Ben Affleck: Hot Devil

The hunk of the moment, actor Ben Affleck has a lot on his plate. He's starring in a major superhero film and has that very high profile romance. Between calls to his lady love and dodging the paparazzi, the hot actor spoke with us about playing Daredevil, misconceptions about J. Lo, why he appeared in her risqué video, working with the other Jennifer...Garner,and his plans for the future, both professional and personal.

TeenHollywood: Why choose to play Daredevil?

Ben: When I was a kid, there was a contrast between that hero and others in the comic book universe; many of whom were kind of chaste, boy scout, black and white, golden age '50s kind of comic book heroes that were predictable. You always knew they'd do the right thing. They were fighting intergalactic foes and it was fun, in a little kid way, but it was nothing I could ever identify with. And as I got into adolescence, this guy represented something to me that I thought was more realistic. It sounds funny to say about a guy who puts on a red suit and fights crime but he was a flawed hero and he had his own struggles. He had these tragic love affairs. He had this handicap, he struggled with himself and he didn't always win. He didn't always do the right thing. I guess that resonated with me a little bit more.

TeenHollywood: Daredevil knows no fear. What fears do you have?

Ben: I have so many fears that it would be hard to itemize them all. My real superhero would be like 'Anxiety Guy'. (laughter) I used to be really scared of flying until Pearl Harbor. One of the good things to come out of my doing that movie were flying lessons and that got me past that fear. But there's that constant fear of turning on the TV and some horrible thing has happened. Living with that kind of awareness; that's a lot of anxiety.

TeenHollywood: You're not afraid that your popularity as an actor may fade someday?

Ben: There's a part of me that wants to segue from that kind of acting and movies to take more of a backseat and somebody else is up here talking about their love life and all their personal details. I'd maybe direct and write stuff where the work speaks for itself.

TeenHollywood: If you stopped acting, what job would you want to do?

Ben: I think that being a speechwriter is a pretty cool job. It's fun, you get to try stuff and pitch stuff and it's also substantive. If you write for TV show it gets a laugh or it moves people but it doesn't move the engine of the world and government. I think that would be a pretty cool thing. I think that would be a fun job to have. I also think that Rob Lowe should stay on the West Wing. (laughter)

TeenHollywood: Hey, it's Valentine time. Let's talk romance. How has love changed you?

Ben: One of the things I could identify with this movie was at the center is this love story and the transforming power of love and the redemptive qualities that falling in love have and, without going into too much detail, I can tell you that's the thing I really could identify with. I used it as an actor as a centerpiece to hold onto.

TeenHollywood: J.Lo is sometimes accused of trading on her looks. How do you feel about that?

Ben: That's a common misconception about her. The thing about Jennifer Lopez is that she's somebody who wasn't told that she was super beautiful growing up. What she trades on and counts on is this incredible work ethic. It's all hustle. Nobody ever gave Jennifer Lopez anything. Nobody ever said, Hey, kid, you're going to be a star. She always knew that if it was ever going to happen it's all on her. She's very self-reliant and very determined and focused which often is confused with naked ambition and other unpleasant character attributes, which I have to tell you, are not true.

TeenHollywood: Why appear in Jennifer's video?

Ben: The point was to sort of satirize the very thing that was happening. We were in the midst of this manic, crazy, paparazzi thing, photographs coming out of the most mundane, bizarre everyday activities. The idea of that video was to make people uncomfortable, to have this degree of voyeurism where the audience would feel uncomfortable and think this is sort of invasive. When we were shooting it, the paparazzi showed up so we turned the camera on them. We ended up blurring their faces out but they're in the actual video. That's the point of it.

TeenHollywood: What about the other Jennifer? How was it working with Jennifer Garner?

Ben: I think she if she has a flaw it's that she's too patient, indulgent and puts up with too much when she should really be saying, wait a minute, this isn't my job. Or this should be done better. She's very well mannered, very smart and one of the great things about Jennifer is that I don't think she thinks she's as drop dead gorgeous as she is. That is what gives her this incredibly appealing quality. She's more than the girl next door because she's va-va voom but also she's not threatening and I think women look at her and don't say she's going to seduce my husband, either. She's somebody I can trust. She was better at the action stuff than I was. Flat out. No questions about it. Just better at it.

TeenHollywood: How about working with Colin Farrell as Bullseye?

Ben: Colin is actually not crazy or out there. He's actually just really friendly and sweet. He has nothing but love. He's really open to everything. He's really not like that actor guy who's putting on this demeanor of being remote and distant as a mask. He really is accessible, sweet and kind. For all these rumors of carousing and going crazy, he shows up at work every day. He works really hard. Never anything but a prince. I got to really love Colin Farrell. If I could do my bachelorhood all over again, I would do it like Colin Farrell.

TeenHollywood: You play a blind person. How did you develop that acting ability?

Ben: Although he's blind, he has this sort of superpower that allows him to create this 3-dimensional map using a kind of sonar. I worked with a guy named Tom Sullivan who's blind. He's one of these guys who jumps out of airplanes and is a really good skier and makes you feel inadequate. He helped me in terms of how one who is blind uses their other senses to navigate their surroundings. on and so forth. The big cheat for me was that I was able to use these contact lenses which I couldn't see out of at all so I didn't consciously have to act blind or try not to use my eyes. The challenge was really not walking into furniture.

TeenHollywood: People have commented on the fact that Daredevil pops pain pills.

Ben: He's a guy who, if he gets hit, he's hurt. He's stabbed, he bleeds. There are consequences to it. But we did want to make the point that there are consequences to violence. That this is not a wanton, graphic, random violence that hurts, that people suffer, so I supported that. And I like that part of the movie.

TeenHollywood: Which sense do you think you could do without and why?

Ben: Probably smell. I have a friend who introduced me to Daredevil when I was 9 years old, so he came down and visited me on the set and said he had this rare condition. He said, 'I can't smell anything. I would always just go along with what people would say. They said, oh, that stinks, and I'd just go along with it'. That has to be the most disposable of all senses although if you have it, I think you'd miss it. But half the things you smell, you wish you hadn't.

TeenHollywood: So how do you really feel about being named People's Sexiest Man Alive?

Ben: The only thing I can tell you is that People magazine called my mother, and she told me (in his mom's voice) 'People magazine called me and said that you're the sexiest man alive'. I said, Mom, that might be a prank. She said, 'no, it's not, and I just want to tell you I think it's ridiculous. I'm sure there are people who will agree with you. Don't get a big head'. Ok, I'll try not to. That's my feeling.