On the rebound
Ben Affleck on his ‘Way Back’ with new movie
How super appropriate is it that Ben Affleck’s new movie is called “The Way Back”?
For that is what he hopes to do: find his own way back in the Hollywood firmament with this deeply personal drama.
“The Way Back” announces that after several years’ struggle with addiction issues, the end of his marriage and a less than interesting series of films, Affleck at 47 is back in the driver’s seat.
That’s why Affleck’s drinking problem, with rehabs in 2017 and last year, was not an issue playing Jack, an alcoholic construction worker who returns to his Catholic high school to coach their losing basketball team.
“I would be flattering myself to imagine I would be the first, ah, alcoholic to play an alcoholic. That’s pretty well-trod ground,” he began while on a promotional Manhattan junket.
“What this was really about (and thank God it’s something I’ve not had an experience with) was: How do you overcome the worst possible thing that could happen to you? How do you carry on? How do you rebuild your life?”
As Jack wrestles with life, he can down four six-packs and coach the next day.
If “The Way Back” isn’t a recovery or an AA movie, for Affleck it’s brutally honest. “This is one of the things where if you have a natural life experience with something, you have a little bit more confidence about what’s realistic and what isn’t,” he said.
“There is some orthodox thinking about how addiction works. But more and more, people are finding that there are different stories.
“There are functioning addicts of all stripes who carry on with their addiction for many, many years. Sometimes they just stop on their own. Sometimes they get help from other people.
“The one thing that’s pretty consistent that I’ve found is that it’s a process. Jack’s story and the path of his drinking felt very realistic to me.”
The real focus of “The Way Back” is the difference a person can make in kids’ lives, the positive influence Jack exerts on his basketball players.
“That’s the most interesting part of the movie for me by far — and the scariest,” Affleck said. “I didn’t have a ton of experience with team sports and I have never coached. I really relied on Gavin (O’Connor the director of sports movie classics ‘Miracle’ and ‘Warrior’) and his sense of what was going to be realistic and what wasn’t.
“We both wanted you to feel you’re watching something real. And the most important aspect is coaches of high school-age kids are more than just coaching about the technical aspects of team play. You’re a life coach in a lot of ways.”