I’ve been aware of Ben Affleck since his days on the PBS kid’s program The Voyage of the Mimi, so it’s always felt like he’s been a ubiquitous presence in my life since childhood to such an extent that I don’t even really notice him anymore. He’s just always been there. But recently, I decided to see what he has to offer in the way of historical roles and turns out there’s been a few over the decades!
School Ties (1992)
Dazed and Confused (1993)
Going All the Way (1997)
Shakespeare in Love (1998)
200 Cigarettes (1999)
Pearl Harbor (2001)
Hollywoodland (2006)
Argo (2012)
Live by Night (2016)
The Last Duel (2021)
The Tender Bar (2021)
Air (2023)
What’s your favorite Ben Affleck role in a historical film? Tell us in the comments!
I loved Air! That’s funny, I didn’t know that he directed it. :)
If I had a penny for every time Mr Ben Affleck has been the most delightfully hammy contributor to a Period Drama I’d only have two pennies, but goodness me IT HAPPENED TWICE!
I say that if HBO ever needs an Aegon the Unworthy, they really need to give him a call (Also, I remain curious about what a Ben Affleck-directed Batman film would look like).
I enjoy watching documentaries about the Canadian Caper, but I refuse to watch Argo. I’m not thrilled with Affleck bleaching Tony Mendez, or the cat and mouse embellishments in the fictional piece.
Oh my god I thought I was the only person that remembered Voyage Of The Mimi.
I love his body of work.
I loved the Voyage of the Mimi (both seasons) – we watched it in school.
When I saw Argo in the theater with my mother-in-law she was very confused when I sobbed through the opening – but my beloved high school physics teacher who escaped the revolution by the skin of his teeth had just died and it turned out I had a lot of feelings about the whole thing.
Ben Affleck should be man-ick-monday instead, cause ugh, he does nothing for periodfilms.
Agree to disagree: his record is, for my money, mixed-to-positive, in that he tends to be merely ‘meh’ or outright entertaining (At least in my experience of his work).
I haven’t seen 200 Cigarettes, but from the photo, is Affleck’s character a riff on Ted Danson’s character from Cheers?