Ben Affleck says ‘being a parent and being present’ is most important thing

Ben Affleck has said the most important thing to him is “being a parent and being present”, saying it played a role in setting up his LA based production company.

The US actor and filmmaker, known for starring in Good Will Hunting and Gone Girl, described how being a director is too “consuming” and that he regrets how much time it took away from spending with his children.

Speaking to GQ Magazine, the 52-year-old said finding a better work-life balance played a role in setting up his production company, Artists Equity, which allows him to work a nine-to-five day while still being present for his children.

Affleck said: “It’s so consuming. The one regret I have about all the movies that I’ve directed is the amount of time it’s taken me away from my kids.

“I love making art. I loved making The Town, but I was away from my kids for long periods of time. There’s little chunks that I missed and that doesn’t feel good.

“I recognised that the most important thing to me was both being a parent and being present, and that for my own sake, going off to Austin or Louisiana or somewhere to do some movies, I was really missing time I could never get back.”

Affleck shares three children, Violet, Fin, and Samuel, with his ex-wife, actress Jennifer Garner.

The filmmaker directed the crime-thriller The Town and stars in the upcoming action-thriller film The Accountant 2, which follows Christian Wolff, played by Affleck, as he tries to track down a mysterious assassin by teaming up with his estranged and highly lethal brother.

In 2022, he co-founded the artist-led production company with his long-term friend and colleague Matt Damon, which aims to offer broader financial freedom to collaborators in film projects while also helping the actor find a stronger sense of work-life balance with its base in LA, where he lives.

He said: “My kids were eight, 11, and 14, and I felt like I don’t want to miss any of this time at all. And so I thought let me figure out a way to work at home and have the kind of job where I can actually be here and build my schedule around that.

“I think part of what’s great about this Artists Equity job, part of why I love it, is because I’m in LA. When we’re done at 2.30pm, I’m going to go, and I’ll be home at 3.45pm when my kids get off the bus.

“I’m able to construct a life that does that. And that means more to me than any of it. That makes me happier.”

The production company has since produced the film Air which follows the 1984 shoe deal between Nike and Michael Jordan film as well as the Cillian Murphy-led adaptation of Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These.

The company is also behind The Accountant 2 and produced The Greatest Love Story Never Told, a music documentary about Affleck’s ex-partner, the popstar, Jennifer Lopez.