Ben Affleck

Made films the shows talk about.

Wikidata Q483118: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by the only person by that name on Wikidata.

Counted as other. The films the hosts said they were tied to, which the two lists below run through too: Fight Club (1999); Jennifer Lopez: Halftime (2022); Strangers on a Train (Fincher/Flynn remake, unmade). Count them as director (5 films), writer (1 film), actor (28 films) instead.

Draws on

What the speakers say they, or a film of theirs, drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

Seven (1995): 2 lines

  1. career (career) · through Fight Club (1999), which they were tied to as named by Fincher as not believable in the narrator role: Seven ⇒ Fight Club (the host's read). Without Se7en's power Fincher does not get to do The Game and Fight Club his way.
    “I think without this movie, he doesn't go on this run”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:27:28 · Sean Fennessey (0.55 sure it was them)
  2. career (career lever) · through Fight Club (1999), which they were tied to as named by Fincher as not believable in the narrator role: Seven ⇒ Fight Club (the host's read). Se7en's success is what let Fincher make the seemingly impossible Fight Club.
    “But the fight club is him more being like, okay, guys, I know this seems impossible, but I made seven.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Se7en with Mike Mitchell & Nick Wiger (Ad-Free) · 1:05:55 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Chuck Palahniuk: 1 line

  1. lineage (adaptation) · through Fight Club (1999), which they were tied to as named by Fincher as not believable in the narrator role: Chuck Palahniuk ⇒ Fight Club (the host's read). The film adapts Palahniuk's novel; the speaker says the screenplay cribs straight from the book.
    “obviously the movie is, the book is very, he's cribbing right from the book.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 1:13:14 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Douglas Coupland: 1 line

  1. lineage (literary lineage) · through Fight Club (1999), which they were tied to as named by Fincher as not believable in the narrator role: Douglas Coupland ⇒ Fight Club (the host's read). The speaker says the early car-recall section is right out of Coupland and Gen X writing.
    “It's right out of like Douglas Copeland or whatever, right?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 1:59:38 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

What the speakers say drew on them or a film of theirs, marked the same way.

Panic Room (2002): 3 lines

  1. career (career) · through Fight Club (1999), which they were tied to as named by Fincher as not believable in the narrator role: Fight Club ⇒ Panic Room (the host's read). Panic Room read as a small antidote to the response to Fight Club.
    “This seemed like a little bit of an antidote to that because what's panic room about.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Panic Room’ (Plus a Mini Will Smith–Oscars Recap) With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:19:29 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. craft (craft) · through Fight Club (1999), which they were tied to as named by Fincher as not believable in the narrator role: Fight Club ⇒ Panic Room (the host's read). The inside-the-house camera moves Fincher started in Fight Club are fully developed in Panic Room.
    “And there's a lot of like stuff that he had started to do a little bit with Fight Club is like really like fleshed out in panic room”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Panic Room’ (Plus a Mini Will Smith–Oscars Recap) With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 1:20:53 · Chris Ryan (0.45 sure it was them)
  3. unmapped (response to) · through Fight Club (1999), which they were tied to as named by Fincher as not believable in the narrator role: Fight Club ⇒ Panic Room (the host's read). A host says Panic Room is a conscious response to Fight Club, which flopped and tried to be about everything.
    “Yes. And I feel like it's a very conscious response to fight club.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Panic Room with Eva Anderson (Ad-Free) · 0:24:52 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

David Fincher: 1 line

  1. lineage (unmade remake) · through Strangers on a Train (Fincher/Flynn remake, unmade), which they were tied to as attached lead: Strangers on a Train (Fincher/Flynn remake, unmade) ⇒ David Fincher (the host's read). Fincher and Gillian Flynn were going to remake Strangers on a Train as a loose springboard.
    “He and Jillian Flynn were going to remake strangers on a train.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Mank with Sean Fennessey (Ad-Free) · 0:26:02 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)

Deadpool 2 (2018): 1 line

  1. unmapped (joke template) · through Fight Club (1999), which they were tied to as named by Fincher as not believable in the narrator role: Fight Club ⇒ Deadpool 2 (the host's read). A joke that Fight Club is the template Deadpool perfected.
    “I walked so that Deadpool could run.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Fight Club with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 1:59:03 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Emily Ratajkowski: 1 line

  1. people (casting suggestion) · them, directly: Ben Affleck ⇒ Emily Ratajkowski (the maker said so: In the commentary). On the commentary Fincher says he did not know how to cast the mistress and Affleck pointed him to a music video.
    “he says, I didn't know how to cast for this part, and Affleck goes like, well, you should watch this music video.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Gone Girl with Esther Zuckerman (Ad-Free) · 1:42:31 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

