New York Magazine‘s entertainment blog Vulture has delivered some delightful Damon/Affleck material over the past few days.
At the end of March, it reports, the American Cinematheque will be honoring Matt Damon in a televised event called Hollywood Salutes Matt Damon: An American Cinematheque Tribute. On hand to salute Mr. Damon: Ben Affleck, Greg Kinnear… and Bill Clinton.
Are we crazy that this sounds totally randomly awesome? Matt Damon! Three hours (or whatever) of Hollywood saluting Matt Damon. Humble, work ethic-y Matt Damon. We can’t wait to run around asking people what they’re “doing for Matt Damon night” and if they’re going to “a Matt Damon watching party” to “play Matt Damon drinking games” (drink every time someone says “Matt Damon”!). It’s going to be so hard to get a cab on Matt Damon night, so try to leave your friend’s Matt Damon party early and just find out whether Matt Damon cried at the end later when you get home. The only thing that would make this better is if it were a surprise for Matt Damon. Or if there were an interpretive-dance number about the life and career of Matt Damon. Matt Damon!
In a separate post, Vulture unearths the following video, described as “an exciting scene from the little-known 1994 special Body to Die For: The Aaron Henry Story. Acting!”
Determining the genealogy of celebrities has become an odd pop-cultural phenomenon as of late, and wouldn’t you know it, last October the New England Historic Genealogical Society did some digging and determined that Matt ‘n’ Ben are 10th cousins (once removed). Their common relative was an Ipswich bricklayer in the 1600s. Now, I know what you’re thinking… sounds familiar!
WILL
I didn’t want the job.
SEAN
It’s not about that job. I’m not
saying you should work for the
government. But, you could do anything
you want. And there are people who
work their whole lives layin’ brick
so their kids have a chance at the
kind of opportunity you have. What
do you want to do?
WILL
I didn’t ask for this.
SEAN
Nobody gets what they ask for, Will.
That’s a cop-out.
WILL
Why is it a cop-out? I don’t see
anythin’ wrong with layin’ brick,
that’s somebody’s home I’m buildin’.
Or fixin’ somebody’s car, somebody’s
gonna get to work the next day ’cause
of me. There’s honor in that.
So bricklaying is in their blood. This raises the question, though: which relative is the shepherd?
The Boston Herald (Media Center) made you a handy family tree graphic — cut it out and put on your refrigerator, or tuck away in your wallet for quick and easy reference. Also, the NEHGS put out a press release [pdf] on the matter; read the relevant excerpt below:
October 9, 2009 (Boston, MA) – Researchers at the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) recently uncovered family lines that link the Hollywood duo. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are 10th cousins, once removed. Both are decendents of William Knowlton, Jr. (1615-1655) of Ipswich, MA.
William Knowlton Jr. was born in England and arrived with his parents to the U.S. in the early 1630s. He was bricklayer by trade. William Jr.’s two children that Affleck and Damon descend from are Thomas and Mary Knowlton, born in the 1640s.
The Hollywood duo each descends from Knowlton’s two children; Affleck from Knowlton’s son Thomas, and Damon from daughter Mary. Working on the research were NEHGS staff genealogists Chris Child, who specializes in early New England and Presidential research, and Rhonda McClure, who has done genealogical research for many celebrities. Longtime NEHGS genealogist Gary Boyd Roberts also contributed to the research.
Affleck, who was born in California but grew up in Boston, is also related to 16 U.S Presidents including Barack Obama, as well as the late Princess Diana.
I think it’s time to take a look back at Matt and Ben’s acceptance speech for Best Original Screenplay at the 70th Annual Academy Awards back in 1998. (Watch it here.)
A couple of things to note:
1) The award is presented by the original odd couple. (I’m gonna have to say Matt Damon is the Felix to Affleck’s Oscar. Ben Affleck — so rough around the edges!!)
2) They’re with their moms!
3) Ben Affleck’s voice cracks like that of a thirteen-year-old.
4) Their competition for the award included Woody Allen, P.T. Anderson, and James L. Brooks.
5) It really reminds me of the end of the Sports Night episode “The Six Southern Gentlemen of Tennessee” in which Casey and Dan very enthusiastically thank all of the show’s crew members.
Blog Will Hunting welcomes guest contributor Rolando Garcia.
