Ben Affleck Once Saw Similarities Between Politics and Hollywood
Ben Affleck has strived to become an actor ever since his childhood years. After working in the film industry for so long, he noticed some stark similarities between the worlds of celebrity and politics.
Why Ben Affleck wouldn’t run for office
Affleck didn’t see himself running for any type of political office, although he’d been asked about the possibility a few times. If he ever did run some kind of political campaign, the Gigli actor might feel right at home. In a 2010 interview with Entertainment Weekly, he shared what he discovered about politics and Hollywood during his time in the industry.
“I don’t want to hold office. Every day that seems like a worse and worse job to have,” he said. “Look at the level of political discourse now. It’s very depressing to me. I did a lot of research down in D.C. when I did State of Play [Affleck played a congressman in the 2009 film], and it’s not unlike Hollywood. It’s a one-horse town. Everyone’s jockeying with one another for power, prestige, and image, and they’ll stab each other in the back as fast as they can. The only difference is the stakes are a bit higher, which makes it sadder.”
On a more professional level, Affleck was also a bit cautious about how politics would affect his career.
“Politics is a thornier thing. … I do have some strong beliefs, but they don’t all hew to one side, and I think it can actually be hurtful to get too involved in politics because what happens is you might like someone’s movie, but then you go, ‘Well, I know he disagrees with my politics.’ So that can be dicey,” Affleck once told ET. “Some people choose to do it. I’ve chosen to do it at times. Others do not, and I don’t begrudge either one their choice.”
Ben Affleck enjoyed the power that came with playing a congressman in ‘State of Play’
Affleck’s role in State of Play gave him a little taste of what it was like to be a political figure. The 2009 thriller saw Affleck playing a powerful United States congressman whose career is jeopardized after a troubling scandal. Affleck’s research helped immerse him into the role, where he was slightly seduced by the political power he had access to.
“It was good just for a moment to feel the power in my hands. I have to say I think the power of an individual member of Congress is limited in general. But it was definitely fun to play a politician,” Affleck once told Movies.IE.
But the Oscar winner echoed his desire to stay away from politics, and remain in the film industry.
“I really like my job that I have now. Plus, unlike in Hollywood, where you need one director to hire you, in politics, you have to have a lot of people to vote for you. I think it’s harder work. I really am happy with what I’m doing now. In fact, I’ve never been at a place where I’ve felt better about going to work. I’m more engaged and very, very happy,” he said.
How the media treated celebrities vs. politicians according to Ben Affleck
Affleck also believed there was some overlap between how the media covered stories about politicians and celebrities. It was a subject that Affleck himself had some experience with, perhaps more so than other celebrities. He theorized that he and his initial relationship with Jennifer Lopez was so scrutinized because it coincided with the emergence of tabloids. So, he knew firsthand what it was like to navigate a relationship with the press.
“The pressures that are brought to bear on the media side to sell magazines, to sell newspapers, get hits on the website. The focus has to be on the thing that sells the most, which tends to be the most sensational, scandalous, headline grabbing. So maybe the temptation is to bend the truth,” Affleck said.
But he felt there might’ve been a bit more fact-checking when it came to crafting stories about politicians.
“In the case of entertainers, they will flat make up stories. They will completely use sources that don’t exist or stuff that is very thinly sourced,” he said. “On the political side, people are a little bit more judicious about completely abandoning journalistic standards. You still have those same impulses to push, find the story, and dig up the most scandalous aspect of it. The only difference really is that with entertainers, people feel more comfortable saying, ‘It’s fine. Just print it and run it.’ Because they know it’s not the President of the United States. It’s not going to change the world so they figure they can just print it.”
