Ben Affleck Once Explained Why There Was No Rivalry With Brother Casey Affleck
Both Ben Affleck and his younger brother Casey Affleck became Hollywood success stories. During their ascent to the top, there was little room for rivalry between the two, despite the media occasionally claiming otherwise.
How Ben Affleck and Casey Affleck avoided a sibling rivalry
Ben and Casey Affleck had similar beginnings in the film industry, but their career paths slightly diverged after becoming more successful. They both started working as child actors with their friend Matt Damon. But Casey admitted that one of his main reasons for getting into the acting business was to be near girls.
“The person who directed the plays at my high school came to me and said: ‘We’re doing a musical. We have 19 girls and we need one male at the very least to play the male lead.’ And I considered another summer of baseball or a summer in the basement of the theater department with 19girls who otherwise would never have spoken to me. And so thus began my career as an actor,” Casey once told npr.
After collaborating in Good Will Hunting, Ben and Casey Affleck seemed to gravitate towards two different types of film roles. Ben became more of a leading man in Hollywood, doing blockbuster features like Armageddon and Pearl Harbor. Casey embraced more experimental films where he shined in supporting roles. Although, like his brother, he’d dabble in the occasional blockbuster like the Ocean’s franchise.
Ben might’ve been the more popular brother at one point, but there was no jealousy brewing between them. In a 2018 interview with Us Weekly, Ben confided there wasn’t anything but support between his brothers and his other acting friends.
“With my brother and Matt and Joaquin[Phoenix] and guys that I’ve known really well for a long time, we tend to just root for each other. I think there’s room for everybody, if you find the right parts. It’s not a zero-sum game. Manchester is a good example of that. He’s got his own part and his own thing. That doesn’t take anything away from me or anyone else,” Ben said.
Casey Affleck wasn’t really proud of his movies until working with his brother Ben Affleck for ‘Gone Baby Gone’
Gone Baby Gone was a turning point in the careers of both Afflecks. It was the first film Ben would direct after taking a long hiatus from the movie industry. It also gave The Town star a chance to redeem himself after a disastrous couple of years put his career in bad shape. Gone Baby Gone’s potential failure could’ve risked causing a much deeper rift between Ben and the public. But its critical success helped reinvigorate Ben’s career, which he’s still reaping the benefits of to this day.
Gone Baby Gone’s success was just as healthy for Casey’s career as well.
“And of course it’s nice to have people respond positively because in the past I’ve sure experienced the opposite. I haven’t done many movies that I’ve been proud of. The ones I’ve loved, other people haven’t responded to,” Casey once said about the movie according to E! News.
Ben being his brother made it easy for Casey to sign on to the project. Since they grew up together, they had the fortune of skipping a lot of steps directors typically had to go through with actors.
“I really didn’t have to think about that either, because … I knew that he was very, very bright, super smart guy and would make a great director and we have similar tastes in movies and in acting styles and we have a shared language that makes it really easy to work together,” Casey said. “And we are brothers and grew up looking after each other, so the getting-to-know-you period that wastes the first few weeks of any movie in the relationship between an actor and a director — being polite and trying to understand what the other person is saying — we didn’t have to go through that. We just sort of jumped right into it.”
