FYC: Ben Affleck, The Way Back

By: Patrick Gratton

Has anyone set flame to their post Oscar goodwill as quickly as Ben Affleck? And he did it not once but twice! The eternal comeback kid, Affleck has been lunging forward and falling back in and out of the public and critical favor for the larger part of his career. Bouncing back and forth, whether it be his “Hollywood’s new leading man” phase, his Gigli-tabloid fodder phase, his Affleckassance directorial efforts, his Batfleck phase and the Sadffleck meme, Affleck has continuously struggled to maintain a second act in his career. In retrospect, through baggage-induced trial and error, Affleck has built a career of rising above lowered expectations, only to fall again.

After a career's worth of trying to fit the bill that Hollywood gave him, it shouldn’t be a surprise that he wears 'rundown & disgruntled' so well in Gavin O’Connor’s The Way Back...

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Oldies but Linkies

• Indiewire Waiting for Chris Nolan's Tenet -  Hollywood hopes summer can be saved
• Rick's Real Reel remembering Doris Day and Cary Grant in That Touch of Mink
• Slate fun short piece on the absurd thrill (in a vacuum) of the Ben Affleck / Ana de Armas romance as witness by paparazzi

Today's roundup continues after the jump and is a mix of new and old (i.e. past couple of weeks) stuff since we haven't hit you with a link in a bit: Robert Pattinson profiled, a rift at the César awards, Dear Evan Hansen couplings, Drama League nominations, Peabody Awards, RIPs and more...

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Almost There: Ben Affleck in "Hollywoodland"

by Cláudio Alves

Ben Affleck may be one of Hollywood's A-listers, but he's not quite respected as an artist. More precisely, he's not often celebrated for being a performer, having otherwise received plenty of acclaim for his work as a director and producer. Just look at his awards history. He's gotten very little love for his acting skills but won two Academy Awards, for writing Good Will Hunting and for producing Argo. Had he been nominated for directing the latter, as it was widely expected, he'd probably have added another little golden man to his collection. It's difficult to feel bad for the fellow, but, at the same time, Affleck's reputation as a subpar actor isn't completely warranted. 

While it's true his range is narrow, when cast in the right role, Ben Affleck can be quite impressive. You'll find no better example of that than 2006's Hollywoodland…

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The Linkman

• New York Times Ben Affleck on leaving The Batman and drinking away the pain and his ongoing recovery
• IndieWire Missing Jennifer Lawrence? The superstar of the mid 2010s will be back in force soon with a new Adam McKay sci-fi comedy Don't Look Up and a PTSD soldier drama that's as yet untitled co-starring Brian Tyree Henry

After the jump Byronic heroes, Mulan, Parasite's win (again), Alamo Drafthouse subscriptions, gay stuff, and two exciting restorations...

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April Foolish Predictions #8: Lead Actor

by Nathaniel R

It won't be hard (qualitatively) for Taron Egerton to outdo Rami Malek in the biopic rock star acting department. But will Oscar feel like "we just did that"?

We didn't forget about our April Foolish Predictions, but just got a wee bit sidetracked. Today's update is the marquee category of Best Actor. Our crystal ball shows us virtually nothing this year in regards to this category with everyone feeling both likely and unlikely for various reasons. One of the most confusing elements is that we know Oscar loves non-fictional characters best but half of those performances seem to be in Netflix movies and you never know which they'll give the big push to, or even release in theaters at all. In the absence of sure things, even on paper, we decided to take some wild swings. For example: Daniel Kaluuya for Queen and Slim which might prove way too divisive since it was introduced as "protest art" at CinemaCon; Ben Affleck, who never has been praised all that much for the acting side of his career, for his addiction drama Torrance. We almost went with Mark Ruffalo who reads like a safe bet in a potentially great role in Todd Haynes's untitled new film. On the other hand, Haynes is not a speedy filmmaker so the likelihood of 2020 for that feels strong.

The safest bet on paper is surely Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. But they passed right by Hanks for Captain Phillips, Saving Mr Banks, The Post, and Bridge of Spies, any of which might have netted him an easier nomination in the 1990s when they couldn't get enough of him. So you never know.  Check out the chart to see where all the big names and rising stars rank. Do you have any hunches this early? 

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