"Ben Affleck"

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Boy, you know, I just can't get enough of that opening song.

I just think it's just great.

It's under our voices right now.

Can you hear it right under us?

Yeah, and it just kind of gets me going.

Oh, I'm being real buoyed by it.

I know, it's super buoyed by it.

Well, you always call me a robot.

It's kind of like

my little theme song, right?

Yeah, yeah, it is

like a little thing

for a little robot thing,

but it's playing

underneath us right now.

It's going to kick in

in a second, kick in.

Take my glass.

Kick in, kick in.

Three, two, one.

Smart.

Less.

Smart. Less.
Now, so we had a little record earlier today, and now we're having our second record. There was a gap in between where lunch usually sits, and I always, whenever this happens, I'd love to know what Sean had.
Oh, good. I had chicken curry with rice and cauliflower and sweet potatoes, and then I had a huge bowl of ice cream after.
Wait, you had chicken curry with rice? Yeah. I did not know that Chef Puyardee already made that.
That's funny. Or Chin Chin.
That that's yeah but you see i didn't change i still i'm still in my smartless merch shirt yeah smartless merch there's some good stuff in there i was uh i guess i shouldn't be surprised because we looked at it all before it went in there but let me tell you something i slept in this shops shop smartless.com it's the best it's it's sleepable is that what it is wait is it shop smartless.com for real shop ShopSmartList.com, yeah. What's it again? Sorry, Sean.
What'd you say? ShopSmartList.com. It's the best stuff.
Oh, it's sleepable soft? Is that what it is? Wait, is it ShopSmartList.com for real? ShopSmartList.com, yeah. What's it again? You should know that.
Sorry, Sean. What'd you say? ShopSmartList.com.
I'm telling you, you sleep in the sweats, you put the hat on when you roll out of bed, it's great. Who, did you design the blanket, those big heavy blankets? You did, right? I didn't design them, but I, what's that? You wanted the heavy blanket.
I wanted the heavy blanket because I have an issue with a throw blanket.

A throw blanket covers one leg.

Right.

So I never understood the function of a throw blanket.

No, I'm saying I like it because it's weighty.

Yeah, it's weighty and it's big.

It covers your whole body.

And it's like, what do you call it?

Warm?

Fleece, like fleece, I guess?

Is it fleece? Hey, by the way, you know what I did? Oh, definitely Whisper. Yeah, that's going to be...
For Scotty, I got him a surprise. I got John Williams, the composer, to sign a page of the E.T.
score for Scotty. How'd you do that? A friend of mine knows his friends with his daughter, and then we just kind of made it happen.
Are you guys good at that? It sounds like you are, Sean, where you sort of like you remember what your friend or partner or kid or whatever really loves, and you work on it for a few months, and you get the perfect gift. Do you do that every year? I love doing that.
Really? Yeah. Hey, Will, you don't need to go up high like everybody in the world does it except you, Jason.
I don't do it. So that's why.
Yeah, exactly. It's true.
Will's very good at throwing money at a gift. Of course, Sean.
I am very good at that. You're very good at that.
Whereas, Sean, you'll do sort of a sentimental thing or I remember you said in July that what you wanted for Christmas was...

That's right.

Like I clocked last year for Maple's birthday.

She just mentioned that she loved skateboarding.

So I got her a skateboard or a certificate for a skateboarding thing.

Yes, and we went and spent the hell out of that.

Did you?

That's how she broke all her teeth, remember? Thanks, Sean. Remember that time she broke her arm when all her teeth came? She had to spit her teeth out.
That's why she's got those flippers now. And we've got this memory of her, and she takes her teeth out every night.
She thinks of you when she has to take them out. By the way, though, back to the ice cream thing.
I didn't tell you this. Jay, last episode we recorded, we talked about you having their what is it called? The root canal.
I had a cavity. You had one.
And I just got, yeah, just last week. And I got a crown bone.
Not possibly your first. No.
Oh, my God. I have so many.
But at 52 years old, I have a cavity. Oh, they're going to start coming fast and furious.
That is strange. Let's take a look at your diet.
But what is strange about things on your body degenerating as you get older? Well, but I floss and I brush and I do everything, so it's like why teeth don't play by that? No, because they're sitting in sugar all day. Yeah.
I will say this. When you're having ice cream, when you're having dessert for lunch, you have a situation.
He had dessert for breakfast the other day. Hey, I did have a thing where one of my favorite sweeteners that I use, I don't want to say which one, with my coffee, because I thought, oh, I'm not having sugar for a few years I've been using a sweetener.
And I see that one of its ingredients, this study came out yesterday, a huge study, saying that it causes like strokes and heart attacks and shit. Yeah, oh, I saw that.
Yeah. Really, I know.
Yeah, I'm so fucking bummed.

Well, so you don't want to say this publicly

since it's already public?

Well, just because it's in other...

So I don't want to call out the one particular brand.

Yeah, it's being reported on or whatever.

Oh, so the sweetening component is the problem,

not the brand.

Right, one of the ingredients.

So then what is the ingredient?

Do you remember?

I forget what it's called.

I want to know if I'm having that.

Is it agave?

It's in a lot of stevia-centric

sweeteners.

Really?

Is that what you're using?

Yeah, I mainline stevia.

I don't know, but I know that some of them

have it in it anyways.

Guys. I know.
Real uplifting, huh? Are we ready for our guest? Oh, I guess let's get to the guest. Before I die, let's get it done.
At least we'll know why. I got to say, I get some of the best guests.
This guy has had not one. Did you write this intro? Did you write this intro? This is the intro, yeah.
Did you write it? Of course I did, yeah. This guy has had not one, but two songs written about him by a huge pop star.
Most would agree he's Hollywood royalty, being an Academy Award winning filmmaker, a half-hitting movie star who's portrayed a very famous DC comic book character on screen multiple times.

I knew where it is.

But most importantly,

just an all-around great guy.

Call it.

That I'm so happy to call a friend

who I love a whole bunch,

and I know you fellas do too.

Please welcome to Smart List

Mr. Benjamin Geza Affleck Bolt.

Benjamin, oh.

No.

No.

There he is.

Oh, I love him. I love him.
Very nice. For a second, how did Sean get you and I don't? God is the one who is the one who is the one who is the one who is the one who is the one who is'm liked when I'm around you.
Where are you? Are you in the basement? I'm in my lair. Okay.
In the lower lair. Because crime might need to be fought.
Oh, God. Wait, what songs have been written about you? Dear Ben and Dear Ben Part II.
The songs that have been written about me have been written by the greatest performer in the history of the world, Jennifer Lopez. I don't know that they're exactly so much about me as maybe inspired by because, you know, because there's some negative things.
So they're aimed at you. I was going to say, are they flattering? She's amazing, yes.
Can you imagine? And also, there is a third song written about me, but not by anyone gifted. Jimmy Kimmel wrote a song about me called I'm fucking Ben Affleck.
Wait, did... Did he really? Did Jennifer write the songs about you

during or when you weren't dating?

