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PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii, May 18, 2001
-- Immediately the buzz is negative. Ben Affleck is not participating
in some portions of the four-day press junket, which has brought some
500 journalists to Hawaii to cover the summer's biggest movie. Instead,
he will hold a 15-minute press conference, keeping reporters at a safe
distance and drastically slashing chances to squeeze in a question. Murmurs
of star snobbery--and failing support for the film--run rampant.
But he surprises everyone. After extending the
Q&A to more than an hour, Affleck answers lingering questions as he
signs autographs and poses for photos. He's multitasking away, ensuring
that he warrants the hoopla bestowed on him since his voice-cracking Oscar
speech.
In the four years since Good Will Hunting won
him an Oscar for screenwriting with best bud Matt Damon, the hoopla's
only gotten bigger. There's the stardom: dating Gwyneth Paltrow, producing
screenwriting contests, palling around with Clinton and Gore. There's
the movies: Armageddon (because of the box-office), Shakespeare in Love
(because of the Oscars), Bounce (because of his acting and also, you know,
the Gwyneth thing) and The Sum of All Fears (because he's following in
the footsteps of Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford).
It's all about to come to a head with Pearl
Harbor, a love story/action film/historical drama that centers around
the months preceding the Japanese surprise military attack. Affleck plays
Rafe McCawley, a hotshot pilot who opens the door to a love triangle when
he volunteers for the Eagle Squadron during World War II and leaves behind
his nurse girlfriend (Kate Beckinsale) and best friend (Josh Hartnett).
With the $135 million film being Affleck's second teaming with Armageddon
director Michael Bay and producer Jerry Bruckheimer, the expectations
couldn't be higher.
We bring you some of Affleck’s thoughts on
the film, the war and life as a movie star.
On attending a week-long boot camp before filming:
It was the most physically grueling experience of my life. It actually
helped me feel more authentic...not like a complete fraud putting on a
uniform. And marching, saluting and acting like soldiers. That was for
my own inner confidence, I guess. I’m not sure that it helped the
movie so much, but what we learned was to respect what the men and women
of the military go through. There's a great story that Matt Damon tells
about the guys on Saving Private Ryan who would sit around at lunch and
go, ‘Well at boot, we did this, and at boot, we did that.’ And
finally, [Tom] Hanks turns to one of them and goes, "Oh, cut it out.
We went hiking." For Pearl Harbor, we definitely did not go hiking.
On his favorite war period on film:
My favorite historical drama is from a period of history that's been pretty
well-exhausted, but I love Glory, just really for the acting. I think
both [the Civil War and World War II] left pretty indelible impressions
in the psyche of our collective consciousness. What I really think doesn't
work is the Revolutionary War. There's something about wigs that just
made it seem like, "It couldn’t have been that bad. You took
time to powder your wig." You're fighting the British, too. I mean,
come on, it's just the British...not like you were fighting a real army.
Kidding, kidding. Only domestic press here, right?
On reteaming with Michael Bay, with whom it was
reported Affleck clashed on Armageddon:
One of the things I've learned is that in Michael Bay World, there are
two suns. Because every shot in the movie is always backlit. They'll shoot
a scene that way and the sun is behind [one person], and then you come
over here, the sun's behind [the other person]. They’re living on
Krypton.
OK, what it was really like to work with Michael
Bay again:
My relationship with Michael is very fraternal, and nobody always gets
along with their brother, particularly their big brother. I didn't realize
until I had a new one. It was "What are you doing? That looks stupid."
And that can hurt sometimes, that can sting. But I developed thicker skin
and I learned to interpret what he was saying. He's not the most loquacious
guy in the world. And he has no superego, it's all id. Which is great
for you guys. I mean, great quotes. But that’s one of the things
I like about Michael....Do I think he's been too impatient sometimes?
Sure. Does he have my management style? No. But none of it's out of malice...I'm
proud to call [Bay and producer Jerry Bruckheimer] my friends. I'm proud
I worked on this movie with them, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
On why Pearl Harbor was an important film to make:
In my mind, it's a great testament that people still care. We're losing
30,000 World War II veterans a month, which is probably on par with how
many Americans died in the second World War. So we're running out of opportunity
to pay tribute to these people while they're still alive; we're running
out of opportunity to extract from them a history which is the kind of
history you just can't compare to any other. And I’m glad there will
be so many of the survivors here to see this. I certainly hope they feel
honored because this is meant to be a tribute to them.
On what the film says about war:
One of the things I really hope is that making a war movie, making a tribute
to war veterans, should not be glamorizing war or making it look exciting
and fun. Nobody I know who was ever in a war ever told me it was exciting
and fun. There's a line that [Japanese Admiral] Yamamoto says, that a
brilliant general would find a way not to fight a war...this generation
is here because they had to go through what they had to go through, not
'cause we think it’s a good thing. I hope that this movie in a sense
is an anti-war war movie.
On his political aspirations:
I have no plans to run for Congress--you can all relax. The government
is currently safe. I said my fantasy was that there would be a time where
there wouldn't be a professional class of politician. Where you wouldn't
have to be a professional fund raiser to be a part of government. I'd
like to see music teachers and archaeologists and sailors and educators--and
movie stars, we need more movie stars in government--but I think I have
too many skeletons accrued already to survive that grueling and invasive
process!
On co-star Josh Hartnett’s future post-Pearl
Harbor:
It doesn't change your life like going to prison changes your life. It’s
not some terrible thing where we should all say a prayer for Josh. The
kid's gonna have women camped out on his front lawn for months at a time....It's
a big change and about to happen to Josh. I think he's well equipped and
a decent man. The one thing that's a real mistake is the people who get
incredible opportunities and then dump on people around them and are abusive.
I think that’s reprehensible and inexcusable. But I don't think Josh
will do that. I think he’ll have a good long run, and I wish him
the best and I’m sure that I won't be able to afford to get him in
my movies anymore.
On how his own life has changed in the spotlight:
It's funny to be there right at that nexus of that moment...to expose
yourself and your name to hundreds of millions of people in America and
other countries to the point where there's no refuge changes your life
dramatically. And it changes your family's life, and your friends' life,
and it changes the way you relate to the world. There's a part of you
that thinks "Oh, wouldn’t that be fun." And then it actually
isn't that fun. 'Cause you kinda wanna leave your house, and you can't
sleep with all of them...that's a joke. That's comedy. Don’t take
that out of context.
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