Ben Affleck

“Start with Renoir, Rules of the Game. This has my favorite line from all of cinema, probably, in it, which is– Sounds simple, but I find very resonant, which is, “Everyone has their reasons.” I stole it. It’s in Gone Baby Gone also. Astonishing. An extraordinary filmmaker and humanist. And kind of the ability to create empathy and understand other people, I feel like he almost introduced into cinema. It’s sort of the– to me, it’s the heart of why movies are brilliant and unique and wonderful.”

“Let’s see, Miller’s Crossing. The Carter Burwell score is so haunting and evocative. The image of the hat drifting through the autumn woods and, you know, Turturro begging for his life. It brought style and also emotional realism, coupled in a way where it was sort of uniquely my– what I thought was the Coen brothers. It was part of the formative period of my life when I was watching movies and inspired to want to be a director.”

“Dazed and Confused. Here’s a movie I’m in. This was a wonderful experience for me. It really taught me in doing it that… Because Rick Linklater, the director, kind of invited us to be authors and participate and write and improvise, he made every actor in it a partner and, as a director myself, I’ve really latched onto that lesson and tried to continue with that. I remember he sent us a note that said, “If this movie is produced as written, it would be a massive underachievement.” I had never seen humility in that way or that kind of approach, and that way of inviting your collaborators in was amazing.”

“Badlands. Terry Malick made this movie. It’s one of his great films. Coupling sort of rebellion and youth and suburbia with this strange, kind of monstrous-feeling violence that seems inexplicable. And he really captured the sort of both the beauty and the pain of that place and time and that idea. And he’s just an incredible…”

“God, Steven Soderbergh, Traffic. Just seminal. It’s about the drug trade and its many impacts and manifestations. This movie made a massive impression on me. God, this is unbelievable. I can’t even like… Being in here is so…”

“Hollywood Shuffle. Robert Townsend made this movie. It’s about being a Black actor in Hollywood. I found it so fascinating, and I still remember that line at the end, “There’s always work at the post office.” It was the first time I saw somebody define the ability to choose or not choose what they did, take authorship over their life and their art. And it remains very meaningful to me.”

“God, Trainspotting, Danny Boyle. This is an incredible film. Heroin addiction and Scotland. And, you know… “A country colonized by wankers.” It was just amazing. That’s a bad Scottish accent, but those are my ancestors, so I feel some bizarre affinity for the place. And, God, it was such a good movie.”

“Spike Lee’s Malcolm X with Denzel Washington. There is not a performance I can think of that’s better than this. I remember where I was when I watched the movie, and I remember when I walked out, I thought, “I want to be a better man.” It was the first time movies touched me in that kind of a profound way.”

“Bull Durham, this is a… a great sports movie. It’s a genre that I really like. And one of the things I love about it is that it was about the sort of the dignity and courage and humanity of people who aspire to greatness and maybe, you know, not reached it, but found a place to kind of be at peace with that and who they are. I found it beautiful and heartbreaking.”

“I mean, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, probably the best teen high school movie ever made. Big influence on Dazed and Confused. Incredible performances. I mean, chief among them, Sean Penn as Spicoli. You know, like, “Once I cruise history, I’m not coming to your side of the building.” “Mr. Hand.” Like… “Get out of here, Curtis, I don’t hear you unless you knock.” This is a great film about American high school life.”

“Silence of the Lambs is probably the best classic serial killer, like… There’s stuff in this movie that’s been borrowed by a thousand other movies. I’ve tried to rip it off. It’s just an incredible film. Jonathan Demme did a spectacular job, of course. With Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter, Ted Levine as Buffalo Bill, and Jodie Foster kind of carrying it in this spectacular way as the protagonist. It’s just an example of how you make a really great pop, scary, wonderful film that’s smart and terrifying and engaging.”

“So this disc, the Criterion… I was surprised when I heard Criterion was doing Armageddon. I didn’t think of it as that kind of movie when we did it. And in retrospect, now, I feel like maybe my best work in my career is the commentary on this disc. People approach me to talk about the commentary on this disc as much as they do movies that I’ve been in. And it’s because I didn’t know any better than to be really honest. But I won’t spoil it for those of you who are interested. It is a… It is an achievement that I am proud of and didn’t intend to be as good as I now think it is at the time. Criterion, when is the 4K coming out?”

“This movie, The Elephant Man, by David Lynch, is the first and only time I ever saw my father cry. Movie about what it means to be a human being. And it’s heartbreaking and beautiful and… and it’s tied to a very personal memory for me. You know, it’s… That’s probably a good note to end on.”