Casey Affleck: “I Could Have Been More Respectful” At Industry Events
Actor Casey Affleck, 48, recently shared his candid thoughts on his journey to stardom during an episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s It Happened in Hollywood podcast on July 18. Reflecting on his career highs and lows, Casey opened up about his behavior, past mistakes, and what he could have done differently.
While discussing the 2007 film The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, Casey admitted he could have been “more respectful” at industry events.
“I think that people said to me, like, I was chewing gum at some award show, and people said, ‘Who does this little punk think he is?’ Like, he’s on camera chewing gum at the SAG Awards, and I wasn’t taking it seriously enough,” he stated, adding, “And I don’t care. But also, I do care. I realize now that I could have been more respectful because it does mean something.”
He elaborated, saying, “It does mean something to be acknowledged by your peers, who are a group of hardworking, very talented people. And in most instances, our community is really, really great people. And so that was our office party. You know, that was our office Christmas party. Those are our industry celebrations.”
Casey also mentioned the stress of having a new baby at the time, which made attending events even more challenging. “And for me, being a young man without a lot of experience with that part of the industry, publicity and, you know, stuff like that, I didn’t really know how to manage the situation. So, the stress outweighed the pleasure, and it outweighed my desire to be there,” he stated.
Despite later winning the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in Manchester by the Sea at the 89th Annual Academy Awards in 2017, the achievement was overshadowed by two now-settled sexual harassment lawsuits filed against him in 2010 by two women who worked on his film I’m Still Here.
Reflecting on this period, Casey told the Associated Press, “The buck had to stop with me being one of the producers and I have to accept responsibility for that, and that was a mistake. I behaved in a way and allowed others to behave in a way that was really unprofessional. And I’m sorry.”
On the podcast, Casey revealed he keeps his Oscar in his closet as a reminder. “It’s a reminder of what that movie was, what an underdog it was, and what I didn’t say, what I should have said in that year because my head was clouded by all the distractions. Man, did Amazon Films give that movie a shot.”
