Folks, I don’t know what to tell you about this interview, except to say that it’s a weird one. I plopped into a hotel room with Casey Affleck right after the press conference for his latest film, Out of the Furnace, and proceeded to break the ice. Said icebreaking quickly ate up half the interview, as Affleck seemed infinitely more interested in hearing about what movies I’d seen lately than giving the same old interview he’d probably given two dozen times already earlier that day. Which was great for me, since I got spend twelve minutes just hanging out with Casey Affleck talking about movies, sci-fi pharmaceuticals and so on, but it’s bound to read very unusually.
But, since it’s literally more than half the interview, I feel obligated to bring you the unexpurgated conversation. Eventually we get around to talking about Out of the Furnace, violence and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, but for a time, we’re just shooting the shit together. Maybe this will give you some idea of what it’s like to shoot the shit with Casey Affleck. If that sounds fun – and indeed, in real life it really was – then I suspect this will be more than worth your time. One SPOILER lies ahead.
CraveOnline: How was the press conference?
Casey Affleck: It was fine. I feel like they cut short on people. I don’t know. It was sort of overly formal in a strange way.
Really?
Well, I don’t know, there was somebody introducing us one at a time like it was a sporting event as we walked into the room, and then…
Are you comfortable with those things now?
Sort of. I often feel like they could be a little bit more personal. I don’t see why there has to be the name cards and the microphone and the thing. I just feel like you could just ask a question. I don’t know. I guess there’s a schedule and everything’s got to be run the way it’s run.
And yet we’re always running behind anyway.
[Laughs] Where are you coming from?
West L.A. actually.
Who do you write for?
CraveOnline.
Grave…?
“Crave.” CraveOnline. “GraveOnline” would be a good spin-off though, like our horror section.
[Laughs] What have you seen this year?
Oh my god, this year is insane. I don’t know how busy you are, but have you noticed how many great movies have come out this year? It’s ridiculous.
Really?
Yeah, like Upstream Color? Have you seen that?
No.
The guy who did Primer, Shane Carruth?
Yes, I know.
Blue Jasmine blew my mind. Cate Blanchett is always good but dear god… Let’s see… Blue is the Warmest Colour.
Great.
Just beautiful.
So that’s a foreign film. You got Woody Allen…
I got Shane Carruth… Gravity I thought was just beautiful. I thought the new Terrence Malick was beautiful.
Really?
Yeah, a lot of people didn’t care for it, but every review I’ve seen that didn’t like the movie was saying things like, “Terrence Malick has done this movie before.” But why are you mad about it?!
Yeah, right.
It’s like complaining when Woody Allen does a movie about a love triangle. That’s what he’s interested. “Martin Scorsese did a movie and it’s got crime in it? How dare he…?”
Right.
I don’t understand it.
Usually people are looking for something to criticize. They’re trying to find a way in so they can seem smart.
I don’t understand that. If there’s something I don’t care for I’ll criticize it, but I always want to like it. Otherwise, why would I come to a movie?
Yeah.
Even if I’m dreading it, like Smurfs 2. I had to see Smurfs 2. It’s not my kind of film. So I’m hoping it gives me something. And then Brendan Gleeson turned into a duck and I’m like, “Alright, let’s do this!” That’s what I can focus on for the rest of the film, because that’s kind of neat.
What else? What else?
Uh… Jesus… Spring Breakers was pretty great.
Have you seen any movies that haven’t come out? Like Inside Llewyn Davis?
No, I haven’t seen that yet and it’s pissing me off. It’s all starting to blur together now. I saw Out of the Furnace obviously…
[Laughs]
What else have I seen? This is driving me insane. I’ve seen Saving Mr. Banks…
American Hustle?
I have not seen American Hustle yet. Have you seen that yet?
They’re keeping it a secret.
I know and it’s making me nervous. Because it looks good, you’d think they’d want to let that out. Yeah, but I saw Saving Mr. Banks and I didn’t care for that very much.
Is that going to be a big awards movie?
I think they’re trying to turn it into that, and that’s fine, the problem is it’s not very good history. It’s about the making of Mary Poppins and how Disney convinced P.L. Travers to make the movie, but it’s not very fair to the real history of P.L. Travers. It’s a good movie, but I side with the author because I grew up with those books. But a lot of people who grew up with the movie are going to like it because it’s really celebratory about the Mary Poppins movie.