Jennifer...

You know what, Jason?

You've asked me these questions

and tried it over and over.

And I tell you,

if you want to ask Jennifer about her career,

if you're interested in her work,

go ahead and screw your courage to the sticking place and ask her. I learned a lot about her career.
If you're interested in her work, go ahead and screw your courage

to the sticking plate and ask her.

I learned a lot about her

with that great documentary.

I love that.

That was really cool.

Wasn't that amazing?

Yeah, I loved it.

Everybody watched that.

That was very good.

I thought that was incredible.

Yeah, and by the way,

that's the first time,

I know we're going to interview you

in just a second,

but Jennifer Lopez,

who was on Will and Grace

twice or three times or whatever.

Was she on Will and Grace?

That's funny.

And I was, was I on one to no times? No. This is the story of my life.
Will was, I wasn't. But she was, but that documentary blew me away because I was like, my God, what the woman has accomplished is astounding.
Yeah. It takes a big man not to feel inadequate in the face of my wife's many, many.
But no, but you too. You too, you've accomplished.
Oh, I don't feel bad about myself. I'm not low self-esteem.
Well, I'm fishing a little bit, but not the... No, the truth is it's amazing.
Sometimes I think I completely forget because here's this incredible actress and this incredible performer. And then we're sitting in the car, you know, and I'm humming along, like I will, you know, the radio.
And then a professional singer goes ahead and sings along and you kind of feel like, well, that's embarrassing. Maybe I should just zip it.
Do you know all her music? Don't lie. I do know all her music.
Can you sing all of her songs? Not to you. No, but you know them, though? I can't get a J-Lo song past you that you haven't heard.
Waiting for the night. That's the remix.
There it is. I like when Sean does it, it kind of sounds like Cher is doing a re-singing.
Waiting for the nose. That was like a Cher waiting for the night.
Yeah. I think for us with a go.
Now you're making me self-conscious. like, oh, gosh, if I were on Jeopardy, would I miss a question? But I do love her music.
It's brilliant. And I know all of it.
Thank you. Yeah, Jason, don't put him on the fucking spot like a chick.
What the fuck? We don't even remember your wife's birthday. Yeah.
No, I'm pretty sure an answer to the nay. It is surprising.
Now, wait a second. Now, Ben.
Hi. Hi, Ben Affleck.
Like, Ben Affleck's on here. Hi, Ben.
It's kind of great. We don't know each other.
Hi, thank you. Somebody, yes, hi.
I don't have the pleasure of knowing you, but everybody who knows you likes you a great deal. And it's often like, Bateman? He's doing this thing with Bateman, which is really, so, I mean.
It's surprising. It is surprising.
It's surprising. And as you know, yes.
So you... But you and Jason have known each other for a number of years? Yeah.
I've known each other for a long time. And I had the chance to do, like, now four movies with the guy.
I know. And by the way, the trailer for Air looks incredible.
Looks amazing for the new movie you guys did that you've invited Jason to be part of.

And any regrets?

And you can be honest now,

if you have regrets about Jason.

I gotta tell you, I mean, usually,

and I hate, you know, when people come on shows

and they're like, you know, you're great.

No, but what you bring,

because it's just so fucking boring to listen to.

Yeah, yeah.

