Matt Damon is coming to my school next month to give a short talk to some of our acting students. I overheard some of them this morning discussing how they thought Matt was a ten times better actor than Ben…
I know the two are longtime boyhood friends who grew up in Massachusetts. There was a buzz a while back regarding Matt not wanting to sell out to the Hollywood lifestyle as much as Ben has…I mean come on now ‘Dare Devil’…
I think it may be attributed to a certain aura that follows Matt, where he seems to be this boyish philosopher who would rather be challenged mentally than by the almighty dollar.
And Ben carries a slight arrogance that some find very distasteful. E-tv held an interview with him a while back that really spoke volumes about his "personal fable" he is weaving in hollywood.
So what are the teemings impressions regarding Matt Damon and Ben Afleck? Who is more appealing to your intellectually.* Who do you think may be the better actor?
please try and keep physical appearances out of this discussion.
IMHO, Afleck has deteriorated into a 2-bit hack who’ll whore himself for anything, and has neither the skill nor the integrity to pull it off.
Makes me truly wonder if he had any talent to begin with, or was Damon supporting him that much?
Or perhaps his brain was zapped by aliens, a la’ Steve Dallas/Bloom County?
In Other Words:
Damon, Damon, Damon - he’s a golden actor - even his crappy roles are pulled off with aplomb and skill. Whether he’s smarter or not is, however, a subjective question. What is he (Damon) after? Integrity as an actor? then yes. Fame, Fortune, a cover-marriage with another 2-bit whore singer-cum-actress to create a media circus and garner more me-me-me attention? Then I have to say that Afleck is the “smarter” of the two. Being a good actor, choosing excellent roles, and executing them flawlessly is simply no way to garner that level of attention. I mean, just ask the music industry!
::crack!:: ::thump!::
OW! My soapbox seems to have broken. Carry on. . .
Matt could have used his fame coming off of Good Will Hunting to parlay himself into a major, if undistinguished, film career just as easily as his buddy Ben, but he strikes me as someone who actually loves acting and wants to do it well in projects that reflect well on him, even if it means doing lesser films and taking lesser roles.
Not that Matt’s film career has been a series of artsy acting showcases or anything, but Matt seems content to be a well-known character actor with the occasional starring role, where Ben has become the typical superstar hack who believes his own press and actually thinks he’s earning that $20 mil a movie or whatever he’s making these days.
I think Afleck is a terrible actor. I think he would do anything to be thrown in the limelight. Nothing about him interests me…except I would like to know where he gets all his money. He is a nobody and doens’t command the salary that other actors do like Arnold or Morton Downey Jr. or Charlie Sheen yet he lives his life like he does.
I think Matt has a little potential as an actor. I haven’t seen him in very many movies. Didn’t he write Good Will Hunting?
Matt is a little more mysteriuos and a lot more private. I think if I had to choose…it would be for him.
Who’s smarter? Who knows. My vote is for “The Rock”
I’m serious that I have no idea what happened to Afleck: The acting that he did with Damon seems to be quite good. But it seems like in the last, what, 5 years the both the quality of his acting and the integrity of the roles he’s chosen has gone down the tubes. And this whole stunt with Lopez is such obvious low-class Inquirer fodder that it boggles my mind to think he was once associated with Damon.
Now, Damon has categorically shown himself to be versatile, effective actor who chooses interesting, well written roles in good movies. I don’t want to paint him as the second coming of acting, but I don’t think it takes a lot to realize that he’s a much higher caliber of actor than his former colleague.
The only way I can think that Afleck could be considered Damon’s superior is if someone has a strong dislike for any movies that aren’t pure fluff entertainment.
I can’t stand Affleck; I’m not sure what it is, but he just annoys the hell out of me. I don’t think he can act, he doesn’t look intelligent, and he comes across as rather jerky. Most of the movies he’s been in are things I’d never willingly go see. And, he certainly is not attractive (sorry, but I don’t see what a lot of other girls seem to see in him).
Damon, on the other hand, usually picks interesting movies with more complex storylines than the usual summer fodder. He’s shown that he can be a dramatic actor (Good Will Hunting), he can handle himself in a fight (The Bourne Identity), and he can be hilarious as well (“Will and Grace” episode). He’s shown himself to be a much more intricate person than Affleck. I’m not sure if that points to him being more intelligent, but I definitely like him much more as an actor.
I think that Ben should stick to making movies with people who know how to work around his lack o’talent, or at least, draw some sort of performance out of him. When he works with Matt Damon, or Kevin Smith, he doesn’t suck that much.
I have a friend who can’t watch Affleck because she says he reminds her of a “frat boy date rapist”. I can’t watch him without thinking of that.
I’ve wondered how much of Damon’s intellect is a conscious PR move. He definitely made it into Harvard, but so do tens of thousands of other kids. I recently finished listening to his audio recording of PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, a Howard Zinn book he’s touted many times, and certainly a book on CD isn’t something he would do for the money at his income level, but otoh doing it gains him a fortune in the “isn’t he smart?” publicity.
Whatever the case, he’s definitely the better actor. Any prettyboy (or even Harrison Ford) could have done “PATRIOT GAMES” or “ARMAGEDDON” (the only variant in Affleck characterizations seems to be “how horny is this character?”), but Damon’s performances in TALENTED MR. RIPLEY and even the action thriller BOURNE SUPREMACY were far deeper performances.
Matt Damon is certainly more educated and trained than Ben. Despite what Sampiro seems to imply (or at least I inferred) getting into and (almost) through Harvard is quite an accomplishment, even if loads of others have done it before you.
Matt doesn’t have the blockbusters on his resume like Ben does, but I think that Matt is smarter about chosing interesting roles in smaller movies, then doing bigger mainstream pictures. There’s a balance in there and I think Matt’s certainly straddled the 2 worlds well. But it all depends on what your goals are. I personally think that Matt has more longevity.
Matt seems like he may be more insecure about his talent, and works harder at it. His success didn’t come until later whereas Ben’s been the big man in the neighborhood since his youth. Let’s not forget that Matt is also a couple of years older than Ben.
Personally, neither are that much to write home about. Matt should turn out to be a much better actor, over time, if he continues to learn the craft. But Ben is destined for bitter times ahead, once his looks fail. I see episodic TV in his future.
Matt seems to be more intellectual. When compared to Affleck, he’s a freakin’ jeen-yus. But Ben seems to be incredibly dim. Watching him in “Dare-Devil” was so painful - look thoughtful, not my lineBreathe, here comes my lineOOH right! I’m Blind! slightly cross eyes and speak
I know - It was just the perfect “in”.
