Ben Affleck, an alcoholic in rehab in his real life and in fiction
The actor stars in 'The way back', whose character has a parallel with the turbulent years that the interpreter has been living because of his fondness for drinking and successive relapses
Fortune has not been smiling on Ben Affleck lately. To his repeated problems with alcohol is added a chain of films of little impact that have diminished his position in the film industry. His new project, The way back, which does not yet have a Spanish title, seems to have become the perfect metaphor for how personal and professional life can intersect and get something good out of it. In his new job, for which the first trailer has just been released, the actor plays Jack, a seemingly lost soul suffering from depression and alcoholism.
It is not necessary to explain more to find the parallel with the turbulent years that Affleck has been living due to his fondness for alcohol and the successive relapses - some of them in front of the cameras - that have turned his life into a roller coaster of income to detoxify and new episodes of obvious drunkenness. In the film, Jack, played by Aflleck, tells the woman he is trying to help him: "I'm fine." But Jack's daily life consists of showering and drinking before going to work, going to work and drinking at work, coming home and drinking at home. A chaotic circle that seems to be interrupted when he is asked to coach the college basketball team in which he was once a star himself.
Ben Affleck has posted this trailer on his own social media expressing how much his new project means to him: "I am so proud of the incredible team behind it. Here's a first look at The Way Back, a story of resistance and redemption. In theaters this March, "he wrote on his Twitter. Nobody is oblivious to the parallelism between the film directed by Gavin O'Connor and the situation in which the actor finds himself, and everyone wants to see in it the opportunity for redemption that his character gives his return to basketball.
The film is the first that will see the light after the actor had to spend 40 days admitted, last October, in a detoxification center to treat his addictions. A recurring but not hidden problem that Affleck has recognized and that he spoke about recently after images were published in which he could be seen clearly drunk leaving a Halloween party held in West Hollywood. "It happens, it was a slip. But I'm not going to let it derail me," he later told reporters from TMZ, the same outlet that had revealed the images.
Already before this incident, after finishing his treatment, the actor had referred to his problems and the desire to overcome them: "Fighting any addiction is a difficult and lifelong fight. That is why one is never really in treatment or out of treatment. him. It's a full-time commitment. I'm fighting for myself and my family, "he said.
So proud of this one and the incredible team behind it. Here’s your first look at #TheWayBack, a story of endurance and redemption. In theaters this March. pic.twitter.com/uqbdHhTIGh
— Ben Affleck (@BenAffleck) November 14, 2019
His family, including his ex-wife, actress Jennifer Gadner, continues to support his battle against alcohol and the film industry seems to want to contribute to his resurrection with new projects that keep him busy. In addition to the premiere of The way back, scheduled for March 2020, Aflleck is filming a drama titled Deep water in New Orleans and has ahead of him the film adaptation of Joan Didion's book, The Last Thing I Wanted, in which he is accompanied by Anne Hathaway and whose story centers on Elena McMahon, a Washington Post newspaper reporter who leaves her job covering the 1984 presidential primaries to care for her father after the death of her mother. He also has a project with his friend Matt Damon and has just signed his participation in an erotic thriller another directed by Ridley Scott.