But I'm gonna tell you why,

because it's actually true, and I've lied so many times that it's nice to get the chance. Jason is fucking amazing.
Guys, let him finish. And has the hardest part in the movie, which is the part where you're supposed, you're the guy who's like, but if we don't make it to the train station by six, you know, the whole time is constantly having to tell the audience what the stakes are.
Look out. What's going to happen? Turn right.
And somehow, like, made himself, you know, the most, I think, like, the most compelling, real. You're drawn to it.
It's brilliant. A lot of it's improv and funny, and a lot of it's just humanity.
But Jason's brilliant, and it was such a – I was really lucky. Because what Matt did, very easy.
You're the lead, and you're that guy, and you have those lines. Exactly.
You know what this scene is? This is me looking out the window. That's the music.
You know, that's going to help you. That's the wind at your back.
I was the one working. Do you know, by the way, you should know, Ben, that we were at, we watched the Super Bowl at Kimmel's.
Oh, yeah, I have a problem. This is a problem.
Hang on, so we're watching and at that moment that the ad for your movie came on, Jason and I were sitting there and Jimmy happened to kind of drift in right between us. And then I said, hey, quiet, everybody Here's the commercial for the big movie.
And Jason was all excited. And then there was just a silhouette for a second and then nothing.
Silhouette. And then Jason's daughter goes, dad, I thought you were in that movie.
Oh my God. In front of my kids, Ben.
That can't be true. It's a true story, right, Jason? Is that true? It's a true story.
But listen, there's many different commercials. I mean, it's my fault in the sense that I did see it and not notice.
But it's not my fault in the sense I didn't make it. Can I talk to your daughter? Your daddy's very good.
This is all a joke. But it was actually pretty funny.
It was like, hey, thought you were in that. And everybody goes back to their chips and watching other films.
I've been there. You know what I mean? Things aren't pan't panning out in your career and you've been in the movie and all of a sudden you're like i i think i show up in this tree no the worst no the worst is when you're at the premiere and they go past the point where you know your big scene was and it's it's now gone and they've moved on and you're like oh i guess You're like, mom, no, this is where I have the monologue.
Oh, maybe it comes later now. I don't know.
Maybe it's during the credits. I saved it for during the credits.
Anyway, I'll do it for you at home. It'll probably need special features.
So Ben, talk to me a little bit about, you know, we had Matt who came and joined us on tour. He came to Madison, Wisconsin.
When you think Madison, Wisconsin you think Matt Matt Damon. That's the thing about Matt, is he'll always do something nicer than me.
He's like, hey, what you're doing is great. You know, Matt went a whole lot further.
No, no. No, great.
No, but we did. But we talked to him about how you guys started and how you guys knew each other back in the day and what that was like when you guys were kind of...
Yeah, it was yeah it was it was great really hearing from him and i and i'd love to hear your perspective of how you guys and i'm sure you've told it a million times so forgive me if it's if it's boring but for us it's really i love that story and i told matt i remember we made this really bad um i say bad my friend wrote but this really uh pretty chintzy version of a movie called Southie and you guys came to the wrap party that I was in and then you guys were about to do Good Will Hunting and then our movie was like, they buried it under a couch somewhere and then you guys went on to, like, amazing. But I just love the beginnings of what you and Matt did and I want to hear it from you because I think it's a great story.
And by the way, I had no idea you guys grew up so close to each other. No idea.
Yeah, we did. First of all, it's like, it's a really lucky thing it occurs to me now.
I saw him the other day and we're doing this movie together. Very few people are lucky enough to spend their life in the same line of work with their best friend from when they were kids managed to you know stay friends not end up hitting each other actually be friends and love each other and not have one of them soar to the stratosphere and the other one be have nothing ever happen but no no but i'm saying like that's like that's what usually happens the fact that both you guys are superst Yeah.
So in context, the reason we're asking this hacky question is because in air, the film that we're talking about, Ben, for the very, very first time, directs Matt. I love it.
It's full circle. I love it.
I love it. Yeah.
I mean, it was something that seemed really normal and that I took for granted because there we were. We were kids who he he was a bigger kid for a brief period.
I was eight, he was ten, he was a big kid, he played baseball, he was really cool. He had a bowl cut that was a little feathered that we all wanted, of course.
And he was, you know, nice to me. And we were both interested in the same, just kids who grew up two blocks apart and both wanted to be actors for whatever reason it is that makes you want to do that thing and hung out and then we're in the same friend group and then sort of went off and did like, oh, we're just dumb enough to think, it'll pan out for us, but we'll just go be actors.
We'll just go work, you know, and kind of sort of believe in it and then live together. But I think the reason why it wasn't a thing, that sort of competition thing that you talk about, is because we did a lot of auditioning very early on for the Mickey Mouse Club, for example.
I think maybe for some of Jason's early work. Gosling got the Mickey Mouse job.
He did. He was one of them.
We did a Corey Haim film called Soul Man, I remember we both auditioned for. We both auditioned for Robin and the Clooney movie.
No way. Yeah, we were extras together all the time.
Matt did Mystic Pizza. He had a line in that.
I didn't get it. And always the thing was we would get our little act together and practice our scenes and do our work.
I mean, nerdy doesn't even begin to describe it. Really? But it really was a genuine thing where we were like, look, I hope I get the part.
But if I don't, I really hope you do. Right.
And, you know, for a while we had this thing where we were like, we'll just split all our money. You know what I mean? Oh, you guys have high voices.
We like, oh, you love it. Did you really say that? We really did, and we really split the money.
No way. We put it in the bank account.
At the time, I was making the lion's share of the money. Yes.
No way. How old were you? Yes, I am.
We had a joint bank account. I think I was 14.
Matt was 16. Oh, wow, that's cool.
That's really cool. We put put money in the ATM and then it's like, okay, what do you want to get? I saw you made a big withdrawal last weekend.
Joking as much as you are, but it does show that on a certain level, there is a trust there that you guys just trust each other implicitly, that there's just, right, that that's on a very basic level. I, like, took for granted that he liked me and rooted for me and wanted me to succeed.
We just didn't, we're lucky enough not to have the friendship of that, the whole, like, it's not enough that I succeed, all my friends have to fail thing. Like, and there are people I've wanted to fail.
You know what I mean? I can be just as petty and bitter as any other actor. But I loved him.
And he loved me. And it felt like we would work the scenes together.
And, you know, it actually, I think what made us sort of good writers and better actors was that we learned very early on to hear, like, I'm not sure that works, that choice, you know. And you go, okay, let's try something else, you know, and get our facts, our sides.
Let's try a lower voice. Did you ever give that note? I had to hit puberty.
So wait, but when you say you grew up, you grew up together in Boston, right? But you were born or raised in California? Like, what's the California thing? I was born in California. My parents were teaching at an experimental school outside Berkeley, briefly.
And then, actually, my mom, yes. And then I moved back to Boston around two or three.
I moved into Central Square in Cambridge. And then Matt moved there from Newton when I was eight.
And he was 10. And that's when we met at the basketball.
And you got a Burger King commercial? That was your very first thing? Listen, I had done a Burger King commercial. Okay.
I'm sure you remember the slogan was sometimes you got to break the rules. Yeah.
Oh, sure. Oh, yeah.
A little bit of a rule breaker. Really quick, I did a...
These guys are gonna love this. I did a McDonald's commercial.
One of my first things where I worried about how I was going to impress a girl. And the catchphrase from my guy scene partner was, don't worry about it.
I was like, how am I gonna pay for the date? Don't worry about it. That's my story.
So wait, go back to the burger. Holy shit.
What the fuck are you doing? Ben's got a head of steam going. You're going to be out of the job.
You'll be without a podcast. There's no fucking punchline.
Out of gas. Jesus.
Boy. Sorry, go ahead, Ben.
Anyway, let me just, can I regroup? Do you mind? Yeah, I'm sorry, Ben. Take all.
Just go ahead and start over. Shake it over.
Wait, and then you think he's crying. So I've established that we were very nerdy and a little weird.
We used to have business lunches in what was called the media cafeteria. Amazing.
Which at the time, there was a big ESL portion of our public high school, which was like 2,600 kids. And that was where the ESL kids, I don't know why that was where we, we like to be surrounded by people who spoke other languages.
I'm not sure what it was, but maybe we didn't want anyone to actually hear our business lunches because no business was conducted. But we plotted things.
We planned our careers. But look at you now.
Look at the business you guys are in now. Artist equity, yes? Yeah.
Yeah. It is bizarre to have gone this far.
And definitely a lot of, I don't think I would be sane to the extent that I am had I not had somebody who was from where I grew up and who was my best friend and who was going through the same thing. So you could, because I'm sure you guys all know there are these moments in this business where you look around and go like, is this completely insane? Yeah, every day.
I feel as though, you know, I'm coming unglued. And having that one, someone to share that perspective.
And then so as we went on and on, so finally got to a place where like with Last Duel, it was like, why haven't we just, we had so much fun. Every day on that set was so much fun.
And we're just like, let's just do this. Let's just do movies together and with people we like.
And we will be right back. Guys, we all need to drink water every day.
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Our show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Hey guys, everybody should have a support system, right? Who's your support system? My support system, as you well know, talk about it all the time, is Scotty and of course my two besties, Will and Jason.
Whenever I have a problem, an issue, I talk to them about it. And if they're not available, I will talk to a therapist.
And I've been going to therapy for a long time. And it's always great.
So think about your favorite leaders, mentors, and idols. They don't have all the answers, but they do know when to ask questions or seek support from their community.
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to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp.com slash smartless to get 10% off your first month that's betterhelp.com slash smartless and now back to the show going back the first thing that kind of launched was was it dazed and confused or was it something before that and what's the story about Vince Vaughn he's asked a two parter there you can take him can take him one at a time, or you can ask him to repeat it.
I get excited. I get excited.
I know it. I know it.
Have you ever write these things down? We didn't prep in the pre-interview the Vince bit. I don't know where you're going with that.
No, but I heard... I do know...
Yeah? I do know that we... I had done a couple of...
I was the more experienced... I don't want to make Matt feel insecure.
Sure. I had some early experience with professional acting.
You're selling burgers, you know? Well, not only do I sell burgers, but I don't know if you know your public television history. I was on a show, Voyage of the Mimi.
No, Voyage of the Mimi. Yeah.
Science. It was also shown to sixth graders for their science class because I think because it was so gripping.
And a young boy and his grandpa renting out a boat to scientists for experiments. And so I would periodically go off and do a little voyage with a Mimi.
So Matt was a little threatened by that. And when I got to the high school, he kind of pulled me aside.
And he said, listen, man, all right, this is the theater. It's not about your looks, okay? It's about the work.
And I took that very seriously. I felt that I was hearing something, you know, real, like, the words of wisdom from a guy who understood it.
I didn't know until that time he felt I'd been entirely bogarting my way through life on, like, wit and charm and looks, of which there were very few. Well, no, it sounds like actually you came roaring into high school just killing it.

