Ben Affleck has been transparent about his struggles with sobriety throughout his career, and the 48-year-old actor recently opened up to The Hollywood Reporter about his experience playing a character struggling with alcoholism in the movie “The Way Back.” The role came while Affleck was in the midst of recovery following a stint in rehab, and while he admitted it was a difficult role to step into, he also shared that it was “cathartic” in many ways.
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Speaking at a roundtable with five other actors being celebrated for their impressive performances over the last year, Affleck spoke on his starring role in “The Way Back.” He quickly got candid, revealing, “Yes, I'm an alcoholic. Yes, I had a relapse. Yes, I went into recovery again. And then I went and did that movie. But for me, the movie was much more about the fact that — whether it's having lived enough years, having seen enough ups and downs, having had children and divorce — I'm at a point now in my life where I have sufficient life experience to bring to a role to make it really interesting for me.”
For the role, Affleck played Jack Cunningham, a functioning alcoholic who takes on the role as a high school basketball coach at his alma mater following the death of his child. Stepping into a role that shared some parallels with his real life, he admitted, “It's an easy adjustment for me to act in something that resonates with me, like this movie. Although some things were hard about it, it was also kind of cathartic and reminded me why I love and started acting in the first place.”
Affleck has experienced his battles with addiction in the public eye, checking himself into a rehab facility in 2018 for a 40 day stay. “The Way Back” was filmed as Affleck began his recovery journey following rehab, so the emotions were raw and readily available to offer to the character of Cunningham, showing through in his powerful performance. Fortunately Affleck seems to be doing well now and shared that he hopes to continue to act in and direct films that share “rich” characters with the audience.
