Ben Affleck talks Gone Girl, Batman — and Bennifer

BEN Affleck has an Oscar on the shelf and Batman in the bag. Will his gripping performance in Gone Girl be the final piece in his redemption puzzle?

BEN Affleck reckons he was probably a good choice to play the pilloried husband suspected of murdering his wife in David Fincher’s latest film, Gone Girl.

“I’m pretty familiar with public scorn,” Affleck laughs wryly down the line from Detroit, where he’s shooting Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. “I’ve been through periods where people were sick of my face.”

Of course, the 42-year-old could be referring to the disastrous “Bennifer” era of the early 2000s, when his relationship with Jennifer Lopez was a media obsession.

BEN GOES NUDE: Affleck strips for full frontal scene in Gone Girl

Or maybe he means the initial scepticism that came his way after his dreaded move into actor-turned-director territory ... Though the quality and success of Argo, Gone Baby Gone and The Town has shut that chatter down.

Or perhaps it’s the recent vitriol he’s copped from rabid Batman fans after being cast as the latest incarnation of the Caped Crusader. (Geek critics be damned: “I’m excited by the role,” Affleck says, adding, “I’m not trying to compete with Christian Bale.”)

Controversial casting ... the world’s first glimpse at Ben Affleck’s Batman.

In his latest flick as an actor-for-hire, Gone Girl, Affleck plays Nick Dunne, a man who is publicly hauled over the coals after the disappearance of his seemingly perfect wife, Amy (played by Englishwoman Rosamund Pike).

It’s the tale of a marriage gone very bad and, whether guilty or not, Nick just isn’t an overly likable character.

“I really enjoyed getting to play a guy who’s a bit of a d--k,” laughs Affleck. “It’s ten times more interesting to play somebody who’s flawed; whose behaviours are more real than the classic leading man conventional type performance.”

Ben Affleck rehearses a scene with director David Fincher on the set of Gone Girl.

The film is based on a book written by former entertainment journalist Gillian Flynn, which was a phenomenon when it was first published in 2012. While Affleck claims he wasn’t aware of the book’s massive popularity (“I knew it was — and I hate saying this — ‘hot property’ in Hollywood ...”), he got very interested when David Fincher signed on to direct the adaptation.

“For me, to work with David was really a dream come true. I wanted — being a director — to learn about his process and what he does.”

Latest role ... Ben Afflect says he enjoyed playing “a d--k” in Gone Girl.

Affleck, of course, is no slouch behind the camera: Argo won the Best Picture Oscar in 2013. Still, he couldn’t resist the opportunity to learn from the man behind films such as Fight Club, Seven, The Social Network and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

“I got the chance to pester him constantly, like ‘How’d you do this?’ and ‘How’d you do that?’ I was able to see first-hand how he accomplished the things that I’d seen in his movies. So for me, as a fan, it was just fascinating to come to work every day to watch how he did what he did and to soak it all up.”

In fact, Affleck loves directing more than pretty much anything. Once Batman is done with Superman, he will direct the big-screen adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s thriller Live By Night.

“I get a bit like a kid about it,” he says of directing. “It gives you the full canvas to explore themes that you’re interested in, rather than the silo of your own performance, which has to fit into the context of somebody else’s movie.

“I love all of it: the design, the editing, the music. All of that stuff is really fascinating to me. I hope that I have the opportunity to do it as long as I possibly can.”

What a family ... Ben Affleck directs his brother Casey on the set of Gone Baby Gone.

Affleck may not have to worry about where his next project is coming from these days, but he still feels the need to prove himself. Which may explain why taking the Batman gig made sense to him while onlookers found it a surprise move (whether because his previous superhero outing, Daredevil, was a bomb, or because an Oscar-winning director should have better things to do).

“When you start feeling like you’re going to rest on your laurels, you get lazy and your work gets less interesting. One of the ways that I keep taking risks and challenging myself is by choosing different genres, different scales, different kinds of directors — with the understanding that taking those risks is the way to make the most interesting work.

“It also occasionally means that you’re going to completely misfire — and I’ve probably learnt more from the misfires than the hits. But if you feel like you’re starting over every time, that

gives you that fear, that drive and that urgency to do the best that you can possibly do.”

When such decisions are to be made, he relies on the counsel of his wife, actor Jennifer Garner, his brother, actor Casey Affleck, and his best mate, Matt Damon.

Marital woes ... Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike play a couple whose marriage is crumbling in Gone Girl.

There is not, he says, “a gigantic number of people you would trust to give honest feedback”.

His friendship with Damon now stretches to 30 years.

“It’s so relaxing and nice to be able to talk honestly with someone who really understands you and your whole history of life, who can offer you perspective, who you can offer perspective to,” he says of his fellow Bostonian. “You don’t have to have a guard up, or be concerned about what you’re saying in any way.”

He adds that he and Damon have an even more bizarre synchronicity in that they both have had to live most of their adult lives very publicly.

“There’s a rare perspective that we have. A lot of the issues that come up around trying to do this job and what it means for your personal life ... how to approach it professionally ... We have each other to bounce that off.”

Thirty-year bromance: Ben Affleck and Matt Damon go way back. Picture: AP/Starpix/Marion Curtis

Recently, he and Damon rebooted their Project Greenlight venture in conjunction with HBO, which helps aspiring filmmakers to get their projects off the ground.

Affleck concedes that the current high quality of television dramas has changed the cinematic landscape. It’s getting increasingly difficult to get funding for film which, ironically, aren’t superhero-driven.

“There’s such amazing stuff being done on television,” he says. “In a way it’s good, because there are more dramas being made, but it makes it harder to make movie dramas because people can just watch House of Cards at home. It’s harder to get people to come out to cinemas now.”

Still, Affleck admits that if the right role came along, he’d be open to doing a TV series. He reckons True Detective is “a masterpiece” and loved what Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson did in the first series.

“I would do anything I thought was really smart and interesting and gave me a chance to do something different — and there’s a lot of that on cable right now,” he says.

Real deal ... Ben Affleck with wife Jennifer Garner. Picture: Getty Images

His current obsession, however, is Breaking Bad, which he reckons is the “best show ever”.

“I am more addicted to Breaking Bad than I think you can be addicted to meth,” he laughs.

“I’m binge-watching it and I’ve gone completely insane. Even my wife is like, after the sixth episode in bed, ‘Enough! How can I go to sleep when all we’re watching is murderous drug-dealers?’ I’m like, ‘Why not? Come on! This is fun!’ ”

Gone Girl is now screening

Originally published as Ben Affleck talks Gone Girl, Batman — and Bennifer