Yeah, you were crushing it.

And Matt, I mean, by the way, I mean, again, no insult to Matt,

but it sounds like he felt threatened by you, Ben.

And I want to just—

I think maybe he was a little insecure.

The other thing he said to me was like,

you know the thing about Hoffman and salesman is you can see the wheels turning?

But he wants you to see the wheels turning.

Matt Damon, 15 years old, Matt.

No way.

That's hysterical.

That's a true story.

That's fucking amazing.

That's why he's brilliant.

Because that guy has been absolutely convinced and has paid attention to, like, you know, very little else in his free time other than acting. Since he was a little kid doing Wheelock Community College Theater when he was 11 years old.
And he's been, with absolute conviction that this is what he was going to do. And he was a lot smarter about it than me.
He understood a lot earlier on. He was like, it's just all about the director.
I'm just going to focus on the director. He was like passing on parts when we were broke.
I said, what are you passing on? You can't pay the gas bill. What's like, how is this not good enough for you? Because he didn't like the director? Yeah, he just didn't feel he didn't have anything to offer, you know? Wow.
I was like,, I'm like, I'm doing after-school specials about steroid abuse.

You're passing on, like, movies.

That's pretty great.

But I will say this.

You gave him a piece of advice that he has since paid for and given,

and he let us in on it last year

when he came to join us,

which was, apparently, you said to him,

if somebody asks you to do something down the road, imagine that the same, you know, we get it all the time. Hey, will you come and do this six months from now and come and show up at this thing? Imagine that you would have to do it tomorrow and then let that be your answer.
Yeah, if you don't want to do it tomorrow, say no. I did give him that.
I never thought that was particularly wise. I just thought, no, it's the greatest ever.
Because Matt was constantly saying yes and then be like, hey, man, can you call them and tell them I'm sick? Right. And that's bullshit.
It's amazing. I've told minimum 50 people that piece of advice as if I came up with it my own.
And they have people love it and have latched on to it. Right, JB? We've talked about it all the time.
I live it. I did it today.
I got asked to do something like three months from now that sounds kind of interesting. It would be kind of fun.
But then I thought, well, actually, if it was on the calendar for tomorrow, would I wish that it was canceled? If the answer is yes, pass. Pass.
I love that. You know, the thing about that that I can't completely co-sign, like my dirty little secret is, I might pass on everything.
Did you think about... I almost never want to get off the couch.
Did you think about this show today, about passing on this show? I mean, I was half a little late, wasn't I? Yeah. They had to talk you out of it.
So for the guy who likes to do nothing except sit on his couch every day like I do, I find it interesting that you're actually able to get up and work as hard as I think anybody could possibly work when it comes to directing. Like that's a really, really all-encompassing job.
So are you like me where it's like either all or nothing? I'm either working full or out. I think you and I have that in common, yes.
I think that part of it is it's a little bit like, it's more sort of social things. I feel actually kind of shy.
I don't really want to go say hi to people. It feels a little bit like, oh, I'm going to, you know, something's going to happen that's going to make me feel awkward..
But I love directing movies. And that movie in particular was the best experience I've had.
And directing is hard and terrifying. And at first I thought, like, okay, even if I don't know anything about this, I know that I can at least work harder than everybody else.
And so I thought, well, you put in 20 hours a day and that's what you do. And it made it excruciating and I got migraines but like to the extent that the movies I was happy with I thought well it must be because I worked 20 hours a day and did nothing else and thought of nothing else and eventually realized that you don't quite have to do it that way and that actually this movie which is the favorite movie I ever made.
I love this movie. It benefits entirely from the writing and acting of Jason and Matt and Chris and Viola and Christina and Matt Mayer.
But it was so much fucking fun every day. Yeah.
Well, it's your fault. I mean, well, we don't have to do a whole thing on the kind of set you run and your talent and everything, but it was...
No, no, no. Actually can actually...
Actually, I know. Do we have...
We have 25. It was actually incredibly easy.
Guys, we shot this down the street. We shot it in a business, in an office building that...
We're supposed to be in an office building. So they basically just flipped the lights on.
Now, that's to take nothing away from Bob Richardson, who is like the best DP in the history of movies. But it was very fast.
I think after, wasn't it after like seven days, we were already three days ahead? Yeah. We, we went, we got, I wanted to go quickly.
And then you, you and Matt showed up and like having not directed Matt, I didn't appreciate it. When you're a director, right, you have your plans.
You're worrying about all these other things.

Yes, you're worrying about the performances.

But I thought, okay, well, I won't have to worry about the performances.

And I'll just worry about all the other sort of bullshit I'm doing that I think is relevant when really the actors are the only thing the audience is paying attention to.

And like, you know, camera moves and that kind of thing.

And Jason and Matt are such pros that, I mean, it was like a dance to watch these two guys together. They've done it so much and so well so that as soon as you start to feel the dolly is laid, it's not going to be, all of a sudden, Jason's looking in his pocket for something that might be behind him.
And all of a sudden, he makes maybe a little more mournful choice on that line delivery because it's going to give him an extra half step to the turn to where he knows the Steadicam's going to come around. The two of the guys, I started feeling like, you're making it for me.
Stop doing this. It's so fun.
I love that. It really was amazing to see.
In fact, it got to the point where because Bob's crew and everyone was so good, they started anticipating and trying to do it. And then the guys who were really good and women who were doing it were like, it started to just speed up.
And finally I was like, Matt and Jason, don't do their job for them. You don't have to do everybody's job.
Yes, I know, you're great at it. But just worry about the scene.
Because I think they kind of started having fun with it. Because I had oners and you'd have to see this and that and Jason would know, you're probably going to want that magenta in the background.
so i thought you'd like the window and i was like you sons of it yeah i did want the window i didn't think i was that transparent did you uh did you do you can you remember uh having any sort of significant creative negotiation with matt either in the writing process or in the directing process like giving him a note that he didn't want to take or writing a scene that he thought was kind of fine already? Because didn't you have the writing process, like Good Will Huntington back in college, where they won an Oscar? You would talk about it or improv it and record it? We recorded it, yeah, on what were audio cassettes at the time. Kids, those were small brown tape cassettes.
Really? Put in devices. Wait, really? You guys talked out the script? Yeah, because we never

thought of ourselves as formal writers.