I once jokingly referred to Miramax as “the house Ben Affleck built.” That’s not true. Miramax has existed since at least 1980. (My friend recently showed me a poster for a stoner Star Wars parody Miramax released that year. Think about that. They’ve been pulling the whole “Disaster Movie” genre schtick for 30 years!) Ben Affleck didn’t show up until the later half of the mid-90′s, but he was integral in the Miramax my generation came to know. His Oscar win alongside best bud Matt Damon in 1998 gave him some “indie film street cred” that no doubt rubbed off on Shakespeare in Love. He was certainly in the thick of things when Miramax became the Oscar juggernaut it’s commonly known as today.
No matter how high his star rose, Ben always kept it real with Miramax. Which is why I was so surprised to see him stay with Miramax after the Weinsteins left.
A little background for non-movie-industry-news-nerds: Miramax was founded by Harvey and Bob Weinstein. They sold it to Disney in 1993 but stayed on board as presidents to run the ship, as they always had. So it was an accepted truth that anyone who worked with Miramax regularly did so because they wanted to work with the Weinstein brothers.
When they left and created the Weinstein Company in 2005, all the other Miramax filmmakers and go-to actors went with them. Disney was left with little more than the Miramax name, installing a new president and beginning the “New Miramax” era, with practically a whole new roster of executives and creatives. Yet Ben Affleck chose to make Gone Baby Gone at the New Miramax.
I think this was a clever PR move.
Photo by Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times
The average guy on the street who doesn’t read way too many movie blogs has no idea who runs Miramax. As far as the general population goes, Miramax was still Miramax. And actors, being public faces, come to be associated with brands in the public’s mind. In this case, the association goes something like this: “Ben Affleck + Miramax = some pretty good movies like Good Will Hunting(!).”
Ben used this to his advantage by allying himself with the Miramax name and not the Weinstein brothers. On the mean, indie film streets “Miramax presents a Ben Affleck film” sounds way more impressive than “The Weinstein Company presents a Ben Affleck film.” One reminds me of Good Will Hunting, and that Ben Affleck was once more than a headliner for mindless blockbusters and tabloids. It makes me root for the guy and probably give his movie a chance.
In January 2010, despite major Oscar wins under the new regime, Disney closed the doors on Miramax. The fate of the label remains a mystery, with rumors swirling that the Weinsteins would like to buy it back. But with Miramax off the table for the foreseeable future, I can’t help but wonder: what will Ben Affleck do when he needs to remind people of his indie street cred?
Rolando has spent the eight years since college involved in all sorts of movie-related activities. His most relevant experience to Good Will Hunting was a three year tenure at the New Miramax in marketing. He spearheaded the design and distribution of a most awesome in-theater display for Ben Affleck’s Gone Baby Gone. These days he moonlights as producer on To Them That’s Gone, a documentary about a group of young people who ran 4,000 miles across the USA in 2008. This spring he’s directing his first short film in many, many years.
Turns out the upcoming Damon-Affleck project will likely be The Trade, the story of two New York Yankees in the seventies who swapped wives. The blogosphere is all atwitter with the notion that we may soon see the Boston duo in pinstripes.
You can thank the crackerjack photoshop staff at the MTV Movie Blog for the image above.
Matt ‘n’ Ben are re-forming their production company for a “first look” deal at Warner Bros. In movie lingo, “first look” refers to this exchange: “First, look – Ben, I wish you hadn’t sold my Oscar on eBay to fund Gone Baby Gone. But what the hell, let’s re-form our production company!”
Of course, I’m being unfair (and hilarious!). Affleck has become a well-respected director after Gone Baby Gone, and his next film, the highly anticipated The Town, is due in September. With his newfound clout and Damon’s ongoing credibility as an actor and a box-office draw, the timing for this thing seems right. Ready those Gerry 2 pitches …. now.
Howard Zinn, an author, teacher and political activist whose book “A People’s History of the United States” became a million-selling leftist alternative to mainstream texts, died Wednesday in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 87 and lived in Auburndale, Mass.
… “A People’s History” had some famous admirers, including the actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. The two grew up near Professor Zinn, were family friends and gave the book a plug in their Academy Award-winning screenplay for “Good Will Hunting.”
As a math genius once said about Zinn’s People’s History of the United States, that book “will knock you on your ass.”
We're just some guys in Boston who think that Good Will Hunting is more than just the sum of its parts.
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