Ben Affleck Believes That 2003 Was Probably The Worst Year Of His Life

Ben Affleck, who is currently receiving all sorts of accolades for his latest directorial effort Argo, explained in a recent interview with Details that 2003 was easily one of the worst years of his entire life. In addition dealing with the media circus surrounding his relationship with Jennifer Lopez, Affleck had to deal with the fallout of Gigli, which many people believe is one of the worst motion pictures to ever grace the big screen.

“In our culture, we get very much into shorthanding people. And I got shorthanded as That Guy: Jennifer Lopez, movies bombed, therefore he must be a sort of thoughtless dilettante, solipsistic consumer blahblahblah. It’s hard to shake those sort of narratives,” Affleck explained to the magazine. “If you were looking at that one-liner on me in 2003, which was definitely the annus horribilis. I was ending up in the tabloids. I don’t know what the lesson is, except that you just have to find your compass.”

As Digital Spy points out, it’s been nearly 10 years since Gigli had its way with Affleck’s career. And while he isn’t a big fan of the movies he did during this period of time, the actor-turned-director doesn’t believe they’re all bad.

“I liked ‘Sum of All Fears.’ ‘Daredevil’ I didn’t at all. Some movies should have worked and didn’t. At a certain point, it’s just up to the movie gods.” the actor said. “Anyway, this image becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. And I just said, ‘I don’t want to do it anymore. This is horrible. I don’t want to be in this spotlight, this glare, in this way. It’s tawdry, it’s ugly, it’s oppressive, and it’s inane. So I’m going to try to get away.’ People bring up 2003, and I get it. Jennifer Lopez, and ‘Gigli,’ and all this s— just kind of blew up. But, you know, in 2003, Barack Obama was a state senator in Illinois! Okay?”

Presently, Ben Affleck’s Argo, which co-stars Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, and John Goodman, has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 92 percent.

“White-knuckle tense and less self-congratulatory than it sounds, Ben Affleck’s unexpectedly comedic third feature has the vital elements to delight adult auds,” Variety writer Peter Debruge said in his review of the film.

Were you a fan of Ben Affleck’s Gigli? Do you feel it’s one of the worst movies of all time?