We had a great teacher,

drama teacher in high school, who taught us

kind of sort of writing, directing, acting, and

didn't sort of put them in distinct silos.

So we would actually end up

making plays, which we later,

I later realized we would act, write,

direct them in effect, but we just thought

we would improvise them and kind of distill them down

and find a story. Such a great idea.

So that's just how we know how to do it. This person did you such a, such a favor by doing that, by sort of putting it all together, right? There's no question without Jerry Speck and Matt, or I, or my brother, or Matt Mayer, or Max Casella, or Anika Larson, or all the people that came out of the program who are working and who are terrific would, I think, be working.

Because he taught us that

and he taught us to not take ourselves seriously,

respect other people,

but take the work that we were doing incredibly seriously.

And that was like that kind of,

and there's that great time of life

when you have the older person who's the mentor

who you look up to, who's doing the thing you want to do, who says, this is meaningful, but you really have to work hard at it. And so we did.
Ben, is that, that's a, so that was a teacher that you guys had at your public high school. High school, yeah.
I mean, our public high school just lucked out and got this guy who's a genius. That's so amazing.
And he was amazing for kids that didn't even end up wanting to be in theater. I could do a whole thing on him.
But the truth is, I think that's part of why I learned to be collaborative is that Matt and I never fought or argued about stuff. It was always that we never got our feelings hurt because most of the ideas are bad.
So I'll have a bad idea, he'll have a bad idea. I'll have a bad idea, he'll have a bad idea.
I'll have an idea that's a little bit maybe better. And then Matt, that kind of keys something in Matt that's mediocre.
You know what I mean? So we know we're building from there and it's never about, and then it just becomes about like finding the best thing until both of us feel like it can't be improved. And we kind of go like, and if there is a kind of difference of opinion, it always ends up coming down to who cares more.
I go, Matt, I don't know. I really think this is about the, and he's like, man, that, and I go, all right.
If you don't want to do it more than I want to do it, then we're not going to do it. You know? Or if I want to do it more than you don't want to do it, we're going to do it.
That's just common. Amanda and I try to live by that.
There she is.

Oh, look, it's Jennifer.

Special guest star.

There she is.

Hi.

She can't hear us.

Hi.

Hi, Jen.

Hi.

Hi, guys.

You were just doing very well.

We were talking about you in very favorable terms,

and so was your husband.

Oh, thank you.

I was singing some of your songs back to you.

Oh, sing.

Please sing.

Waiting for the night.

Oh.

Oh, my love. It's waiting for tonight.
Waiting for tonight. Oh, that's the mic drop right there.
But thank you. She crushed it.
But thank you. We're lucky that we're most actors.
Thank you for saying hi. Yes, of course.
Bye, Jennifer. We should look forward to doing this with you guys.
Oh, good. I love you.
There's the part that will make the show. By the way, we just bypassed.
Jason, I didn't know this term, creative negotiation. Yeah.
Way to take the art out of it, man. You fucking find a way every fucking time.
Just business, my friend. No, no, you don't have to negotiate.
Canal Street, how much for the batteries? Hey, Picasso, how much paint did you use? How many cubic liters of paint did you use? That's the beautiful thing. Just take the fucking art out of it, baby, and fuck you.
You see, Picasso never had to negotiate with anybody because it's just a single thing. What we're doing is like team stuff, right? That's true.
You've got to always negotiate. There is a lot of negotiations.

I mean, the lucky thing is when you don't have

to negotiate. When you go like, you know,

you do something, you write it, you give it

to him, and then Jason sits down and reads the scene

and like, he made me cry.

And then you feel like a jerk because

you feel like that guy who just, like,

was it Marty Short or whatever, who used to go

and then,

you know, you just want to give one of like those what's the name of that character played jim jimmy glick jimmy glick jimmy glick i just watched him last night i have a question mr affleck so so so to wrap up the matt stuff we'll we'll leave him out of the rest of the interview um uh but the uh because we of Matt, right? I mean, Will, with you, with your whirtle, quirtle, and squirtle every morning. I want to get in on that.
And Matt was like, you're not ready. I was like, I'm not ready.
Jason dropped out. He couldn't take the heat.
No, it's not the heat. It's Will likes to tell you how much better his score could have been had he done X, Y, or Z.
Anyway, that's really— Wait, wait, I wanted to close the map part of it. To tell for the...
And you could... I know I would love to do a full podcast with you about artist equity and all the studio economics that you're on, buddy.
They told me you didn't even want to do this one. We put our audience to sleep.
So for those that have narcolepsy, do the quick version of generally what the concept is, what you guys are doing versus what exists, and why that makes sense for you guys doing this since you're buddies and you want to kind of spread that kind of buddy feeling in the process. It's a tough elevator pitch, and I over-talk and go on too long, so there's a bad combo.
Sean will cut you off. Don't worry.
Basically what it is is like over the years as I'm sure you have we start to kind of know like there's money that gets spent on things that don't end up making the movie any better and the more money that you spend on what you do the more obligation you have the sort of more risk there is and the less likely people are to do things that you know you interesting, they want to be more conventional. And then I looked around and I just, as a director, started to really understand and value the people on the crew who made such a significant difference to the quality of what you're doing, both in terms of speed and in terms of the environment and the way in which you're able to perform.
But I'm a big believer that the performance really ultimately is what draws people in and the performance and the writing. And so we came up with this idea, never thinking anyone would ever actually fund us, to do a movie studio that was predicated on two things.
Basically, allowing the crew and the artist being the writer, and I consider the crew the artist, which is the whole group, actors, directors, writers, so on. Yeah.
As well as cinematographers, sound mixers, everybody who collectively create the value in what we're doing to benefit from the upside of it in a really meaningful, significant way, but also to be responsible for it. In other words, listen, if it goes over, you're going to get less.
If it comes in under, you're going to do better, but all of us have to make it good. Otherwise, we're not going to get anything.
And sort of treat people like grown-ups. Believe they can be accountable and also believe that, you know, because incentives have not historically been aligned between the people financing movies, traditionally, and the people making them them always.
And so without going into too great a detail, the idea was like, and let's separate this out from like, what is the value of a movie? Well, usually they'll use comps like, well, what's the budget? And what did you make on your last movie? And especially now, because there's no back end and no gross, that's sort of it, right? Right. Well, I've always felt that was akin to going into the Apple store and saying, I'll tell you how much I give you for the iPhone when you tell me how much you paid the guy that put it together.
But that's, you know, that's not how it works, right? So why does it have to work in the other way? So by being agnostic as a financier and producer, this studio, we had to then, you know, hire all the business affairs and legal and physical production and so on so that we could be an entity significant enough to take on the entire creative responsibility of developing, producing, shooting, and delivering the movie. And in exchange, we got to say, look, this is what it's going to cost.
It won't cost a dime more than that. If it goes over, we pay for it.
But you have to sort of, we're going to be the ones who take on the burden, the role of saying, we're going to deliver something good. If it's terrible, it's our fault.
But you're going to sort of put your trust in us to be able to do this. I'm sure whatever partners that we work with, there are excellent, brilliant people distributing and marketing movies.
We don't do that. We don't want to do very many movies, but we want to just really make good movies with people we like.
I love that. And that's it.
And we think people should be paid more for what they... So you're basically taking on the financial risk by funding the production effectively.
And then you're saying, we don't need... you don't get the leverage financier by giving us the money to make it, assuming that we don't have it to make it.
We actually do. We're going to spend the money to make it.
And we're basically coming to you and saying, we'd like to sell you this product. We're going to take care of the wholesale part.
Here's the retail price. Who wants to buy it? Exactly.
Yeah? Exactly. It makes a lot of sense.
That's what he just said. He just said.

