Saturday, October 22, 2011

Ben Affleck? Really?



No, this isn't a case of the curious hairline of a hack actor, which I guess could be a running theme had I the time and inclination to write about such trivialities. This is my protest post against Ben Affleck the auteur who 'stretched' into a director, adapting Dennis Lehane's Gone Baby Gone and Chuck Hogan's The Town into movies.

Affleck has done yeoman's work evoking credible acting performances from himself and his brother, in small stories set in the wicked mean streets of Boston. His ability to take on larger projects is still to be determined, but that hasn't stopped anyone from telling Ben that he should take on a modern classic like Stephen King's The Stand. The Stand is a huge book, a daunting narrative that has thus far defied decent adaptation. I just hope that Ben's ready for the heat as I would hate to see another Gigli moment...

1 comment:

Kristin said...

I truly have no idea how difficult it is to direct a movie, but I loved the heartbreaking Gone Baby Gone and thought that The Town was excellent, too. How much of that is due to the director? No clue - but the stories were great so I imagine the bulk of the props go to the writers.