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cife has never been better
for actor Casey Affleck.
He's got two critically ac-
claimed movies hitting
theaters. His wife. Sum-
mer Phoenix (sister of late
actor River), is pregnant with
their second child. And there's
even the animated movie he
wrote, about a family of ani-
mals left behind by Noah's Ark,
going into production.
Of course, the molies themselves are a
little less sunny.
Affleck co-stars with Brad Pitt in the
curr ent release "The Assassination of
Jesse Jitmes bv the Coward Robed Ford"
(Pitt's Jarnes, Allleck rs the coward;, and
on Friday comes "Gone, Baby, Gone," a
drama directed by his brother. Ben
Based on the novel by "Mystic River"
author Dends Lehane, 'Baby" is a con-
temporarv cnme drama about a child's
abduction and lirc swirling conspira-cy around it, which involves a neglect-
ful mom (Amy Ryan), piles of cash and a
high-ranking official in the police force
(lV1organ Freeman) Ed Harris also stars
The 32-year-old Affleck plays Patrick
Kenzie, a Boston PI who prefers a smart
remark to getting into scrapes, but is of-
ten bailed out of them by his capable paft-
ner Angie Gemaro lMichelle Monaghan)
For AJfleck - who has shone in suonofi-
ing r olcs in movies including *Good-Will
Hunting" and "Ocean's Eleven" and its se-
quels, and has starred in quirky indies
like "Gerry"' (with Matt Damon) and Steve
Buscemi's "Lonesome Jin" - it's the first
stab at leadine;-maD glot) and plaling theguy with the gun
"Keuie doesn't go looking for trou-
ble," says Affleck, who first read Lehane's
book when his dad sent him a copy, and
never had an interest in playing the usual
straight-arow movie hero
"I never thought of KeMie as a thug or a
brawler The thing I love is that this is not
your ry?ical PI movie or film noir There's
always something about a priyate investi-
gator that I Iove - they're really cerebral
and disconnected and they're such cool
characters He's hying to put a puzzle to-
gether Sometimes the audience is a little
step ahead, and sometimes they're a little
behind "Affleck's friends and fellow actors tease
him about being insemre and preferring
to work from a state of unease
At Cmes to promote their movie
"Ocem's Thirteen," Matt Damon said, "Be-
cause Casey is so neurotic, I read the 'Jes-
se James' script about seven times He
would want to rehearse for his auditions
over the phone And we'd talk and talk md
talk Casey would ta_lkfor four hows- Hon-
estly, I wouldn't say anything; he would
just talk it through in his head. Then I'd fi-
nally say, 'Dude, I don't know what else to
tell you!' Then he'd call up his brother md
do the sme thing for mother fow hours.
He just reallywanted that role "
Affleck laughs when hearing Dmon's
anecdote "When I like something, when I
get excited creatively, it's hild to tum my
brain off," he admits. "It doesn't happen
that often "
But he didn't feel my unease when
working with his brother
"I felt he was looking out for me and
that was comforting," says Affleck, who
flrst read the script for "Gone Baby Gone"
when Ben brought it to him on the set of
"Jesse James "
"Ben was carefully watching lhe per-
formance, so that memt I could tate risks
and do whatever I wanted; that I could be
'bad,"' Affleck says "FeeLing like I could
be bad is really liberating and helped me
be better I wanted to make sure that I'm
good in it because I know [as a director]
he'1l go on to get better and better and
do better and better movies I thinh he's
found one of his true callings " c, , ,.,!!
'. ; * r:;.
*5.'::i
Actor Casey Affleck - Benns brother - shines
in 'Baby' and tesse Jamgg' ByMrcHAELcrr.rz
o
3uz
>'
a
Noo
N
!o
o
!
-ta
*t tuSSVnfflS
Eo
ts
3in
E
=
c
G
cife has never been better
for actor Casey Affleck.
He's got two critically ac-
claimed movies hitting
theaters. His wife. Sum-
mer Phoenix (sister of late
actor River), is pregnant with
their second child. And there's
even the animated movie he
wrote, about a family of ani-
mals left behind by Noah's Ark,
going into production.
Of course, the molies themselves are a
little less sunny.
Affleck co-stars with Brad Pitt in the
curr ent release "The Assassination of
Jesse Jitmes bv the Coward Robed Ford"
(Pitt's Jarnes, Allleck rs the coward;, and
on Friday comes "Gone, Baby, Gone," a
drama directed by his brother. Ben
Based on the novel by "Mystic River"
author Dends Lehane, 'Baby" is a con-
temporarv cnme drama about a child's
abduction and lirc swirling conspira-cy around it, which involves a neglect-
ful mom (Amy Ryan), piles of cash and a
high-ranking official in the police force
(lV1organ Freeman) Ed Harris also stars
The 32-year-old Affleck plays Patrick
Kenzie, a Boston PI who prefers a smart
remark to getting into scrapes, but is of-
ten bailed out of them by his capable paft-
ner Angie Gemaro lMichelle Monaghan)
For AJfleck - who has shone in suonofi-
ing r olcs in movies including *Good-Will
Hunting" and "Ocean's Eleven" and its se-
quels, and has starred in quirky indies
like "Gerry"' (with Matt Damon) and Steve
Buscemi's "Lonesome Jin" - it's the first
stab at leadine;-maD glot) and plaling theguy with the gun
"Keuie doesn't go looking for trou-
ble," says Affleck, who first read Lehane's
book when his dad sent him a copy, and
never had an interest in playing the usual
straight-arow movie hero
"I never thought of KeMie as a thug or a
brawler The thing I love is that this is not
your ry?ical PI movie or film noir There's
always something about a priyate investi-
gator that I Iove - they're really cerebral
and disconnected and they're such cool
characters He's hying to put a puzzle to-
gether Sometimes the audience is a little
step ahead, and sometimes they're a little
behind "Affleck's friends and fellow actors tease
him about being insemre and preferring
to work from a state of unease
At Cmes to promote their movie
"Ocem's Thirteen," Matt Damon said, "Be-
cause Casey is so neurotic, I read the 'Jes-
se James' script about seven times He
would want to rehearse for his auditions
over the phone And we'd talk and talk md
talk Casey would ta_lkfor four hows- Hon-
estly, I wouldn't say anything; he would
just talk it through in his head. Then I'd fi-
nally say, 'Dude, I don't know what else to
tell you!' Then he'd call up his brother md
do the sme thing for mother fow hours.
He just reallywanted that role "
Affleck laughs when hearing Dmon's
anecdote "When I like something, when I
get excited creatively, it's hild to tum my
brain off," he admits. "It doesn't happen
that often "
But he didn't feel my unease when
working with his brother
"I felt he was looking out for me and
that was comforting," says Affleck, who
flrst read the script for "Gone Baby Gone"
when Ben brought it to him on the set of
"Jesse James "
"Ben was carefully watching lhe per-
formance, so that memt I could tate risks
and do whatever I wanted; that I could be
'bad,"' Affleck says "FeeLing like I could
be bad is really liberating and helped me
be better I wanted to make sure that I'm
good in it because I know [as a director]
he'1l go on to get better and better and
do better and better movies I thinh he's
found one of his true callings " c, , ,.,!!
'. ; * r:;.
*5.'::i
Actor Casey Affleck - Benns brother - shines
in 'Baby' and tesse Jamgg' ByMrcHAELcrr.rz
o
3uz
>'
a
Noo
N
!o
o
!
-ta