I'm trying to see if my brain heard it right.

We'll be right back.

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And back to the show. So now, but then once you have finished the completion of a film, you now have to enter into a whole other thing because you're going out there to distributors.
Yeah, so are you working with all different distributors, all different shapes and sizes? Yeah, obviously business is like, there's all sorts. It's changing a lot.
You have streamers, you have, you know, the companies that are theatrical and streaming and so on. And that's, nobody's quite figured that out yet.
My feeling is people are watching things and interested in them. And that's going to be ongoing.
How they figure out the economics of where they place value on it. You know, if we keep our focus to a few things and try to make them really good.
And also, I really felt like, you know, interesting original dramas, comedies, sort of ideas were starting to fall away from the theatrical world.

Yes.

It was kind of like, nah, that's not in movie theaters.

And so with this movie,

and this movie's themes are kind of congruent

with the ideas and the philosophy of this business.

Like, what are the people worth

and how should they be compensated?

And isn't this, the story itself,

I think is interesting to me. And I want people to go see movies like this.
Yeah, I watch, watching your trailer, I thought that very thing, the first time I saw it, I thought nobody gets to make movies like this anymore because we've lived in a world where, and everybody has benefited and participated to a certain degree in these sort of, whatever you call them, these temples or these, these. Including me.
Yeah, no, that's what I mean. Everybody, all of us have benefited in certain ways.
However, what happened was the result of that is, is that these other kinds of movies that you're talking about without special effects, without special effects and that are story driven and that are well, your hair, but yeah, those things don't really, those, those kinds of movies don't really exist as much anymore. Not in the theaters.
And this one's going to 3,000 screens, right? Well, part of the problem is fucking Ozark. Yeah, exactly.
Because it used to be that, you know, to put out a movie, you were competing, you know, like Law and Order or whatever, Magnum. You know what I mean? You had an 11-inch black and white, and you could watch Simon and Simon, or you could go see Murder at 1600.
Oh, my God. And now you've got Succession and Ozark and really good fucking stuff where people at home go, you know what, I can pause, I can watch tomorrow.
That's made it very difficult. But it looks like they're approaching a good combo where you're getting a nice window of time in the brick-and-mortar theaters.
You can see it on a big screen if you want. Or you can wait, what is it? I think it's now basically six weeks before it'll be at your home as opposed to the old method was like three months.
And it was- Yeah, I'm really grateful to Amazon. The first time they're really going for the, we're going to do a theatrical traditional, you know, 3,500 screens out in the theaters, go see and don't, you can't like wait to see it for free.
Like not sort of upstaging it with a very impending free version at home.

This is Amazon, right?

Amazon, yeah.

And they really are taking a flyer on this.

And I really, I mean, I hope it works honestly, obviously for the movie,

but also so that we can do it again.

And the reason why, going back to that model,

the one thing that we do ask is that, like,

the Hollywood model is kind of like I get paid in failure, right?

Right.

Like, I still have the money.

I mean, I spent it, but, like, I made money on Gigli.

Thank you. We do ask is that like the Hollywood model is kind of like I get paid in failure, right? Right.
Like I still have the money. I mean, I spent it, but like I made money on Gigli.
I didn't have to give it back. Right.
You know what I mean? Like everyone else went broke and I got a car, you know? So this is like we're not going to get paid here. We're just going to spend what it costs to make the movie itself.
We're all going to show up and invest our time and energy. and if it works, and if it's successful, and if it's financially successful, you'll get paid, whether you're the cinematographer, whether you're the writer, the director, much more otherwise than you would have.
But the relationship between how you're compensated and how much it connects to audiences is really direct versus just like, hey, man, you know, I don't get out of bed for less than whatever. And that's what I kind of, you know, that and such a nice thing to not have that vibe, you know, where the people who are doing it just want to be there.
And I think this this film's got a real good chance of hitting that sort of zeitgeist thing only for two reasons. Number one, it's a story we all think we know, but we don the whole story about how and why nike got into business with michael jordan when michael jordan entered the nba and when this whole start of this sneaker this this whole air jordan thing like it's an incredible american business story that no one really knows how it how it went together and this this movie explained and you're releasing it during march madness which i think is first of all it's great i heard i hear it's great from a few different people who've seen it uh two of them are in the movie um but they say it's great believe them and uh and uh you can come by the house and watch it anytime by the way i want to invite you because i told jason two or three times please ask him to come you know you i think you broke up to bring up that part phone call.
I'm desperate to see it and I think Bradley saw it. Anyway, whatever it is, I'm desperate to see it.
I think it sounds amazing. Bradley won't let me see his movie until it's mixed.
It's really good. That movie's great.
That movie's great. I read the script and I remember saying to him, like, this is the movie.
You're talking about Maestro. Dude, Maestro.
Brilliant, yeah. Incredible.
And the test, it's amazing. It looks amazing.
it's amazing it's fucking amazing talk about movies that nobody it's the best script i've ever read that it's really really good and if but i was going to say for your movie what's great is because it is like as jason says it does tell the story and it's so great and you know people like jason this is where they learn stuff is from the movies because they've never read a book before they have no life experience right they Right, they have no life experience. So, but, truly, everybody says, and even Jason says this, which you never say, you weren't talking about yourself about how much you love the movie.
I can say that. He legitimately loves it.
So it's, I'm very excited to see it. Now, let's talk about Batman.
Let's talk about the real thing that everyone said. Let's get down to business.
The only time we really hung out

was when we did that thing with Kimmel about

Batman and then I stuck my head in as

Lego Batman and you guys all laughed at me.

