Most of the time, getting an actor ready for a role means committing to the physical side of things. That can be tough on its own, but when juggling two projects at once, it gets even trickier. Especially when the characters are totally different. So, how to pull that off?
Ben Affleck went through this a few years back while filming Gone Girl and had to hit the gym hard to get in shape for his role as Batman at the same time. He stepped up to the challenge, but his co-star, Rosamund Pike, couldn’t help but notice the results. Her character’s romantic partner was turning into someone who didn’t quite fit the vibe of the whole movie.
Ben Affleck’s Preparation For Batman v Superman Started Affecting His Character In Gone Girl
It seems almost impractical to fully commit to a movie that, according to the director, demanded no concern for vanity, while the next project literally required the opposite. Ben Affleck was filming Gone Girl while also focusing on getting his body in superhero shape for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
At a certain point, it became nearly impossible to hide the situation, especially during a specific shower scene. In an interview with MTV, Affleck talked about what the film’s director, David Fincher, had asked of him regarding the character: (via Yahoo)
It’s ironic, because David said to me from the beginning, this is a warts and all movie. It can have no vanity. You have to see the naked underbelly of this character. It’s gotta be like in Europe, they just don’t give a s*** about any of that stuff, and they just play real people, you know? And so that was the spirit of the thing.
The actor admitted that he was trying to strike a balance, as the two roles were complete opposites. Any superhero movie would require him to look muscular, but Gone Girl needed him to portray a more out-of-shape character. However, it was complicated to hide this, especially since in the shower scene, he wasn’t wearing anything. Rosamund Pike, his co-star, said: (via The Hollywood Reporter)
Ben was becoming Batman before my eyes — by the time we were in the shower, I was with Batman.
Fincher’s film is a thriller from start to finish, where a couple is going through constant arguments and problems throughout the story. Affleck’s character was supposed to look hungover, bloated, and as if he had just woken up, when his body was already showing the effects of nearly a year of training.
In the end, he delivered the best he could.
Carrie Coon Denied Yankees Hat Scene Story In Gone Girl
At the time of the 2014 film’s release, Affleck revealed a story about the scene where he appears wearing a cap that was supposed to be from the New York Yankees baseball team. According to The New York Times, he and Fincher had some disagreements over this, as the actor is a die-hard Boston Red Sox fan:
That was the only fight David and I had, and it was a legitimate fight. I said, ‘David, I love you, I would do anything for you, but I will not wear a Yankees hat. I just can’t. I can’t wear it because it’s going to become a thing, David. I will never hear the end of it. I can’t do it.’ And I couldn’t put it on my head.’ It was an uprising; it was a coup, I rioted. It was a one-man riot against the Yankees.
In the movie, after much debate, they agreed to use a New York Mets cap instead. However, Carrie Coon, who played the protagonist’s sister, stated that this story seemed to have been exaggerated.
She gave an interview to The Hollywood Reporter in 2021, recalling the filming period and claiming that she didn’t remember anything about the cap situation, much less any filming stoppage that was said to have occurred because of it:
I do not recall a four-day shutdown over a hat. So I think that might’ve been a touch of exaggeration, though they are both very passionate. And also, David Fincher gives Ben a lot of sh** just in general. But Ben really likes it. I mean, the thing that was hard about being on set is that Ben was always behind the camera asking David why he was doing what he was doing and interrogating him like he was a film school nerd. So it was sometimes hard to get Ben to focus.
In the DVD and Blu-ray commentaries for the film, the director agreed with Affleck, stating that while the situation didn’t lead to an actual fight, the filming stoppage was indeed real. (via Rolling Stone)
Gone Girl is available for streaming on Disney+.
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