Ben Affleck shares which of his movies his kids love to watch: ‘They can make fun of me’

Ben Affleck is back in the director’s chair for his next, the Prime Video film, Air. While promoting the film, the actor also spoke about showing his three children his films now that they are older. He and his ex-wife, actor Jennifer Garner, have two daughters, 17-year old Violet, 14-year-old Seraphina, and one son, 11-year-old Samuel. The actor revealed that they enjoyed Armageddon (1998) from his early days as an actor because they enjoyed making fun of him in it. (Also read: Ben Affleck will never direct a DC movie under James Gunn: ‘Absolutely not’)

In 1997, Ben and his best friend Matt Damon burst on the Hollywood scene with their film Good Will Hunting. The two friends co-wrote the script and starred in the film. They went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The actor shared that he waited to show his children the movies he’s been in, and was eager to know their opinion on Good Will Hunting.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor shared, “The first movie of mine that my kids actually sat through together was Armageddon because they like movies where they can make fun of me and they really like the idea that I was an astronaut or an oil driller or they just found the whole thing kind of preposterous but they loved it. They loved the fun of it.

He went on to say, “But the first movie that I cared about and [was] really interested in what my children thought was Good Will Hunting, which I watched with two of my now three kids. It was interesting for me to watch them watch the movie and see how different their childhood is from what my childhood looked like. They were engaged and interested and that was on an artistic level, probably the most gratifying experience of my life.”

In the movie Air, the 50-year-old takes audiences back in time to depict Nike’s historic signing of Michael Jordan and the production of the sneakers Air Jordans. The film premiered at the SXSW Film Festival on March 18, 2023 and stars Matt, Jason Bateman, Marlon Wayans, Chris Messina and Viola Davis. Ben also stars in the film as Nike co-founder Phil Knight.