We do have two Batmans on the

podcast, Sean. I know, that's kind of cool.

One real and one

cartoon. But I saw the trailer for The Flash

and everybody was like freaking out when you came on

the screen. You know what? That movie's

good. I hear it's amazing.
That movie's

really good. I hear that movie's fucking great.
I love that. And it's my best shit I've done.
I finally figured out how to play the guy. No, really? I got it.
For real? I was like, hold on. I quit.
I know I quit. And I know I came back to it.
But I got it now. It's like, you know, you do the audition, you're on your way home and you're like, oh, no.
Wait, what was the moment? Why did the penny drop? What happened? I mean, I don't want to give a spoiler, but it was a scene where I got, I get caught, I get saved by Wonder Woman. Yeah.
During a conflagration with some bad guys. Yeah.
And she saves me by, I mean, I'm sure I'm like the spoiler, you know, DC assassins. She saves you with some way.
She saves you with the lasso of truth. Yeah, sure.
And so what happens is that Batman divulges, you know, some of his real feelings about his life and his work. And it helps you see the character and now you want another chance to play it.
And I was like, wait a minute, I got it. Am I still, wait, can I, guys? Are we still rolling? Can we write another story? It's a story of my fucking life.
By the way, Ben, one time I remember years ago and I asked him about it. I remember Alec Baldwin saying in an interview that he was driving home from Knott's Landing when he was on Knott's Landing.
Oh, yeah. And like on a Friday night and just going like, oh, fuck, that's how you do the scene.
And he's like, from that moment on, he made a deal with himself that he would never leave it, that he would always figure out the scene while he was there. And it always stuck with me, especially because it was Knott's Landing.
It's so funny. Alec told me a similar story but totally different.
Is that true? Yeah, he loves this metaphor.

He's like, you know why I'm a good actor, but not a great actor.

And I was like, no, Alec, and I don't want to answer that.

It was because I was playing Kowalski on Broadway.

And I, it was the door.

He was supposed to leave the screen door.

And I guess in some, and the screen door wouldn't open.

And he was exiting.

It wouldn't open.

I shook it once.

And I shook it twice. And it wouldn't open open and so I stepped around it.
And right then, right then I realized what would Brando do? He would have kicked it down. He would have kicked it down.
And I was like, so, oh, kick it down. I'm not open.
But he's very focused on that like moment after thing. Dude, that's hilarious.
I want to ask you about, you've won two Academy Awards, Good Will Hunting and Argo. Thank you.
I was wondering if we were going to get to that. It's been the Jason Bateman show.
Your publicist is all over me about that. I was like, okay, got it.
Hello. Texting, texting, texting.
No, but I want to talk to you about Argo because you wrote me one of the funniest emails, which I want to read right now.

We can cut it if you want, but it's really funny.

Anyway, Victor Garber, who's a friend of ours, right?

He was staying in my guest house here

while you were filming Argo with three houses down.

He said you were in his guest house, but go ahead.

What's that?

He said you were in his guest house.

Yeah, sure, whatever, we swap.

We share, like you share a bank account,

we share a guest house.

I want to still share a bank account with Matt. All of a sudden the deal's over after Born.
But you shot Argo three houses down for me and I would walk over in my pajamas and sit down and watch you direct and it was super, super fun. And then you won the Oscar and I was there at the Oscars.
And I wrote an email to you and I said, I'm so proud of you. I'm so thrilled for you.
Then all the other sentences had question marks. I said, I still haven't seen it.
I probably won't get to it. I'll probably have to Netflix it.
And someone will have to read the subtitles to me. But I'm sure I'll love it like everyone in Iran says they do.
And then I said, I love your speech, blah, blah, blah. And you wrote back, I saw your little sweet face when I was standing up there accepting my Oscar.

In the middle of the greatest triumph of my professional life,

I thought, I have got to tell Sean to go tanning.

I fucking, so when I was doing all this research for you today,

like all this stuff, I found that old,

I was like, I can look at old emails.

I laughed out loud. And then you wrote me another one.
Haven't taken me up on it. Still pasty.
No, not at all. I'm translucent.
So good. Benjamin, this has been amazing.
Way too much of your time. Is it over? They told me it's two hours.
So only an hour for me. It's just two hours.
You don't usually do it two hours? It just feels like you. You usually go three.
Right? We usually go three. I am a big fan.
I got to tell you guys, I love the Marc Maron show. You are wonderful.
Oh, I'm sorry. Wrong show.
Wrong show. Oh, shit.
Oh, shit. Oh, shit.
No, the truth is you guys do a great job. You manage to be very interesting to listen to.
And yet very little of substance is ever said. We distract you with all the constant noise.
That's all it is. And yet it feels like kind of wonderful.
I enjoy it. It's an honor and a pleasure to be on the show.
Thank you for having me. Well, likewise.
Honest to God, you are fucking amazing in the movie. From the first time I met you on the day of Smoking Aces, when I walked into that scene and you did the monologue about congenital alcoholism and herpes and a small penis, I have never, you cannot, if you go back and watch that movie, there is not a shot of me where I'm not laughing.
That's not from the movie, dude. He was just telling somebody.
Yeah, we were just hanging out, Ben, remember? They put it in the movie. Yeah.
It was, I was like, this guy is a genius. A genius.
And I have never forgotten it. And then it's just been a pleasure.
Joe Carnahan's fault, you wrote a great scene and directed a great movie. No, no, your fault.
Genius. Love Joe.
Great in that. Great in X-Tract.
I have loved it. We had fun on X-Tract.
I think you're a genius. Yeah, you are a genius.
I do. My mother thinks that word's overused.
Yeah, it is. She she hears it a lot about her sons.
But we're really happy.

I will say this. I'm so happy

that you're directing movies and you're making

movies like this and that you just continue to

do fucking great stuff. Yeah, I can't wait

to see it. I love it.
This is all

I want to do. You do want to direct

more than act, right? You love it.

You're so good at it. You know, I started

really loving acting finally for

real when I was like, I don't want to do this anymore.

I'm just going to direct movies.

I'm done with this.

I don't care.

I just like directing.

And then I was like, well, I'm already here.

Do them both, right?

Act in the movies that you direct.

And then I just let go.

And I remember Sidney Pollack once saying, he was a director and an actor.

