'Hollywoodland' Focus Group Wonders Which Circle To Darken For 'Can't Stand Ben Affleck'
Yesterday, we noted how Ben Affleck recently bemoaned to a reporter at the Venice Film Festival about the ever encroaching eye of the moviegoing public, who allow frivolous external details about the actor's personal life to color their full enjoyment of his screen performances. (Perhaps, though we'd argue that no amount of photos of the actor on a Baby Bjorn-saddled latte run could ever dilute the simple, cinematic pleasures of James Gandolfini whacking him across the skull with a snow shovel.) An amused Defamer reader writes:
I was part of a focus group asked to give opinions on several versions of the 30 second television spot for his new movie Hollywoodland. All of the dozen or so people present said the version that worked best for them was the one with the least amount of Affleck face time. Why? Because they couldn't get the thought of J-Lo's booty or Jennifer Garner's teeth or Affleck's Red Sox hat out of their heads. After about twenty minutes of Affleck bashing, someone finally thought to ask, "Is Ben Affleck behind that two-way mirror?" I guess now we have our answer.
While it's unlikely Affleck would have been there in person, it's still sad to picture the once top-of-his-game actor standing behind that mirror, lower-lip trembling as an interviewer asks, "Who thinks we should edit Ben Affleck out of this commercial completely?" and a societal cross section unanimously shoots their arms into the air. Despite their passionate input, however, we can't imagine the spots could reduce his face time any more than the Hollywoodland trailer did already: Even though he plays the film's central character of 1950s TV Superman George Reeves, Affleck gets exactly one line, in which he shouts, "You like me in a red suit!" It's meant to be stirring, but just ends up mostly confusing, as if the actor perhaps mistook his Daredevil costume for the blue one he's supposed to be donning this time around.