Ben Affleck is voicing his concerns about how his public perception, especially when it comes to those viral “Sad Affleck” memes, has impacted his three children: Violet, Samuel, and Seraphina.
In case you forgot, the 49-year-old actor and Henry Cavill gave an interview during a press junket for Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice that unexpectedly went viral due to the dejected expression Affleck gave as his co-star talked about the negative reviews the film received. A short snippet from the conversation, with the sound replaced with the song The Sound Of Silence, soon went viral – sparking the “Sad Affleck” memes featuring his sad look and relatable AF commentary. Ch-ch-check out the facial expression for yourself (below):
Related: Ryan Reynolds Hilariously Keeps Getting Mistaken For Ben Affleck!
Now, in a new interview with The Los Angeles Times, Affleck admitted that while he personally found the memes to be hilarious, how they affected his kiddos he found to be no laughing matter. Reflecting how his public image didn’t match who he was at home, he began:
“I think when I was young, people saw me as somebody who had too much or was successful too easily or looked like some kind of cavalier, insincere, callow frat guy. That was nothing like how I felt. I felt like this sort of insecure, anxious, overly verbal kid from Boston who had tried to break into this business and was dealing with his own stuff. But there is an interesting thing about how we come off versus who we are.”
The father then said that he is actually worried if they might take the public perception and viral jokes too seriously, explaining:
“I got to a place where [the public perception] was so different from who I am that I just stopped reading and stopped caring. But then, as my kids got older and started seeing the Internet themselves, that’s the difficult part. Even the ‘Sad Affleck’ meme – that was funny to me. I mean, there’s nobody who hasn’t felt that way at a junket. But then my kids see it and I think, ‘Oh, are they going to think their dad is fundamentally sad or they have to worry about me?’ That’s really tough.”
A valid concern! Speaking of brooding personas…
He also reflected on his brief time playing Batman in several films, calling Justice League “the worst experience” of his life – all thanks to the timing of his breakup with Jennifer Garner and other unfortunate factors. Affleck shared:
“It was really Justice League that was the nadir for me. That was a bad experience because of a confluence of things: My own life, my divorce, being away too much, the competing agendas and then [director] Zack [Snyder]’s personal tragedy [his daughter died by suicide in 2017] and the reshooting. It just was the worst experience. It was awful.”
Yeesh, tell us how you really feel! When Snyder left the movie, Joss Whedon soon replaced him – and it turned out that the reshoots ended up being miserable for some of the stars, including Gal Gadot and Ray Fisher. He even faced allegations of on-set abuse from the cast.
The Gone Girl star continued:
“It was everything that I didn’t like about this. That became the moment where I said, ‘I’m not doing this anymore.’ It’s not even about, like, Justice League was so bad. Because it could have been anything.”
In fact, it was so terrible for him that he dropped out of directing and starring in The Batman:
“I looked at it and thought, ‘I’m not going to be happy doing this. The person who does this should love it.’ You’re supposed to always want these things, and I probably would have loved doing it at 32 or something. But it was the point where I started to realize it’s not worth it. It’s just a wonderful benefit of reorienting and recalibrating your priorities that once it started being more about the experience, I felt more at ease.”
Whatever makes you happy and more fulfilled is the more important sometimes! Reactions to what Ben had to say about the viral meme? Do you think he should be worried? Let us know your thoughts in the comments (below)!
[Image via Brian To/WENN]
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