TO THE WONDER US RELEASE TRAILER (Video) – In To the Wonder, Ben Affleck has quite the dilemma: get back with longtime girlfriend Olga Kurylenko or try something new with childhood friend Rachel McAdams. Written and directed by Terrence Malick, this romantic drama explores the effects of love, both short-term and long-term, and the intricacies that lie within every relationship. To make things more complicated, Javier Bardem stars as a priest who is struggling with his position and maybe growing feelings towards Kurylenko.

PLOT: After visiting Mont Saint-Michel, Marina and Neil come to Oklahoma, where problems arise. Marina meets a priest and fellow exile, who is struggling with his vocation, while Neil renews his ties with a childhood friend, Jane.

RELEASE DATES:

• US – April 12, 2013
• France – March 6, 2013
• Germany – May 30, 2013
• Russia – June 6, 2013

Watch the trailer below:

TO THE WONDER - Ben Affleck and Rachel McAdams

PLOT: American educational television series consisting of thirteen episodes staring Ben Affleck as C.T. Granville. Purpose of the show was to teach science and mathematics through real world applications.

RELEASE DATE:

• The show aired in 1984

Watch this clip of Ben Affleck in The Voyage of Mimi below: 

PLOT: After visiting Mont Saint-Michel, Marina and Neil come to Oklahoma, where problems arise. Marina meets a priest and fellow exile, who is struggling with his vocation, while Neil renews his ties with a childhood friend, Jane.

RELEASE DATES: 

• US – April 12, 2013
• UK – February 22, 2013
• Germany – May 30, 2013

Watch the first clip from the movie To The Wonder below: 

DATE: The Governor’s Ball was held on Sunday, February 24, 2013, following the Oscars.

Watch the top Oscar backstage interviews HERE

Watch stars arrive at the Governor’s Ball as well as inside the event below:

BEST PICTURE OSCAR ARGO WINNERS BACKSTAGE (Video) – Ben Affleck, George Clooney and Grant Heslov won the 2013 Oscar for Best Picture for Argo which Affleck also directed.  It beat out Beasts of the Southern Wild, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty, Lincoln, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Amour, and Django Unchained.  This is Affleck’s second Oscar.  He previously shared the Best Screenplay Oscar with Matt Damon for Good Will Hunting in 1998.  This is Clooney’s seventh Oscar nomination.  He previously won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 2006 for Syriana.  This is Heslov’s fourth Oscar nomination.

Watch the top Oscar backstage interviews HERE

Transcript and Video Below:

Q.Ben, obviously you put a lot of work in the film as you were making it, but then after it’s taken on this life of its own in your story, it’s been so tied to your personal journey.  Did you think that was something that was going to come out of making this film, this sort of redemptive comeback story that’s been part of the narrative here?

A.(Ben Affleck)  Grant, you take that question.
A.(Grant Heslov)  Yes.
A.(Ben Affleck)  I was excited about making the movie.  These guys had a script, I really liked it, I called them up, [inaudible] will you put me on the movie?  And I wanted to do the movie and I wanted to work with them.  That’s what I thought would happen.  I wanted to work on some quality.  I did the movie, we all worked really hard, I hoped that people would like it.  I didn’t think it had a more meta approach to it than that.  I was excited to make it, I was excited to work with these guys and the cast we had, and I was willing to let the chips kind of fall where they may, as long as we thought we did something we were interested in.

Q.Obviously at certain points we thought that other films might win this.  Could you describe when exactly you felt a tipping point in your favor?

A.(George Clooney)  Michelle Obama.
A.(Grant Heslov)  Tonight.
A.(Ben Affleck)  When they gave us the trophies I was confident that we would win.
A.(George Clooney)  I’m completely confident.
A.(Ben Affleck)  I didn’t second guess, is this a prank?
A.(George Clooney)  He did look at the envelope.
A.(Grant Heslov)  Even as I was giving the speech, I didn’t think we could win.
A.(Ben Affleck)  Once Grant let me talk, I felt good.  I didn’t get too much into the Oscarology and the pontificating.  And the guys who do that stuff and report on it, which is great, and people like it and they’re interested in it.  And I hope people are interested in the Oscars because it helps our industry and helps make better films, but it doesn’t help me to read up on that stuff.  So I was thrilled for Billy, I was thrilled for Chris, and when it came along, I was thrilled for these two guys.

Q.Hello.  I’m from the American Foreign Service Association in Washington.  Your movie and also the comments you’ve made and all of the awards ceremonies has really raised the image and the profile of the Foreign Service, something that we don’t get very often, we don’t get much play.  But I would like to invite you, all three of you to the plaque ceremony that we have in the Department of State on May 3rd where we honor fallen Foreign Service officers.  This year    

Q.[MODERATOR]  I’m sorry, I have to interrupt.  Do you have a question?

Q.Yes.  Can you come?  

