Casey Affleck Has Rejected Major Acting Roles To Complete His Upcoming Directorial Project
In the recent episode of “Team Deakins,” Casey Affleck revealed that he is going to start a new directorial project. A renowned cinematographer Roger Deakins hosts this podcast. Affleck does not share any information about the third movie in this podcast. But, it is obvious from his talk that it will be quite like “I’m Not There (2010)” and “Light of My Life (2019)”. However, he will put his best efforts to fulfill his creative requirements instead of financial gain in his upcoming movie.
While jokingly indicating that he is searching for a cinematographer, Affleck said to Deakins, “I’m prepping a movie now. This movie is another example of something that I feel very close to…and am connected to it, so I will do that.”
Casey Affleck continued by saying that similar to what he directed in “I’m Still Here,” he will refuse any acting offers, no matter what they are while he works on his upcoming movie. Previously in the Deakins’ Podcast, Affleck discussed that when he preferred to focus on the 2010 movie, he decided to refuse all the acting opportunities that came his way in “The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford,” for which he earned an Oscar award. He also remarked, “I didn’t want to be a careerist, I wanted to be an artist. Regarding that choice, I will similarly follow my heart with my upcoming film.”
He added that when an unidentified female filmmaker asked him to perform in a father-daughter tale similar to his, “Light of My Life,” he had the same attitude. He really wanted to collaborate with her since she is a director he adores. Even though Affleck didn’t want to miss the chance to work on a story he desired to tell, he refused the role. He wanted to work on his own story, which is why he did this.
Moreover, Affleck claimed that his wish to direct movies more frequently is a result of his taking on other jobs on set, such as editing in “Finding Forrester” for director Gus Van Sant or attempting to join the sound team for “The Island Of Doctor Moreau” by Richard Stanley, which was a complete failure. He said, “Eventually, I got to a point where I thought ‘I have my own stories I want to tell and I’m not going to get to tell them unless I direct them.’” “And that was when [I decided if] there’s something very important to me that I feel connected to, I …direct it.”
Deakins consented to Affleck’s opinion that when he decided to become a director from the bottom of his heart, he stayed away from shooting particular movies which he didn’t feel right. Although it can be challenging to follow through on that in the Hollywood environment, both parties decided that fulfillment matters a lot in the long run instead of professional achievement and owning a strong CV. He won’t be giving up acting anytime soon, though.
“I don’t even feel like I’ve gotten to a place where I’m doing my best work as an actor,” Affleck demanded. He thought that he has a ton of things and people he wants to work with, and there are so many areas in which he needs to improve as an actor. He thinks that he is only now beginning to get how to accomplish it and the purpose behind why he has been doing it in the first place.
Once more, Casey Affleck gave no information on his upcoming project as a director. But, he confirmed that he will work in “Oppenheimer” by Christopher Nolan and the science fiction story “Slingshot” later on in the year. In Doug Liman’s upcoming movie “The Instigators” made by Apple Original Films, he will co-star with Matt Damon.
