Last month, pics and vids of Ben Affleck having (what looked like) a frankly miserable time at the Grammys went viral and were interpreted — by me and by others — as another example of the actor casually mining the depths of human despair. He appears to do this from time to time, and given the context, it seemed like a reasonable read of the situation: The Grammys are too long even for an awards show — and especially for a spouse’s work thing. But turns out Affleck’s grimace was maybe not the face of a man bored out of his skull: He “had a good time at the Grammys,” or so he told The Hollywood Reporter.
The interview was wide-ranging — Affleck discussed Matt Damon, their new production company, his forthcoming Michael Jordan movie, and his recent parallel-parking tribulations (“So fucking snug,” he said of the finished product) — but ultimately circled back to the question on everyone’s mind: Does he hate the Grammys? “My wife was going, and I thought, ‘Well, there’ll be good music,’” he told THR. “‘It might be fun.’”
Was it fun in the end? Well, I mean, there’s still the footage to consider; there is still this sequence of him seemingly attempting to dissociate as host Trevor Noah, one chair over, monologued about Prince Harry’s penis. Tell me — is this what we’d call “having a nice time”?
In his interview, Affleck spoke to that moment directly. He saw Noah coming toward his table, and he “was like, ‘Oh, God.’ They were framing us in this shot, but I didn’t know they were rolling. I leaned into her and I was like, ‘As soon as they start rolling, I’m going to slide away from you and leave you sitting next to Trevor.’ She goes, ‘You better fucking not leave.’” As for his expression of deep boredom, “I mean, some of it is, I’m like, ‘All right, who is this act?’” he said. “And yeah, it is your wife’s work event. And I’ve gone to events and been pissed off.” Was this one of them? Not necessarily! But desperately trying to sidle away from the “comedian” making a beeline straight for you and then failing and then having to chuckle along through their “act”? We appreciate this new information, though ultimately it does not change the bottom line: Ben Affleck’s mug at the Grammys was correct — and, furthermore, relatable.