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Following up "Gigli," a movie everyone would like to forget, Ben Affleck plays a computer engineer missing his memory in "Paycheck," a mystery-thriller directed by action legend John Woo ("Mission: Impossible II") from a short story by the late, great science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. Presented with an envelope of random objects rather than the multibillion-dollar paycheck he'd expected at the end of his latest top-secret three-year job, Affleck rushes to reconstruct his past with the assistance of Uma Thurman. MTV's Ryan Downey takes a trip down memory lane with the studly actor.
Ben Affleck: Well, how'd you like the movie?
MTV: I enjoyed it. It was a lot more Hitchcock than I expected.
Affleck: There was a lot of Hitchcock. It's Woo gone Hitchcock
with the Philip K. Dick influence. The Dick movies are, by their very
nature, a little more moody and cerebral: "Blade Runner," "Minority
Report," and "Total Recall," which is awesome. That's definitely
Arnold's best movie. "Cahnsider this a divorce" — hot! That was a
great one.
MTV: So you heard Woo was doing a movie...
Affleck: I heard Woo was doing a movie and I was like, "How can
I get on this movie." I mean, I didn't even know what the script was
but I just wanted to work with him. I think he's really, really
talented. He continues to grow and do different kinds of stuff. You
know he could make "The Killer" over and over again, but he continues
to hardboil it. He continues to try different stuff. He succeeds at it
every time and it was just an honor for me to work with him. What else
can I say? I feel lucky, and it's no bullsh--, I really do. I felt
like, "John Woo's doing it, can I please be in the movie?"
MTV: I read that they offered it to Matt Damon at one point.
Affleck: They did. John first offered it to Matt. I think he had
seen "The Bourne Identity" and thought, "This is kind of similar." And
Matt did a great job, obviously. Matt sat down and met with him —
because it's John Woo — but he was like, "Don't you think it's a
little too similar? I can't do two amnesia movies in a row, otherwise
I'm just Amnesia Guy." But he called me and was like, "I met with John
Woo and I think you should check out this script because it's really
good." As luck would have it, John was on a plane from New York, where
he had met with Matt, back to LA, and the movie they were showing was
"Changing Lanes," which was my good luck. So when he got back to LA, he
offered me the movie. It was like serendipity and it was great. It was
good luck, good friends...
MTV: Matt told me that "Jersey Girl" was going to be the movie
that would make Kevin Smith fans hate him; then Kevin Smith said it was
because Matt hates the fans. Do you care to comment on that?
Affleck: Smith is a f---ing saboteur. You have to know that
about Smith. Smith loves to punch holes. I mean, every time I run
across one of the professional autograph guys, they bring me a "Dogma"
poster or whatever, 'cause they love the Kevin stuff, and they'll have
his signature on them. Every time Kevin's signed one, there's like an
arrow pointing to my head and he'll write "gay" or some dumb thing. I'm
like, "You're not really helping your reputation with your inane
attacks." So I point another arrow back to him that says "fat."
MTV: Or maybe "filmmaker."
Affleck: Yeah, "filmmaker." But "Jersey Girl" is actually his
closest one to "Chasing Amy." It's very similar to "Chasing Amy" except
that it's not about a lesbian or sex so much. But it's about that same
character as in "Chasing Amy" in a way, grown older. It's a movie very
close to Kevin's heart and his experience.
MTV: Are you nervous about "Paycheck" on the heels of "Gigli"?
Affleck: Not really. One of the things I felt good about, even
though "Gigli" is kind of the "Ishtar" of the modern era, was that ...
MTV: I actually said that.
Affleck: Did you really? Great minds... You and me are on the same
wavelength. I should get a [faux]hawk like yours — a semi-hawk.
MTV: Do it. Get a hawk.
Affleck: You know, I knew ["Paycheck"] worked, you know what I mean? So I always knew, like, "Well, I've got 'Paycheck' coming out too," and "Daredevil" worked, so I feel like professionally it'll be a two-of-three year. Which, you know, it may take two successes to balance out the failure of "Gigli."
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Photo: Paramount
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