A.(George Clooney)  That’s really a personal question.
A.(Ben Affleck)  Do I call you or just
A.(Grant Heslov)  I’m able to, yes.
A.(George Clooney)  There’s a line.  There’s Ben.
A.(Ben Affleck)  I don’t know that we can come, but we do have, all of us, a tremendous respect for what the Foreign Service sacrifices and goes through and that we, I think, gained further appreciation for that as we shot the movie and visited the State Department.  I know Secretary Clinton a little bit and Secretary Kerry a little bit better so we were able to shoot in the    I’m not sure that that’s why, but from my sort of distant acquaintanceship with both of those Secretaries, I’ve really picked up an appreciation for what the State Department does, what our Foreign Service does, what they sacrifice.
A.(George Clooney)  Grant and I will be in Berlin shooting so we won’t make it, but maybe Ben might be in town.
A.(Ben Affleck)  Thanks, George.

Q.How are you?  Congratulations.  

A.(Ben Affleck)  Hi.

Q.How cool was it to have the First Lady announce that you had just won an Oscar?

A.(Ben Affleck)  I was sort of hallucinating when that was happening.  In the course of hallucination, it doesn’t    you know what I mean?  It doesn’t seem that odd when some other    oh, look, a purple elephant, you know, Michelle Obama.  But it’s natural because the whole thing is so unnatural.  Honestly, I was just asking these two guys outside, was that Michelle Obama?  The whole thing kind of alarmed me at the time, but in retrospect, the fact that it was the First Lady was an enormous honor and the fact that she surrounded herself by service men and women was special and I thought appropriate.  Anyway, it was very cool.
A.(Grant Heslov)  And I’m a big fan of the bangs.

Q.Congratulations, gentlemen.  Ben, throughout the awards season you’ve been very humble about what we feel    

A.(Ben Affleck)  Yeah, forget that.  No more humility.

Q.Being left off the Best Director docket and through that, how has that changed with all of the recognition that you’ve received and where are you with that now?

A.(Grant Heslov)  I wasn’t aware you were left off.  Were you left off?
A.(Ben Affleck)  I didn’t get nominated as a director.  Grant, you didn’t…
A.(George Clooney) I wasn’t nominated as an actor in a movie.
A.(Ben Affleck)  No shit.  That’s a crime, folks.  Honestly, you know how I feel about that?  Naturally I was disappointed, and a lot of people said, this is something that’s going to happen.  But when I look at the directors who were    people who weren’t nominated as well, Paul Thomas Anderson and Kathryn Bigelow, just amazing, Tom Hooper and Quentin Tarantino, these are all directors who I admire enormously.  So, it was a very tough year.
A.(George Clooney)  You were in good company not to be nominated.
A.(Ben Affleck)  Exactly.  I was on the bench.
A.(Grant Heslov)  You’re glad you weren’t nominated.
A.(Ben Affleck)  You know what, you’re not entitled to anything.  I’m honored to be here.  I’m honored to be among these extraordinary movies, and I’m really, really honored to win an Academy Award.  So this is not [inaudible] I’ve spent a lot of time second guessing or worried about it.

Q.Hi there, Ben.  I wonder if you have any reflection at this point about making films about true life events?  In your movies you played a cameo of President Carter and the politics that was involved there, yet the film drew a little bit of flack for some of its treatments of New Zealanders and blending characters and the run down the runway at the end.  Do you have any thoughts about how to approach these things now?

A.(Ben Affleck)  Let me start by saying I love New Zealand and I love New Zealanders.  And I’m tempted to end there.  I think that it’s tricky, you walk a fine line.  You do a historical movie, naturally you have to make some creative choices about how you’re going to condense it into a three act structure.  It’s not an easy thing to do.  You try to honor the truth of the essence, the sort of basic truth of the story that you’re telling.  You know, I’m really proud of the movie, I’m proud of the people that worked on the movie, the story that we were telling was true and that we told was true.  It’s not an easy thing, but it’s, I think, constructed as well as it could possibly be.  But the complete credit goes to Chris Terrio rather than me.

Producers of Argo backstage of the 2013 Oscars

TO THE WONDER FIRST FEATURETTE (Video)- The first of the three series featurette for the new romantic drama To the Wonder, directed by Terrence Malick, was released this week. The behind the scenes footage shows interviews with lead actors Rachel McAdams, Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko and Javier Bardem, as well as various producers who worked alongside Malick. The cast and crew all agree To The Wonder is a film built off of following instincts and allowing natural chaos to come alive on the camera.  Kurylenko, who plays Marina in the film, explained her audition for the part. She recounts her audition as silent and explains how Malick challenges his actors to bring life to the character. All of the actors who spoke about Malick in their interviews commend him on his directing platform of providing a framework for a character, and then allowing the actor to create the substance.

PLOT: After visiting Mont Saint-Michel, Marina and Neil come to Oklahoma, where problems arise. Marina meets a priest and fellow exile, who is struggling with his vocation, while Neil renews his ties with a childhood friend, Jane.

