Movies Magazine March 1999
by Angela D. Hill
| Movies Magazine March 1999 by Angela D. Hill |
"A... Affleck, Casey. Casey's is Ben's brother, who is also an actor. You've seen him in Good Will Hunting as Morgan and in To Die For as Russel Hines... A is also for "Academy," as in the kind of Award he won- with Matt Damon- for writing the script for Good Will Hunting
B... Boston. Ben grew up there. No wonder his accent was so right-on in Good Will Hunting, eh?
C... California, Berkeley. Ben was born there on August 15, 1972.
D... Damon, Matt. Ben's best friend. Of course, you already knew that, but did you know that they met at age eight? Did you know that before either of them made it, Ben was so poor that he slept on Matt's couch?
E... Elfman, Danny. Elfman is the comport responsible for the musical score for everything, including The Simpsons, Men in Black, The Nightmare Before Xmas, Beetlejuice and a bunch of other movies. Oh, I almost forgot to include Good Will Hunting.
F... Fu@k: Ben's favorite word. All right, that's not totally fair. Its the favorite word of his movie characters. Who knows his favorite word in real life. The guy took his mom to the Acacdemy Awards, so it's probably something more like "ohmomthanksforthebrownies." But I can tell you that Ben uses the f-word or some form thereof 45 times in Glory Daze and 25 times in Chasing Amy.
G... Geza: Ben's middle name. Ben gave away this big secret in an interview with Details magazine.
H... Hobbies: Ben said in an interview with E!Online that he enjoys photography and riding bikes (the kind with motors)
I... Income. What does Ben make? Well for Armageddon he was paid $600,000 and for School Ties (1992) $30,000.
J... Janitor. Supposedly, Ben's father once held a job as a janitor at Harvard, inspiring Damon's job in Good Will Hunting. Remember, this is unconfirmed rumor stuff.
K... Kevin Smith II. Smith directed and wrote Chasing Amy, i which Ben played Holden McNeil and Smith played Silent Bob. Smith also directed and wrote Mallrats, in which Ben played Shannon Hamilton and Smith again played Silent Bob. And Smith co-produced Good Will Hunting (no Silent Bob sighting there> These two stick together.
L... Leo. Ben's sun sign is Leo. The sun sighn is the one everyone looks up in the daily newspaper. Leo's are extremely loyal people and natural-born leaders. Or, in the vernacular of people who read such things, he's got it going on.
M... Married? No way. Not yet anywary, so keep sending him fan mail. You've still got a change, right? Not even close, but don't let our pesisimism kill your pipe dreams.
N... New movie. Dogma is probably the most certain project on Ben's horizon. Ben plays an angles named Bartelby who is cast out of heaven and sent to Wisconsin, which may or may not be a good place to be depeding on your love of cheese, beer and second-rate baseball. Matt Damon pops up again here as does director Kevin Smith. Look for it in October.
O... O'Bannion. Ben's first well-known role in the feature film Dazed and Confused, where he was cast as a bully.
P... Paltrow, Gwyneth: When this primer was published Ben and Gwyn were listed as an item on every fan site on the net, but we all know that these Hollywood romances have the life cycle of a tsetse fly.
Q... Queer Directorial Debut. (Odd, that is) Ben has directed one short film: I Killed My Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meathook and Now Have a Three Picture Deal at Disney. Uh-huh, and I didn't even get a lousy t-shirt.
R... Rat. The rat is Ben's Chinese Zodiac sigh, Rats are well... look to the animal for an accurate description.
S... Scorpio. Ben's mom is in Scorpio. The moon sign rules emotions, and the Scorpio is either your best friend or your worst enemy. And, they say, Scorpios are excellent lovers.
T... Tim, Ben's father. A bartender turned drug rehab counselor, Tim was supposedly party buddies with Dustin Hoffman, who's God Actor Supreme for Life. This is more rumor stuff, but it's fun. And it gives us a chance to mention Ben and Dustin in the same story. Now if Ben gets on one of those The Graduate/Midnight Cowboy/Little Big Man... rolls, watch out.
U... University of Vermont. Ben briefly attended classes at this Burlington Vt college. An unconfirmed report says he stayed in 416 Tupper Hall (A fairly confirmed report says spare yourself the trip: He's no longer there.)
V... Van Sant, Gus. Van Sant directed My Own Private Idaho, Psycho, Drug Store Cowboy and guess which other movie? Good Will Hunting. Van Sant was describe by Matt Damon on the Oprah Winfrey Show as the "greatest director around". And in this twisty turny world, it's yet another chance to buy ol' Gus: go to page eight, read and begin shouting. Please.
W... Wilshire Blvd. This is the street to which Ben's fan mail should be sent. Here's the entire address: Creative Artists Agency, 9830 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90212. Tell 'em we sent you and you'll get absolutely nothing special.
X... XY. These are Ben's chromosomes. Of course, every man has these, I think.
Y... Yuppie Stockbroker. Ben may play a yuppie stockbrocker in the upcoming film Boiler Room. Shooting began in mid-Novemeber in New York. Even if this doesn't pan out, "yuppie stockbrocker" still applies considering Ben's income range.
Z... Zero. Number of women who wouldn't jump at the chance to have dinner with Ben. For that matter, the number of women who wouldn't jump at the chance to shove horse manure with Ben. (Not to be confused with Z: zipper. The only part of Ben women would like to see put down.)"
