News: Ben Affleck

Having got a fair amount of Oscar buzz for his turn as former TV Superman George Reeves in this week’s Hollywoodland, Affleck’s next step for his career revival masterplan is a turn as a mustachioed hitman in Smokin’ Aces, a comedy crime caper that could, at a push, pass as a parody of the kind of Tarantino-lite flicks (like Get Shorty) of the mid-1990s. Or it could be a genuine attempt to make that kind of film a decade after they went out of fashion… Due out in the UK in March 2007, whether it’s going to be any good or not is anyone’s guess, but the trailer can be found <a href=”http://www.smokinacesmovie.net/teaser/&#8221; target=”_blank”>here</a>.

Likely to be more promising for Affleck’s future is his planned team-up with best buddy Matt Damon – with whom he won the Oscar for Best Screenplay for Good Will Hunting all those years ago. As yet untitiled, the pair will star as a couple of lawyers who toil for fifteen years to save the life of an innocent man on death row, and is apparently based on a true story. Quite when (or if) it will see the light of day is unclear, considerin Damon’s hectic schedule these days.

Also showing potential is Gone, Baby, Gone – written, produced and directed by Affleck, and starring his younger brother, Casey, alongside Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris. Based on the <a href=”http://www.dennislehanebooks.com/books/gone/&#8221; target=”_blank”>book</a> by Dennis Lehane, the author of the book Sean Penn got his Oscar-winner Mystic River out of. Set around the kidnapping of a four-year-old girl in Boston, it looks set to be rather more serious than most of Affleck’s recent outings – and could, if he’s as good a director as he used to be a writer, prove rather good.