We did a movie called Changing Lanes 20-some years ago. And he said to me, you know why I'm a good actor? I was like, no, no, no, because I don't give a shit.
I was like, I didn't understand at the time, but I know what he's getting at now, which is that so much of it just has to do with letting go and being relaxed and trying things and not sweating what people are going to think and trying the take that take that at the time Jason and Matt make fun of you for, but later on works in the movie. We know what we're talking about.
Wait, really? Wait, which one was? It was the take where I really wanted to play my part, and I interrupted Matt and made him wait a second, and you were like, maybe too big. Maybe that's too big.
I said that? Uh-oh. No.
Believe me, Matt was right out in front of you he was like you can't do that hold on hold on uh no i'm kidding oh wait a second oh wait is this the one with the blaster glasses and the and the and the and the jogging outfit oh no you were all unequivocal about that and that didn't make that was too big dude it's on the poster what do you mean it didn't make the movie you're You're on the poster in your phaser glasses and your jumpsuit. That is historically accurate.
I get it. No one's going to know that, though.
They're just going to be like, oh, boy. I'm trying to promote it.
That's what I'm hearing. The whole point was to get to the fact that that is not made up.
That is the clothes that were worn. And his purple Porsche.
his... He had a purple Porsche that said Nike Man.
This is Phil Knight, listener. The guy who created Nike.
I can't wait to see it. It's fun.
And once I started doing it and doing it with people I really loved, and it's true, I love directing in a different way, but acting has become really fun. Tender Bar was really fun.
Last Duel was really fun. The Way Back was really fun,

weirdly, for a movie about

a person whose child dies and is alcoholic.

You were awesome. It was like, it become

joyful because I started

developing my own criterion and

stopped kind of making it about like,

you know, who likes me? As Will says, it's a sexy

indifference. Right, Will? Yeah.
I don't

say that, no. I'm going with

overweight indifference. Right, Will? Yeah.
I don't say that, no. I'm going with overweight indifference.
Indifference is attractive. Well, whatever you're doing, please keep doing it, man.
Just such a fan. You're so great at what you do, and you always have been.
Thank you very much, and I'm going to hold you guys to it since you're all in the next one for free. Thank you.
Oh, my God. Oh, yeah.
I told you the model. We'll do it for free.
We'll just do it for the art. Thank you.
you're all in the next one for free. Thank you.
Oh, my God. I told you the model.
We'll do it for free. We just do it for the art.
You're amazing for doing this. I'm too handsome for film.
Will you let me into the fucking Octurre battle? Or do I, my JVs? Tell Matt. Here it is.
Yeah, give my agent your number. Yeah, no.
Okay, great. Does Matt own the invites? He's the commissioner So did he really keep you out? Yeah, totally locked me out.
I'll talk to him. Well, not even locked me out.
He was like, maybe keep working. You know, like that.
Like out of love for me. Try the crossword.
He finally, I tell him this. This is insane.
He finally won today for the first time in like six weeks, and he was ecstatic. Really? Yeah, yeah.
He was having a tough time. But like I said, once I found out that he's in the low 50s, now I may be, I'm wondering if there is kind of an intramural league that I can be, because that is hard.
I have a feeling Ben's going to wax all you guys. Yeah, it won't take you long.
Believe me, you're a sharp guy. It will not take you long to fucking make us all look like fools.
I'm starting to lose it. You are y'all young.
Ginko. Sure.
Ginko. Thanks, guys.
I have a question about Batman. Oh, sorry.
Sure, sure. Go ahead.
No, that's okay. No, no, feel free.
Go ahead, Colin. Ben, love you.
Thank you for doing this. Yeah, I love you, pal.
Very, very nice. Jason has my number, and you guys, honestly, the movie is here, sitting here on the projector, and if you ever want to come at any point, even if I'm not here, it's like, set it up, bring the movie you probably don't give a shit and you're gonna end up you know watching it no no they do and you live about three blocks from Will okay so someone has no excuse oh shit we'll walk over by the way we will cut this but I love the new house yeah thank you well the rental's not too fucking shabby is that the one one you're talking about, Sean? No, the one that they just purchased.
Sean is keeping up with some of our celebrity journalism. No, no, no.
I have a real estate agent who's nosing. Oh.
But, yeah. The rental's impressive.
I saw it under construction. I was like, this is amazing.
So I'd love to see when it's done you are the first to be invited we heard it we got

it recorded um thank you benjamin we love you i love you all thank you very much thank you thank you thank you okay thanks ben bye bud bye wow well that guy i mean fucking wattage sean so when we so when we were talking big star wattage i mean we had we had damon on tour and that's fine that was fine but then we have ben affleck and just coming here with the fucking wattage. I mean, we had Damon on tour, and that's fine.
Matt was fine. But then we have Ben Affleck.

And just coming here with the fucking wattage.

I know.

And you're like, well, that's the region.

Now, that's a star.

That's a star.

Yeah, through outer space.

Yeah.

Through outer.

Not like, remember when fucking Matt showed up in like a fucking hoodie,

and he fucking, you know what I mean?

Just get through the interview.

Just get through the thing.

And then Ben shows up, and he's handsome, and he's talented, and he's smart as fuck. He's prepared.
And he's prepared. Yeah.
He's gorgeous. Yeah.
Hang on a second. Jason, Jason, Jason, let me see your hands real quick.
I want to see your hands while you're talking. Because it's really dark where you are.
No, all jokes aside, wow, that was awesome. Yeah, and when I was doing like the research, you know, learning about him and stuff about his and whatever i was like and then you go through his credits you're just like wow yeah forget like wow bang bang bang hit after hit after hit after hit yeah he's been so relevant uh and talented and successful for so long and i feel like he's only halfway done yeah and i think i don't know if this is true does anybody know it't he, hasn't he played Batman more than any other actor? I'll bet.
I think that that might be, I think he might be right. Yeah, I think so.
He's played it five times, I think. Really? That's just, I'm so happy for him.
Yeah. And this movie, he just, he crushes it and Matt and him did a great job writing a lot of stuff too.
He's such a natural as a director. I mean, Jason, it's kind of what you talk about when you spend all that time, you know, doing, and you've got a head on your shoulders and you spend all that time on set and in that environment.
Yeah, you've got to absorb something. You absorb something and you can kind of apply it and he, you have done it and he has done it and he's made so many great films, you know, as you said.
Sean. Sean.
No, no, no, I know. But what was the one about Iran, the hostages? Argo.
Argo. So Argo, The Town is amazing as well.
That's another great film that he directed. Yes, The Town.
I love that movie. Really, really good.
Yeah, see, that's what I'm saying. It hammers in.
I didn't even get a chance to talk to him about The Town. That was so good.
I know. Well, because you were asking, you know, you had too many questions about, at a left field.
He just texted me, I hate Sean. Oh, well, he's spelt it S-H-A-W-N, but the hate is spelt correct.
No way. No, that's not true.
No, he's the guy, my God, what an interesting line. I'd like to read his book.
I want to read his book. I want to read Downey's book.

Just a book.

Any book would be great. I guess, right?

Would be amazing at this point.

It's top to bottom, left to right, right?

Yeah, as long as the book has a...

Finding center.

Those pages are bound.

That works.

Oh, no.

He doesn't even know how it works.

Smart. Nice.
pages are bound? That works. Oh no, he doesn't even know how it works.
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