Getting a Handle on His Character’s Actions: There’s a point in Gone Baby Gone when Casey Affleck has to take the drastic step of pulling the trigger. Asked about his state of mind preparing for that particular scene, Affleck replied, “We did that part of the movie where I kind of go into this house where he finds people who have this kidnapped, hurt this kid [note – this is a different child than the one at the center of the film]. That was shot in sequence so we went through the whole thing, which makes it a lot easier to arrive at that final scene where I have to shoot this child murderer, child molester. So going through all that, we did the scene were I go into the bathroom and I see this blood, and I see this very realistic prosthetic child, wherever it was. It’s pretty horrible. Even though you know those things aren’t real, they’re horrible to look at. So that made it, it was about disgust and more than anything, it was about disgust, and anger, and sadness, I’d say was kind of my state of mind.
I don’t think necessarily the movie presents what the character does in that moment as something that, it doesn’t justify it or defend it, you know? It’s something that kind of tortures the character, Patrick, afterward, wondering whether or not he did the right thing. So it wasn’t kind of a heroic moment or intended to be depicted that way, but I think it does for some people watching it. I’ve sat in like audiences, some people cheer, which I mean is kind of a strange reaction when somebody shoots somebody else in the back of the head who’s on their hands and knees. An audience erupts in applause [and] it’s unnerving. But I think it’s such of a release. It’s kind of like a second-hand cathartic reaction, you know, because the audience is so disgusted by what they’ve seen. He’s the bogeyman and you get to see in a movie somebody extinguish the bogeyman. It’s disturbing, I guess.”
Rating Ben as a Director: It’s not even a fair question to ask, but Casey Affleck answered it anyway. “Ben? Great. I mean, great. I was really proud of him. I think he’s kind of a natural born leader. That quality has turned out to be a huge asset. People just want to follow him and help him and do what he says, or work with him.
He’s very inclusive and [has a] very kind of collaborative directing style, and that paid off. You know, he’s working with John Toll, who won an Academy Award, Morgan Freeman, and Ed Harris -- all these guys who’ve worked for a long time and done a lot of great stuff. I don’t think there was any other way, had he been kind of a dictator, you know, he would have locked horns with some of those guys. But he just isn’t that way and that was great. They really respected him, clearly. You sit down and have one conversation with somebody; they find out whether or not you know what you’re talking about, whether you respect them, and whether or not you’re going to listen to them. And obviously he did that with all them because they, I think, completely just were, just got on board.”
2007 – The Year of Casey Affleck: Affleck’s earning rave reviews for this role and for his role as the man responsible for ending Jesse James’ life in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. But the actor doesn’t feel like he’s stepping out of his brother’s shadow because he never felt hidden by it in the first place.
“It’s definitely been a very good year. I’ve had a lot of years were people didn’t like the movies I did, or didn’t even pay attention to them. So I’d say it feels a lot, it feels nice. On the other hand, you spend so much time telling yourself, ‘Listen, they’re not as bad as you say.’ Or that you have to be fair, when you get good response, good reviews, you kind of have to say, ‘They’re probably not as good as you say.’ I sort of try to deal with it with that attitude and think that, you know, sometimes people go like, ‘This is it!’ I’ve heard other people get there, like, ‘This is it -- everything is going to change for you,’ pep rally, and nothing happens. And so I don’t really believe it.
I think it’s kind of mysterious the way that people suddenly become, like, everyone wants to work with them. They’re popular. They become famous, and other people don’t. I know people who have been super successful, very good actors, and they’ve never sort of popped in that kind of pop media, pop culture kind of a way. You know, I think Matt Damon is a good example. He can kind of walk down the street. He doesn’t really get hassled all that much. He’s extremely talented, done fantastic movies. I think arguably one of the best actors of his generation. And then there are people that are just, have done a few things and they get mobbed. So I don’t understand it, and I would never claim that I could sort of control it or prepare for it.”
