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NEWS > ENTERTAINMENT > BEN AFFLECK SKETCHING OUT NEW MOVIE, END TO POVERTY AND WAR IN AFRICA
BEN AFFLECK SKETCHING OUT NEW MOVIE, END TO POVERTY AND WAR IN AFRICA
November 30 2010
Hollywood, CA – Our planet has seen many ups and downs in its long life, but perhaps none of those changes have been as dramatic or as affecting as the rise of human beings. As the principle guardians of the planet, humans have spread to every
corner of the globe, gained control of almost every terrain, subjugated every other species of life, and begun manipulating the natural world itself. While the long term effects of all these actions are still unknown, it is clear that in our short time here humans have defined the future of the planet.
However, it is not just in our interactions with the natural world that there have been ups-and-downs. Human society itself has endured just as many ebbs and flows internally as our planet has, through war, politics, and economic instability. While today many people enjoy unheralded prosperity, there are still billions of people on the planet who suffer daily, for whom the essentials of life are far out of reach despite more than enough technology to solve those issues. Fairly or not, the majority of the people on the bottom end of that scale are the people of Africa who uniformly live at the lowest levels of human development. For many this is the way things are and the way things have always been, but for actor-director-writer-producer Ben Affleck that status quo is unacceptable and something he is determined to change, right after he gets done his next movie.
“Through extensive time spent in Congo and my work with the Eastern Congo Initiative, I can attest to the authenticity of progress. But I can also speak to its fragility. Supporting Congolese efforts to move beyond their nation's violent past and ultimately stabilize civil society requires strong leadership and a more holistic approach from the United States,” wrote Affleck of his plans to change life in the Congo. “To secure the peace, we must continue to support local leaders and trust their ability to manage their own destiny. At the same time, we cannot refuse to recognize that the reinforcing cycle of poverty and corruption still rules and that many crimes are still committed with impunity”
Affleck has been spending much of the last few weeks talking to people in the region and believes he has finally found a solution to the problems long plaguing the continent.
“These are not problems that can be solved with ease or the flick of a wrist. These problems require a great deal of effort and input from people of varying backgrounds but we must get past the notion that this is an insurmountable issue,” said Affleck. “That above all other things is what restricts us, this idea that things are too big to solve. If I had thought that way Matt and I never would have sat down to write ‘Good Will Hunting’, we would never have won Academy Awards, we would never have become stars. All it takes is making an effort, effort pays off in the long term.”
Both Affleck and friend Matt Damon were struggling actors before striking the big time in 1997 with the multi-award winning ‘Good Will Hunting’.
“Look, I’ve been through a lot of ups and downs in both my career and in my personal
life. I can relate to some of things the people in the Congo and throughout Africa have to endure. Things aren’t exactly the same obviously, but they are equivalent. I look at my life now and I realize that no matter how many difficulties one has in life, things can turn around,” continued Affleck. “You just can’t give up. If I had given up after ‘Gigli’ I wouldn’t have made ‘The Town’ which is coming out on DVD and Blu-Ray on December 17th, just in time for Christmas. That is proof that never giving up yields rewards, and the people of Africa need that chance, the chance to finally become who they are and I want to give that to them.”
Affleck is reportedly mulling a number of different projects as follow-ups to ‘The Town’. He will next appear onscreen in ‘The Company Men’ alongside Kevin Costner and Tommy Lee Jones.
Samantha Dryden, Entertainment Correspondent
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