RELEASE DATES: 

• US – April 12, 2013
• UK – February 22, 2013
• Germany – May 30, 2013

Watch the first featurette for To the Wonder below: 

2013 OSCARS NOMINEES LUNCHEON (Exclusive Video) – The 2013 Oscars Nominees Luncheon was held at the Beverly Hilton and included over 100 contenders for the 85th Academy Awards. At this special event, nominees received their official nomination certificates and made speeches to the guests. They also had time to chat with the other nominees and stars, while sharing notes on Oscar acceptance speeches and future plans. Stars in attendance included Ben Affleck, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Hugh Jackman, Jessica Chastain, Denzel Washington, and many, many more. Don’t miss the 85th Academy Awards on ABC on February 24, Sunday night at 7e/4p.

“There are nine amazing movies nominated for best picture. I would love to work with David O. Russell, I would love to work with Steven Spielberg, I would love to work with Ang Lee, I would love to work with Katheryn Bigelow…I don’t know what it says about me that I haven’t worked with any of these people as an actor, but part of me, when I get around these people, I do feel like I should be doing an audition or something.” – Ben Affleck

“I’m enjoying every minute of this, but it’s easy for me because I like people. I think if I didn’t like people, where I had a hard time being around people, that would be difficult, but this has been incredible. More than anything, recently especially because of the reaction to the movie, it’s gone so much farther than just awards season. We were in D.C. and showing this movie to the troops. It was incredible, the response that it had, and so, that’s like the silver lining to this movie.” – Bradley Cooper

“It’s actually really calm in my household…they don’t get it… It’s very calm, and I can talk about other things and myself, in my house, which is great, and then the night of the Oscars, everybody just gets wasted and has a blast.” – Jennifer Lawrence

Watch the video below:

2013 OSCARS NOMINEES LUNCHEON

65TH ANNUAL DIRECTORS GUILD OF AMERICA AWARDS (Exclusive Video) – Good news keeps on coming for Ben Affleck and his Argo as he wins his first DGA award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film. Although he is not nominated for an Oscar for his directing, Argo is still up for Best Picture in the upcoming Academy Awards. Other winners included Jay Roach, who won the DGA award in miniseries for Game Change, Rian Johnson in dramatic series for Breaking Bad, and Lena Dunham in comedy series for Girls. Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Famke Janssen, Kelsey Grammer, and Bryan Cranston were among the many stars who attended the event.

“You’re not entitled to win anything. You’re not entitled to anything in life. I’m thrilled and honored that the Academy nominated me as a producer for the movie…and taking me out of it maybe helps give us purpose because it’s just about that movie… I’m really lucky – I’m in a great place.” – Ben Affleck

Watch the video below:

65TH ANNUAL DIRECTORS GUILD AWARDS - Ben Affleck Wins for Feature Film for ARGO

2013 PGA AWARDS RED CARPET (Exclusive Video) – The 2013 Producers Guild of America Awards was held at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles this past weekend. For the last five years, the winner of the PGA Award for best film has went on to win the Oscar, so this may be good news for Ben Affleck and his Argo. On the red carpet, Affleck expressed his excitement for all the buzz that Argo has been receiving. Tom Hooper was also present for his nominated film, Les Misérables. Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph won the PGA Award for best animated feature, Homeland won best TV drama, and Modern Family won best TV comedy. Other stars in attendance included Amanda Seyfried, Naomi Watts, Jennifer Garner, Jessica Alba, J. J. Abrams, Kerry Washington, Nicole Kidman, Ang Lee, and Bryan Cranston.

“It really is exciting! I honestly feel like it is a win to be here, to be nominated. I know it’s an incredible cliché, but if anybody said you’ll get the chance to be nominated, I would be shocked.” – Ben Affleck

“A good producer is somebody who is a problem solver and a person who is willing to think outside the box to support the artists around them.” – Kerry Washington

Watch the video below:

2013 PRODUCERS GUILD AWARDS - Ben Affleck Wins for ARGO

19TH SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS CEREMONY (Video) – The award season is still going strong with the 19th Screen Actors Guild Awards taking place this past Sunday. The nominees and winners are chosen by their peers, and they get a chance to honor them in both film and television. In addition to his recent Golden Globe, Daniel Day-Lewis picked up his statuette for his performance in Lincoln. Jennifer Lawrence and Anne Hathaway each won their statuettes for Silver Linings Playbook and Les Misérables, respectively. The hot streak for Ben Affleck continued with Argo winning the ensemble cast award. In television, Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin each won for 30 Rock, while Modern Family took home the award for best ensemble cast in a comedy series. Don’t miss the 85th Academy Awards next Monday to see who wins the prestigious Oscars.

“This has nothing to do with me. It has to do with the incredible people who are in this movie. We had more than 150 actors; they spoke in English, they spoke in Farsi, and the one thing they had in common was they came to work every single day whether they had a line or a look to somebody…and they wanted to kill it to make the movie better because that’s what actors do…” – Ben Affleck

Watch the video below:

19th SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS - Bradley Cooper and Jessica Chastain