I think what happens is that as movies go along, the people who are telling the stories are the people who are just living in the world we are all living in, and so we get informed by current events, whether it’s consciously or subconsciously and they make our way into our subconscious and they become part of our storytelling, and unfortunately part of the world now is scarier than it was ten or twenty or thirty years ago and we live, and we have all seen terrorist acts and we live in some level of fear from that, and this is a movie that is not necessarily about that per se, but it’s about fear, it’s what happens to you are afraid and how it changes the way that we act towards one another. And I think as you pointed out, it’s definitely just a result of being a story being told in the reality that we all live in now, which is a different reality than we are used to. And the world has gotten more complicated and more dangerous and more scary in many ways.
New Politics of Fear
The politics of fear is not a new thing and it’s very potent. It’s easier to get people whipped up and antagonism towards one another than it is to inspire them. It’s easier to sort of create suspicions and enemies and villains than it is to encourage people to see one another come to humanity and this is a movie in some ways, you could say it’s about multi-lateralism and here you have Batman hunched away in his cave, and Superman is on his own, and he is developing this suspicion and this fear and the hard thing is overcoming the fear in himself and the suspicion that he has toward the other so that they can ultimately come together to solve greater problems, and it’s a precursor as the title suggests, to a movie about a league of these kinds of people who are working together in concert, The Justice League. So I have often viewed that sort of pro multilateralist bent in this movie that was something that was well worth exploring.
Modes of Escape
I think it’s good to have a place that you can go whether it is just to meditate or to have some quiet time or quiet space. I have an office in my house that I can go to where I work and where it is quiet and I can write if I am writing something or to work, even email something as simple as that.
I am lucky enough to have a little place I can go. Obviously, we need to be in the world so that we can have the input of all the stuff that is happening and we can stir our creativity and we also need time I think to sit and digest it, and let it all percolate. That’s when I think I do most of the work that I like the best and my own is going into a quiet place by myself and kind of let the thoughts settle and then I get inspired and stuff. And sometimes I don’t.
