page_title: Ben Affleck
section_title: 1998–2002: Leading man status
hierarchical_section_title: Ben Affleck / Career / 1998–2002: Leading man status
caption_attribution_description: English: KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Posing in front of the world premiere release of the film "Armageddon" are Peter Stormare, director Michael Bay, Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, Ken Campbell, Billy Bob Thornton, Bruce Willis, Steve Buscemi, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Jessica Steen. The screening was held in a theater specially constructed at the Apollo/Saturn V Center at the Kennedy Space Center. The movie was partly filmed at KSC, and as part of the premiere festivities, guests had a chance to see many of the sites actually used in the film as well as explore a wide range of NASA artifacts and displays. A private party that included a performance by rock band Aerosmith followed the premiere.
context_page_description: Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. His accolades include two Academy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. He began his career as a child when he starred in the PBS educational series The Voyage of the Mimi. He later appeared in the independent coming-of-age comedy Dazed and Confused and various Kevin Smith films, including Mallrats, Chasing Amy and Dogma. Affleck gained wider recognition when he and childhood friend Matt Damon won the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for writing Good Will Hunting, which they also starred in. He then established himself as a leading man in studio films, including the disaster film Armageddon, the war drama Pearl Harbor, and the thrillers The Sum of All Fears and Changing Lanes.
  After a career downturn, during which he appeared in Daredevil and Gigli, Affleck received a Golden Globe nomination for portraying George Reeves in the noir biopic Hollywoodland. His directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone, which he also co-wrote, was well received. He then directed, co-wrote and starred in the crime drama The Town and directed and starred in the political thriller Argo.
context_section_description: Armageddon, released in 1998, established Affleck as a viable leading man for Hollywood studio films. Good Will Hunting had not yet been released during the casting process and, after Affleck's screen test, director Michael Bay dismissed him as "a geek". He was convinced by producer Jerry Bruckheimer that Affleck would be a star, but the actor was required to lose weight, become tanned, and get his teeth capped before filming began. The film, where he starred opposite Bruce Willis as a blue-collar driller tasked by NASA with stopping an asteroid from colliding with Earth, was a box office success. Daphne Merkin of The New Yorker remarked: "Affleck demonstrates a sexy Paul Newmanish charm and is clearly bound for stardom." Later in 1998, Affleck had a supporting role as an arrogant English actor in the period romantic comedy Shakespeare in Love, starring his then-girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow. Lael Loewenstein of Variety remarked that Affleck "does some of his very best work, suggesting that comedy may be his true calling," while Janet Maslin of The New York Times found him "very funny". Shakespeare in Love won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, while the cast won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast. Affleck then appeared as a small-town sheriff in the supernatural horror film Phantoms. Stephen Holden of The New York Times wondered why actors like Affleck and Peter O'Toole had agreed to appear in the "junky" film: "Affleck's thudding performance suggests he is reading his dialogue for the first time, directly from cue cards."
  Affleck and Damon had an on-screen reunion in Kevin Smith's religious satire Dogma (after having appeared in Smith's previous films, Mallrats and Chasing Amy), which premiered at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. Janet Maslin of The New York Times remarked that the pair, playing fallen angels, "bring great, understandable enthusiasm to Mr. Smith's smart talk and wild imaginings". Affleck starred opposite Sandra Bullock in the romantic comedy Forces of Nature (1999), playing a groom whose attempts to get to his wedding are complicated by his free-spirited traveling companion. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly remarked that Affleck "has the fast-break charm you want in a screwball hero," while Joe Leydon of Variety praised "his winning ability to play against his good looks in a self-effacing comic turn". Affleck then appeared opposite Courtney Love in the little-seen ensemble comedy 200 Cigarettes (1999).
  Interested in a directorial career, Affleck shadowed John Frankenheimer throughout pre-production of the action thriller Reindeer Games (2000). Frankenheimer, directing his last feature film, described Affleck as having "a very winning, likable quality about him. I've been doing this for a long time and he's really one of the nicest." He starred opposite Charlize Theron as a hardened criminal, with Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times enjoying the unexpected casting choice: "Affleck often suggests one of the Kennedys playing Clark Kent ... He looks as if he has never missed a party or a night's sleep. He's game, though, and his slight dislocation works to the advantage of Reindeer Games." He then had a supporting role as a ruthless stockbroker in the crime drama Boiler Room (2000). A.O. Scott of The New York Times felt Affleck had "traced over" Alec Baldwin's performance in Glengarry Glen Ross, while Peter Rainer of New York Magazine said he "does a series of riffs on Baldwin's aria, and each one is funnier and crueler than the next". He then provided the voice of Joseph in the animated Joseph: King of Dreams. In his last film role of 2000, Affleck starred opposite his girlfriend Paltrow in the romantic drama Bounce. Stephen Holden of The New York Times praised the "understated intensity and exquisite detail" of his performance: "His portrait of a young, sarcastically self-defined 'people person' who isn't half as confident as he would like to appear is close to definitive."
  Affleck reunited with director Michael Bay for the critically derided war drama Pear
caption: Affleck with Michael Bay and Liv Tyler at the Armageddon premiere in 1998
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