The actor, who bagged an Oscar for Warner Bros.' 'Argo' this year, will lead a new big-scale film with the studio.
- Oct 26, 2013
AceShowbiz - After receiving critical acclaim and three Academy Award trophies for their 2012 drama-thriller "Argo", the film's director Ben Affleck teams up anew with the movie's studio Warner Bros. for a new, yet-to-be-titled action-thriller. The 41-year-old actor and filmmaker will both star in and direct the project, based on a script by Will Staples, with Affleck's longtime collaborator and "Good Will Hunting" co-writer Matt Damon producing with Jennifer Todd under Pearl Street Films.
Set in Africa, the film is "an examination of the moral ambiguities of how philanthropy and foreign assistance veers into modern day neocolonialism" as it follows a group of hired mercenaries set to kill a warlord who has been victimizing his own people. The project's subject matter is said to be very close to Affleck's heart, having pitched it himself, after he has long spoken out over the humanitarian crisis that has been going on in Eastern Congo where armed factions have been warring over mineral-rich land and resources.
The upcoming geopolitical film is just one of many projects lined up for the multi-awarded "Gone Baby Gone" director, one of which is another starring and directing vehicle for him, "Live by Night", a period crime drama adapted from the best-selling novel by Dennis LeHane who incidentally also wrote "Gone Baby Gone". Then of course, there's his much-criticized Batman role in "Man of Steel 2" opposite Henry Cavill.
About that upcoming task, Affleck admitted, "Initially, I was reluctant as I felt I didn't fit the traditional mold. But once Zack showed me the concept, and that it would be both different from the great movies that Chris and Christian made, but still in keeping with tradition, I was excited."
