***Ben is still in Savannah, filming "Forces of Nature" with Sandra Bullock. The movie is a romantic comedy.

***"Phantoms" is out for rental on Tuesday...

***Ben is on the cover of this month's "Premiere" magazine.

***Newsaskew had lots of Ben articles....

MSNBC article

LOS ANGELES, July 9

At 25, Ben Affleck knows he's up to his neck in paradox. At precisely

the moment when Hollywood stands ready to shove him into a box

labeled "hunk" or "genius," he sees the danger of being mythicized

into something unreal.

So he's playing the Hollywood kind of Russian roulette young talent

always has played, dancing with the system, but also dancing away

from it. That's why he made such risky choices as taking roles in

"Dogma," in which he and co-Oscar winner Matt Damon play fallen

angels exiled to Wisconsin, and the independent project "200

Cigarettes," with Courtney Love and his brother, Casey. But at the

same time he can currently be seen in every multiplex in America

starring as a trouble-shooter saving Earth from a Texas-size asteroid

in "Armageddon," the summer's biggest action movie, and is

already at work on a sure-fire hit romantic comedy that teams him

Sandra Bullock.

"I can't tell you how weird it is," Affleck says of his sudden stardom.

"One lady was standing behind me and she was like brushing up

against me and she was like, 'I'm touching him, I'm touching him.' I

thought, 'This is insanity.' "

One could understand how a fan might get carried away. Affleck

posses an enviable collection of blessings. He is strikingly

good-looking, with the face reminiscent of a young Paul Newman

and the body of a well-toned athlete. He is talented, even managing

to add some depth to the cardboard character he plays in

"Armageddon." And he has the vocabulary of a college professor.

Instead of rejoicing in taking the Hollywood plunge, Affleck is a little

worried about what he's getting into. "It's a concern to me, being

cut off from real life," he says. "I've seen it happen to people's

careers who I don't know really well, but I hear about how their

lives changed. You see their work and it becomes less and less

something you can relate to. It's less and less about real life

because you stop having real experiences to draw upon. It's a real

danger. In addition, it's a danger to your personality if you're

surrounded by people who just want to be around you for

sycophantic reasons or because they think it makes them look cool.

I realize in a poignant way that our world is only what's in our

immediate perception. And if that reality becomes corrupted, then

your perception of the world can be corrupted."

When he signed to do "Armageddon," Affleck thought it would be

the movie that meant, for the first time, big exposure. "But when

'Good Will Hunting' came out and was so high-profile, it staved off

the questions of, like, who you are. At least going in I felt I had

some kind of credibility and didn't feel like a complete impostor."

Still, Affleck says, he initially stumbled over the differences between

this, his first big-budget production, and the independent films he

had done. "Coming from the 'Star Wars' generation, I always

wanted to do one of these movies," Affleck says, "and I loved the

chance of working with Billy Bob Thornton, Steve Buscemi and

Owen Wilson. ... Billy Bob is like my hero, so rather than be

obsequious about it, I had to try and make fun of him. I would kid

him about being a hillbilly with an IQ of 30. But Billy Bob has a

much crueler sense of humor than I do." But shooting a "Star

Wars"-style movie is not without its hazards. Affleck began his

portion of the shoot several weeks before Willis, and ended up

serving as a guinea pig for many of the films high-tech props.

"Once (Willis) showed up, he was funny and self-deprecating and he

cared. Still, it was difficult for me to adjust. I felt intimidated by the

scope of the movie, and by the company I was keeping.

"Once I figured out that I had to draw a little more broadly to

compete with the kind of histrionics and cacophony that were going

on, it became easy. ... At first, I felt like a reject from 'Lost in

Space.' It was only because I had the luxury of a long shoot that I

had the chance to make some adjustments and eventually grew

comfortable and relaxed a little bit and became ultimately proud of

my performance."

Meanwhile, Affleck is sensitive enough and idealistic enough to

worry about his friendship with Damon being commercialized into a

commodity. "Before we were successful, we lived together and

hung out together with a bunch of other guys from Cambridge

(Mass.). Now that we're busy, I don't see him enough. That's one of

the things that make it hard to keep writing. We're working on a

new script, but 'working' is the operative word, and to say that it's

unfinished is an understatement. Ironically, the success of the first

project is what makes it difficult to actually do the same thing again.

I thought the whole point of being successful is that you get the

opportunity to keep doing it. I didn't think it would be as much a

preventative device as an opportunistic one."

Affleck is now at work on "Shakespeare in Love," a romance in

which he co-stars with his real-life girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow.

Affleck describes the picture as "It's like 'Bullets Over Broadway,'

except that it's 'Swords Over Shakespeare.' "

Affleck doesn't care to discuss his relationship with Paltrow, other

than to confirm the two are very happy together. "I've made enough

mistakes to realize that one of the things that's really important is to

keep a certain part of your life to yourself," he says. "The point of an

intimate relationship is that it's intimate. You don't make yourself

vulnerable to the world ... it's to that person."

And judging from the way Affleck discusses his reverence for his

school-teacher mother, Paltrow isn't even the most important

woman in his life.

