„I dismissed it out of hand.” Ben Affleck directed a movie that Matt Damon didn't want to star in because of a bad script

Ben Affleck disobeyed Matt Damon's advice and accepted a role in a film that his friend rejected. In addition, he took the position of director.

Edyta Jastrzebska

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Source: The Town, Ben Affleck, Warner Bros. Pictures, 2010

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's friendship is a well-known fact, as is their long-standing collaboration, but that's not all the actors have in common. It turns out that Ben Affleck has repeatedly been offered roles that were previously offered to Matt Damon, and he has sometimes accepted them. In one case, he surprised a friend with his decision, because in his opinion the script for this film was simply bad.

Damon was supposed to play the main role in The Town, however, after reviewing the script, he came to the conclusion that he was not interested in the production. He told the story during an interview with The New York Times.

The Town…was a script that was around. I read it. It got sent to me. And I dismissed it out of hand.

Affleck had a different approach to the title when he was offered a role in the film. Damon told of trying to warn a friend that the script for The Town was not good and he should rethink his decision.

Are you out of your mind? The script isn’t good.

However, it turned out that Affleck had already had time to think about it, and even had a plan on how to improve the film, which he explained to Damon, saying: “Here are the six things I'm going to do.” In doing so, he reminded him how good he is at spotting what doesn't play in movies. Affleck found a way to fix The Town, which ultimately turned out to be a hit. Not only was the film a box office success, but it also received critical and audience acclaim.

It's worth mentioning that Affleck not only starred in The Town, but also became the director and co-writer of the crime drama. As a result, he had more control over how the production with his participation was to look and was able to carry out his plan of recovery.

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Edyta Jastrzebska

Author: Edyta Jastrzebska

A graduate of journalism and social communication as well as cultural studies. She started at Gamepressure.com as one of the newspeople in the films department. Currently she oversees the Gamepressure movie&TV newsroom. She excels in the field of film and television, both in reality-based and fantasy themes. Keeps up with industry trends, but in her free time she prefers to watch less known titles. Has a complicated relationship with popular ones, which is why she only gets convinced about many of them when the hype around them subsides. Loves to spend her evenings not only watching movies, series, reading books and playing video games, but also playing text RPGs, which she has been into for several years.