Directing (7) everyone in directing

Acting (40) everyone in acting

Other (3) everyone in other

Writing (1) everyone in writing

What was said about them, by kind

career (7)

  1. career (career parallel): Ben Affleck → Keanu Reeves. Both ride comeback cycles every seven years.
    “Okay, he and Keanu Reeves are just these like both like either side of a coin.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 0:28:40 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. career (career): Ben Affleck → Gigli. Gigli is Affleck's nadir mountain, the anti-classic for an Unwatchables month.
    “That's his Nadir Mountain.”
    The Rewatchables · A CR Month Mailbag! · 1:10:20 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. career (career): Chasing Amy → Ben Affleck. Peter North award for the actor who goes all out: Ben Affleck in Chasing Amy.
    “I feel like Ben Affleck and Chasing Amy was a Peter North movie for him.”
    The Rewatchables · A CR Month Mailbag! · 1:28:30 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
  4. career (career): Randall Batinkoff → Ben Affleck. Batinkoff was the odds-on favorite to be the biggest star of the Affleck/Damon/O'Donnell/Fraser class and peaked in 1992.
    “Batenkoff was probably like the odds on favorite to be the biggest star of all of them.”
    The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:52:46 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  5. career (career comp): Ben Affleck → Ryan O'Neal. Affleck's 90s image as a star the public mocked is compared to Ryan O'Neal.
    “A little bit of like a Ryan O'Neill thing, right?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Gone Girl with Esther Zuckerman (Ad-Free) · 0:59:42 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  6. career (career contrast): Ben Affleck → Matt Damon. Damon did the serious prestige work while Affleck made the big blockbusters.
    “Damon was doing the serious prestige stuff with serious filmmakers, and Affleck makes the big dumb blockbusters that people like, but they're not taken seriously.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Gone Girl with Esther Zuckerman (Ad-Free) · 1:00:01 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  7. career (career): Ben Affleck → Surviving Christmas. Surviving Christmas is where Affleck's downturn and James Gandolfini's trajectory met in the middle.
    “Ben Affleck was on the way down, one of his several down turns.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Trolls: The Experience with Richard Lawson · 0:51:30 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

people (3)

  1. people (casting moment): Triple Frontier → Ben Affleck. Triple Frontier is nominated for casting partly because of what the culture was doing with Ben Affleck then; its best moment is Oscar Isaac in a helicopter set to Metallica.
    “we see Oscar Isaac flying in a helicopter set to Metallica's For Whom the Bell Tolls, and I was like, oh, it's this kind of movie.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 0:50:26 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. people (casting suggestion): Ben Affleck → Emily Ratajkowski. On the commentary Fincher says he did not know how to cast the mistress and Affleck pointed him to a music video.
    “he says, I didn't know how to cast for this part, and Affleck goes like, well, you should watch this music video.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Gone Girl with Esther Zuckerman (Ad-Free) · 1:42:31 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  3. people (people): Ben Affleck → Sling Blade. On the Armageddon Criterion commentary Affleck does a Sling Blade voice whenever Billy Bob Thornton is on screen.
    “anytime Billy Bob Thornton is on screen, Ben Affleck starts doing a slingblade voice.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Return of the Jedi · 2:21:17 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Fun items about them

  1. fun, about Ben Affleck: After his Oscars 'marriage is hard work' speech and a Globes slip, Affleck hosted the SNL finale and brought Jennifer Garner onstage to atone, then overplayed the bit.
    “his whole monologue is him bringing Gardner up on stage and trying to atone for that comment at the Oscars.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Gone Girl with Esther Zuckerman (Ad-Free) · 0:54:39 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about Ben Affleck: Fincher on why he wanted Affleck: a guy who may have killed his wife, but you'd still grab a cheeseburger with him; also his practiced public smile.
    “Here's this guy who may have killed his wife, but I would also love to grab a cheeseburger with him.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Gone Girl with Esther Zuckerman (Ad-Free) · 0:55:13 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  3. fun, about Ben Affleck: The story that Affleck shut down production over a Yankees cap is a deadpan joke Fincher tells on the commentary; both men say it happened as a funny episode of the shoot.
    “idea that Ben Affleck actually shut down production of this film over wearing a Yankees hat is a joke that David Fincher says on the commentary.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Gone Girl with Esther Zuckerman (Ad-Free) · 1:09:30 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)