"The thing I enjoyed about the Oscars is that I was able to share it

with (my Mom). It wasn't just my experience or my and Matt's

experience. Bringing our moms made it seem more real. ... She

met a lot of people out there, but my mom is not star-struck. ... She

spent most of her time saying, 'I thought he was kind of sleazy.' And

I said, 'Well, guess what, Mom? They're all sleazy. You're not

visiting a monastery. You're visiting, you know, Sodom and

Gomorrah. This is the sleaze center of the universe."

Damon, Affleck Win Humanitas Pic Prize

By Eric J. Olson

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Adding to their screenwriting Oscar kudos,

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck Thursday won the Humanitas Prize in

the feature film category for "Good Will Hunting".

The ceremony was held Thursday at the Sheraton Universal Hotel.

The Humanitas prizes, which totaled $120,000 this year, are given to

the writers of TV programs and motion pictures which do the most

to communicate human values and dignity.

In the 90 minute-or-longer PBS/cable category, Paul Monash and

Marshall Frady won for TNT's "George Wallace." The

90-minute-or-longer network or syndicated category prize went to

Toni Ann Johnson for ABC's "Ruby Bridges" Bill Cain took the

60-minute television prize for "Proofs for the Existence of God," an

episode of ABC's now-canceled "Nothing Sacred." Marilyn Suzanne

Miller won in the 30-minute category for "Turpis Capillis Annus," an

episode for CBS's "Murphy Brown."

Hilary Jones-Farrow won in children's live action for TNT's

"Smudge." In the children's animation category, David Silverman

and Marcy Gray Rubin won for "Blinded By Love," an episode for

Fox's "Life With Louie".

Actor Worries About Losing Fame

©The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) - Ben Affleck is still worried that all fame is fleeting.

``I just so hate the idea of achieving something and losing it,'' he

said in the August issue of Premiere Magazine. ``That's the

definition of a has- been.''

Affleck, currently starring in ``Armageddon'', shot to the top when he

shared an Oscar for the ``Good Will Hunting'' screenplay.

``I also know that this success I'm having is nothing permanent,'' he

said. ``I have this huge fear that I'll end up 55 and broke and unable

to support my wife and kids.''

AP-NY-07-10-98 1518EDT

***GWH out on video next week… Tuesday, the 7^th, to be exact.

***Ben/Demi thing: The other day I heard some nasty rumors about Ben hooking up with Demi Moore… like I predicted, they weren't true….

***Here are some other articles about Ben that NewsAskew mentioned:

***I'll be on vacation next week (4^th to the 11^th), so there won't be any newsletters (or news updates, page updates, etc.) during the week.

***I've been hearing some weird rumors of Ben hooking up with Demi Moore… These rumors haven't been confirmed, but I'll update you if I hear anything…

***The big premiere of 'Armegeddon' is tonight… it's going to be held at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida… Ben will be there!

***The Boston Globe did a big story on Ben yesterday… it was a great article. Hopefully I'll be able to get it on here soon… if you're in Boston, hope you were lucky enough to read it.

***Ben will be in the August issue of Premiere Magazine.

***The July 3^rd appearance on Jay Leno is going to be a repeat of a 1997 appearance… sorry guys!

***Well, Armegeddon is hitting theatres in just a little over a week (July 1^st, to be exact,) and Ben is just all over…. Definitley a good thing!!! So you'll be seeing a lot of him, in magazines, newspapers, talk shows… etc. As soon as I hear, I'll pass the news on to you….

***So far, News Askew is reporting that Ben will be on Dave Letterman (CBS) on June 30^th… he'll be talking to Jay Leno (NBC) on July 3^rd….

***I had the chance of checking out the June 26-28^th issue of USA Weekend… with Ben on the cover!! He's looking great, and the article is definitley one to check out. He talks about lots of stuff… including his Beverly Hills, 90210 audition that didn't go well.. (Ben quoted a Garth Brooks song: "Thank God for unanswered prayers..) He also discusses his relationship with Gwyneth , whom he calls the "smartest woman I know" (of course, look who she's dating!) and "the woman that I love." How sweet! He also says that beautiful women scare him… that he's too young to be married, (he doesn't want to be divorced by 32), and some advice given to him by Gus Van Sant… The issue will be out this weekend, in newspapers nationwide… I know that here in Boston, it's in the Sunday Herald.

***NewsAskew is also reporting that new posters and the action figures are available at the Armegeddon store…http://store.movies.com/ArmageddonStore/

***Find Ben in the July issue of Details Magazine, on page 104. Great interview, great pictures… a total reminder of why we love Ben so much! (Oh, like we actually needed a reminder….)

"Good Will Hunting" hunk - and Cambridge homey - Ben Affleck wasn't exactly a big hit at prestigious Oxford Union in England the other day when he whacked inherited wealth and accused rich students of being worthless layabouts! Well!

According to Hello maggie, Ben's S.O. Gwyneth Paltrow was on hand at the British forum to see her boyfriend's diatribe. And since Gwyneth was once a rich college student herself, she did not seem to be persuaded by Ben's arguments. In fact, she reportedly was heard loudly applauding a heckler, Hello reported.

When asked if he was living by his newfound credo of "redistributing" the wealth, Ben said he's doing his part by pumping up the economy and spending every penny he earns!

We guess that's called Economic Good Will.

***Please bear with me while I give this website a facelift. I really apologize for not updating sooner… but as you can see everything is changing a bit. Keep checking back for updates, or if you're a member of the newsletter, you can read about it there.