Ben Affleck Explains Why Robin Williams Is Responsible For His Career

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Ben Affleck has admitted that he owes his entire career to Robin Williams’ decision to star in Good Will Hunting.

The actor, writer, producer, and director paid a glowing tribute to Williams during his recent discussion with The Guardian to promote Live By Night, his recently released gangster drama. During this discussion Affleck opened up about his career, insisting that he can actually pinpoint the exact moment when his entire life changed. Ben Affleck remarked,

“Most people can’t point to the moment that changed their life in such a dramatic way, but I can. It was the moment that Robin decided to take a flyer on that movie. I’ll always feel a huge debt to him although now I’ll never get to repay it.”

Ben Affleck also took the opportunity to discuss Robin Williams’ death, which occurred on August 11, 2014, when the 63-year-old committed suicide. After his death it was revealed that Robin Williams’ brain tissue had the presence of “diffuse Lewy body dementia,” which had actually been misdiagnosed as Parkinson’s Disease.

Susan Schneider, Robin Williams’ wife, told Neurology after his death that the disease was “the terrorist inside my husband’s brain,” and added, “however you look at it – the presence of Lewy bodies took his life.” Speaking about Robin Williams’ passing, Ben Affleck remarked,

“It’s one of these incredibly horrible diseases that destroys the mind and that was especially cruel to a guy like Robin who was always so brilliant and quick witted. And on a totally selfish level, he’s the reason why I got successful in this business. If Robin hadn’t done Good Will Hunting, Matt and I would still be sitting there today talking about how we could update that script.”

During the same discussion with The Guardian, Ben Affleck also looked back on when he originally moved to Los Angeles, admitting that it was an exciting period and something that he actually looks back on positively. That’s despite the fact that he thought the entire show business approach was rather absurd. Ben Affleck remarked,

“It was me, Matt, my brother Casey and a bunch of friends from Boston – all of them were trying to make it in some capacity or other. It was a time to experiment, to go to auditions and try stuff. And part of what we revelled in was the absurd level of frustration that we went through and the ridiculous hoops we had to jump through. Those years were wonderful – they were great, formative, blissful, fun, free years.”

Things went rather well for the group when they moved out to Los Angeles. After writing and starring in Good Will Hunting, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck blossomed into two of the biggest movie stars on the planet. Their friendship has remained in tact throughout this period, too, while at the same time they’ve gone on to star in the likes of Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice and Jason Bourne, both of which were released over the last year.

It has also been a hugely successful year for Ben Affleck’s younger brother Casey Affleck. Casey Affleck’s performance in Manchester By The Sea has been roundly lauded to such an extent that he’s been heavily touted for the Best Actor Academy Award, the nominations for which will be announced later this month.

We’ll get to see if Casey Affleck joins his brother and Matt Damon as an Oscar winner (the pair won the Best Original Screenplay gong for Good Will Hunting) when the ceremony is held on February 26, 2017, Sunday. We’ll also get a better indication of the favorites for the Academy Awards when the 74th Golden Globes are held on January 8, Sunday.

[Featured Image by Miramax Films]