Cue Casey: another heck of an Affleck - interview with the actor brother of Ben Affleck - Interview

Interview, Dec, 1997 by Ingrid Sischy

INGRID SISCHY: So, as Ben's younger brother, you've been the witness to this friendship between him and Matt, right? But you've also got your own place in this story. Clearly they like having you around, and clearly they respect you. They wrote a part for you in Good Will Hunting, and It was their Idea that you'd be a part of our photo shoot, which attests not just to their collaborative spirit, but to what you bring to the table. Were you at high school with them?

CASEY AFFLECK: No, Matt is two years older than Ben and five years older than me. Although in another sense, I'm much, much older.

IS: Were you serious about acting in high school, like they were?

CA: Yes. We all had the same teacher, Jerry Speca. So many people in his class ended up leaving high school saying, "I want to be an actor."

IS: And now you're living in New York City and studying at Columbia University, right?

CA: Yes, I'm a second-semester sophomore. Earlier I went to George Washington in D.C., but it wasn't my thing so I had a false start. Right after I started, I left to do To Die For [1995], which was my first film.

IS: What are you studying at Columbia?

CA: Eugenics. It's all about trying to get people like me not to reproduce.

IS: [laughs] When I talk to Ben and Matt, I get the feeling that they're very driven to be actors. I sense It's not the driving force In your life.

CA: The acting I did in high school was all the fun stuff - improv and rehearsing and exercises and doing different plays and scenes. None of it was like dealing with your agent, or going to an audition and reading a couple of words cold and waiting a half an hour with a bunch of other kids, which turned me off as soon as I started doing it. I hated that. I felt like I was done with it fight at the time I got To Die For.

IS: Have you always been close to Ben?

CA: We were always pretty close. He's been like my best friend for twenty-two years.

IS: Are you and he competitive?

CA. We can't sit down to play chess without one of us getting pissed off. I only experience that with him when he loses, which is most of the time. [laughs]

IS: But it doesn't feel like there's competition when it comes to acting.

CA: When those guys wrote Good Will Hunting, they wrote me into it. And they didn't have to. So they've been very inclusive. I think when people have that attitude, there's just no room for competition, because someone is saying they're willing to give.

IS: What do you think makes you able to act?

CA: I honestly think anybody can be an actor, though I don't actually feel that I am one - I feel more like I'm one of the eggs who's been in Gus [Van Sant]'s omelettes. But then, he is a master chef.

IS: What do movies mean to you?

CA: They're very powerful, but there was never a point in my life when I saw a movie and said, "This is what I want to be involved in and spend my life doing." I still feel that way when I think about American movies. I know a lot of people will probably think my views are puritanical.

IS: Why do you say "puritanical"?

CA: I feel America has run the gamut of attractions that feed on people's desires, because of its consumerism, which uses all of its power to sell. Sex, in particular, pervades our culture. And what happens is that as people get older, one thing replaces another. Security and money replace sex as their strongest desire. There's no discipline anymore - it's just gone from our society.

IS: It's interesting to hear a young actor talk this way.

CA: There've been times when I've been super righteously indignant about having the freedom to do whatever I want and say whatever I want. But this idea of freedom - sometimes it's like all we're doing is demanding a freedom to be ruled.

IS: The only way to sort out these issues is to be conscious of them, right?

CA: Right - and disciplined. But you know, I haven't done anything special yet. [laughs]