Ben Affleck admits his $5.8 million-grossing 1998 horror movie with Peter O’Toole was “utter garbage,” but says there was an upside too, like getting paid $100,000. The Oscar-winning Good Will Hunting marked the kicking-off point for Affleck’s rise as a star, but his career journey in the coming years would not always be a smooth one, either critically or at the box office.
Affleck did find his way into some acclaimed films in the years after winning a writing Oscar along with Matt Damon for Good Will Hunting. He played a supporting role in the Oscar-winning Shakespeare In Love, re-teamed with Damon for the Kevin Smith comedy Dogma and joined the ensemble financial thriller Boiler Room. Unfortunately, he also accepted roles in the critically-panned suspense film Reindeer Games, the much-maligned big-budget epic Pearl Harbor and, most famously of all, the massive bomb Gigli.
It Grossed Only $5.8 Million
1998’s Phantoms provided an ascending Affleck with an early horror vehicle, as well as a chance to share the screen with multiple-Oscar-nominee O’Toole, but the resulting film was a bomb. Adapted by horror novelist Dean Koontz from his own novel, the movie casts Affleck as a sheriff investigating mysterious goings-on in a sleepy Colorado town, alongside the likes of O’Toole, Rose McGowan, Liev Schreiber and Joanna Going.
Called upon to discuss every movie he’s ever been in for a recent GQ video piece, Affleck briefly touched on Phantoms, joking that he was “the bomb” in the movie, then relating that he did come to like some of the people he worked with on the film, including the great O’Toole:
“I was the bomb at Phantoms. Everyone knows that. Peter O’Toole, by the way. Peter O’Toole signed my Lawrence of Arabia poster. That’s out there on Phantoms. Nicky Katt, Liev Schreiber, I loved doing that movie … Well, no, I didn’t love doing that movie, but I like those people.
Affleck then called the movie “utter garbage” but did manage to tick off a few positive things about the experience of making it, including getting stoned with his famed co-star:
The movie was a sewer monster movie, let’s face it, and I was a sheriff in Colorado. I was, like, 20 years old. It’s totally absurd. The movie was utter garbage but I did get to ski. I made, like, $100,000, so I was like, ‘I’m set for life, I’m retiring.’ And I met Peter O’Toole and, like, got stoned with Peter O’Toole. I was like, ‘What else happens in my life that tops this? Nothing’.
Our Take On Affleck Calling Phantoms Garbage
Critics Agree With The Star’s Assessment
Affleck sounds like he had a good time making Phantoms, but few critics had much fun watching it, as evidenced by its 9% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences were similarly unimpressed, as the movie limped to a $5.9 million gross after opening in 9th place with $3 million its first weekend (in 3rd that weekend was Affleck’s own Good Will Hunting, which grossed $8.5 million on its way to a $138 million box office run).
For Affleck to be so brutally honest about Phantoms isn’t really a surprise, given the star’s many prior statements denigrating his own films. Of Gigli he once told Variety, “the less said about it the better.” His superhero turn in Daredevil is also a sore subject for Affleck, who said “Daredevil I didn’t like at all.” The star famously took down the Michael Bay sci-fi epic Armageddon in a brutally honest DVD commentary that has gone on to become legendary.
Koontz’s novel Phantoms included numerous H.P. Lovecraft references that, for some reason, do not show up in the film
An Affleck DVD commentary for Phantoms could be similarly entertaining, though it’s possible the star doesn’t have much more to say beyond his brief comments to GQ, which may have sufficiently conveyed how little he thinks of the 1998 horror film, despite the many highlights he experienced while shooting it. Thankfully, Affleck went on to thrive in his career afterward, hitting many box office and critical heights in the years after Phantoms flamed out. Affleck continues enjoying success to this day, and is able to look back on his failures with refreshing honesty and humor.
Source: GQ
Phantoms
- Release Date
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January 23, 1998
- Runtime
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96 Minutes
- Director
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Joe Chappelle
- Writers
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Dean R. Koontz