If you've clicked on this story, it's just about guaranteed that you know who Ben Affleck is. It's almost equally as likely that you've seen him in a movie before; after all, he started off as a child actor on PBS in the '80s, and since appearing in Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused back in 1993, has since been a fixture on the big screen for the last three decades. There's a good chance, too, that you figure you know what you're going to get out of him: some variation on his "regular guy." That regular guy may be kind of a fuck-up, like in Gone Girl, or he may be a superhero, like in Zack Snyder's Justice League, or even a down and out basketball coach like in The Way Back. But you probably think you have an idea of what Ben Affleck does, and what Ben Affleck can do. But that will all change when you see The Last Duel.
Affleck's role in The Last Duel—the movie he co-wrote (with his old pal Matt Damon and Nicole Holofcener) about a real-life 14th century trial-by-combat, the last legally-sanctioned on in recorded history (hence the title)—isn't a huge one. The starring roles instead go to Damon, Adam Driver, and Jodie Comer; Affleck lands the coveted last-billing spot, with an "And" before his credit. And boy does he earn it.
He plays Count Pierre d'Alençon, masking that familiar "regular guy" look we already talked about under a bleached blonde hairdo, and with an outrageous chin-only goatee (of course, also blonde) masking part of his face. And, look, when you first see Affleck looking like this, well, it's kind of unbelievable. How could anyone see someone constantly in the tabloids for carrying a ton of Dunkin Donuts or re-uniting with his old superstar girlfriend be believable as anything other than...well, Ben Affleck?
It's here