Ben Affleck has named Armageddon as the “best work of his career” – but it’s not the acting in the 1998 disaster movie that he is most proud of.
The 52-year-old, who is currently starring in The Accountant 2, was still a rising actor in Hollywood when he was cast as one of a group of oil drillers hired by NASA to blow up an asteroid with a nuclear bomb.
For the DVD release of the Michael Bay-directed blockbuster, Affleck provided a commentary track detailing his experiences on set. It went down in infamy, as his sarcastic comments appeared to indicate that he didn’t like working on the film.
One viral clip sees him recall a conversation with Bay where he asked: “Why it was easier to train oil drillers to become astronauts than it was to train astronauts to become oil drillers?” Affleck claims the director told him to “f*** off” for asking the question.
The actor can be heard laughing as he continues to tear one specific scene apart involving Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton.
"I mean this is a little bit of a logic stretch; they don't know much about drilling?" he continues. "I mean, how hard can it be: aim the drill at the ground and turn it on."
Speaking about the commentary in a recent video for Criterion, Affleck said: “I feel like the best work of my career is the commentary on this disc.”
“People approach me to talk about the commentary on this disc, as much as they do about movies I’ve been in,” he added.
“I didn’t know any better than to be really honest but it’s an achievement I’m proud of and didn’t intend to be as good as I now think it is.”
Although the premise of the film is outlandish, Bay claimed in 2021 that the film predicted NASA’s idea to fire a rocket at an asteroid to divert it away from Earth.
The film director wrote on Instagram: “I told you so. But no one wanted to listen to me. NASA’s Dart rocket lifted off today! It’s going to do a little Bayhem in space!”
Bay later told TheWrap: “Our plan was not far off,” referencing the closeness between the plot of his film and NASA’s real life mission.
He added: “Thank God they’re doing something because these things (asteroids), they’re lethal. They come in 24,000 miles an hour, if I remember correctly – it’s an airburst to the ground.”
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