Ben Affleck warns about what happens when Hollywood punishes risk-taking

Ben Affleck says punishing movies that take creative risks will leave audiences with “homogenised movies.”

The 54-year-old actor and director made the comments while defending Tom Cruise’s new film Digger. “If you punish movies that take risks, guess what you’re going to get?” he said. 

“You cannot do something interesting without taking a big swing. And that means you’re going to sometimes look bad.”

Affleck said the reaction to the film reminded him of “the high-school bullying thing, with people who hadn’t even seen movies.” 

“Everybody wants to celebrate this bomb as if it’s the most exciting thing to happen,” he said. “It’s a pretty ambitious, interesting movie made by interesting people who have talent.” He also criticised the focus on counting what a film lost.

Digger was directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu and opened October 2. Cruise, 64, plays an oil tycoon facing a global catastrophe after a malfunction at one of his Antarctic drilling rigs. Reviews have been divided, and it has a 53 percent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes.

The film reportedly struggled financially. The original report says it earned about $15 million at the North American box office against a production budget above $160 million and a reported $100 million marketing spend. A report attributed to Variety estimated it could cost Warner Bros. about $245 million.

Affleck’s comments follow public support for the film from Neil Young, Mandy Patinkin and Anne Hathaway.