If you watch a lot of Netflix films, you may have noticed the original movies they’ve been producing have been getting a lot better. This trend continues with director J.C. Chandor’s Triple Frontier. Loaded with some fantastic actors – Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, Garrett Hedlund, and Pedro Pascal – the action-thriller, written by Chandor and Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty), centers on a group of former Special Forces operatives that decide to steal a South American drug lord’s money. However, while you’ve seen a ton of movies about a group of people that decide to do a big heist, what’s refreshing about Triple Frontier is most of the film takes place after they’ve done the job. Trust me; if you have Netflix, you absolutely want to check this movie out. For more on Triple Frontier, you can read Vinnie Mancuso’s review or watch the trailer.

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Image via Netflix

Shortly after seeing the film, I was able to conduct my first extended interview with Ben Affleck. As a longtime fan of both his acting and directing, getting to conduct in an in-depth conversation was extremely cool. Since I knew I had some real time with him, I started off with a few fun questions like his extra work with Matt Damon in Field of Dreams, having Dunkin Donuts back in Los Angeles (we’re both from New England where Dunkin Donuts is everywhere), and the New England Patriots recent Super Bowl winning season.

Of course we also talked about movies.

During that portion of the interview, Affleck talked about making Triple Frontier and the various challenges of filming in the hot and humid jungle, what he took away from working with David Fincher, if he’ll be in Kevin Smith’s Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, how he picks a project, when he’ll be directing again, how he typically prepares for a role, if he likes to visit the editing room when it’s not his movie, if he’s making an Accountant sequel with Gavin O'Connor, producing City on a Hill for Showtime, and so much more.

Check out what Ben Affleck had to say below.

Finally, there is a section of this interview which contains MASSIVE Triple Frontier spoilers. I put a spoiler warning in red right before they begin and then another thing where they end.

COLLIDER: Thank you for getting on the phone.

BEN AFFLECK: No problem.

So, I have a few fun questions—or at least what I think are fun—before getting into Triple. I’m starting with the Patriots. I also grew up in New England. Did you ever think that this was the year that Brady was going to win his next one, especially with the way the season went?

AFFLECK: I mean, no. They started off, what 0-2 or something? Then like, 1-3, or some crazy thing. But, you never count them out because they always have these weird starts and turn around and come back, and get to the Super Bowl and win the Super Bowl. It’s really fun because they’re never really out until they’re actually out.

I never thought this was going to be the year.

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AFFLECK: Me either. The receivers weren’t as strong as you would have thought they would have needed to be to win a Super Bowl.

I completely agree. This was the left field one. Were you really an extra at Fenway for Field of Dreams?

AFFLECK: Yeah, I really was! Me and Matt [Damon] were in the bleachers and we made, I think, 50 bucks.

Did you know back then, at a young age, that you wanted to make movies?

AFFLECK: We knew we wanted to do it, and that was just a chance to get on a set and be near it. We were trying to do it from a pretty young age. The few times we were able to be extras as teenagers were because movies came to town and would shoot in Boston and we knew a local casting director. So, we got a chance to jump in every time there was a job open.

I’m super envious that you got to be on set for that movie. Next thing is, will Shannon from Mallrats or Holden from Chasing Amy make an appearance in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot?

AFFLECK: Your guess is a good as mine. I haven’t been asked to make an appearance but you never know, there’s still time. We’ll see. I think if it was up to me, I would rather do Holden than Shannon, but I would defer to Kevin.

Do you still find it cool that Dunkin Donuts is in LA?

AFFLECK: It’s amazing! I have Dunkin Donuts everyday. It’s very weird, I have it every day and people are always like, "Where is that? Is that near here?" So, I feel like I’m spreading the word.

Jumping into actual movie stuff. I’m a huge David Fincher fan. He always gets every actor to deliver incredible work. What’s his secret for doing that, and did you take away anything from working with him? You’re an great director as well, but I’m curious if you took anything away from working with him that you want to apply to your future work?

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Image via 20th Century Fox

AFFLECK: You know, I agree with you. I think David is a genius. He’s a wonderful guy. I really love working with him. I would love to do it again. I think there’s a secret, it’s just multiple takes. He doesn’t do a lot of coverage, he doesn’t do a lot of setups. He stretches his calendar, his schedule, out. In the morning there will be two setups, and he will do 30 or 40 takes of each. He’s very meticulous with what he wants and how he wants to be. He creates a situation where his crew is a little bit smaller, so he can afford to go longer. That’s really what he likes to do. I learned so much from him. The main thing is just, David’s got the taste of an artist and the mind of an engineer. Just being able to watch him was so instructive. It’s hard to put a label on what I learned, exactly. Basically, probably just by osmosis, I was becoming a better filmmaker hanging around David.

I did a long interview with him once and he said to me, and I never realized this, that to craft a performance he might use part of take 5, part of take 30, and part of take 42.

AFFLECK: Oh, yeah. That’s not super unusual. You always go through...It’s just unusual that he has so many takes to choose from.

His work is incredible.

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Image via Fox

AFFLECK: He’s a genius.

There’s no words I can express for what I feel about his work. It’s just next level.

AFFLECK: Totally agree.

I definitely want to jump into some spoilers on Triple Frontier. J.C. told me his first cut was two and a half hours. Have you seen the finished film?

AFFLECK: Yeah, I saw it a couple weeks ago.

Did you notice anything missing? The movie is about two hours now.

AFFLECK: Yeah, to have a director’s cut come in fairly long like that is not super unusual. It’s nice that he was able to hone it down. I don’t miss anything. Charlie was saying he felt his fight got cut, or Garrett rather was saying that his fight was made too short. I didn’t personally miss anything.

**MASSIVE SPOILERS Begin Here**

J.C. told me that it was actually your idea to have your character die. He said that you had tried to do it in like a previous movie, maybe at one of the studios, but the studio was resistant to having a huge movie star get killed. Was it your idea to have your character get killed.

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Image via Netflix

AFFLECK: Yeah, I thought that would be interesting and I wanted to see somebody actually pay a price for what happened. I always liked To Live and Die in LA, how Bill Peterson’s character died. It kind of takes you off guard. I wanted to do the same thing. This is a little bit later in the movie than Bill Peterson’s character, but it highlights the risk to people’s lives. It focuses on the mortality question and theme, which I think is really interesting.

One of the things that I think Netflix can get with is the fact that they can kill your character. I would imagine there is resistance on the studio level to kill, arguably, one of your biggest stars. Can you talk about how Netflix can throw a monkey wrench into the typical the tropes of a movie, if you will, and make them better.

AFFLECK: Yeah, Netflix has shown a willingness to break with convention, to try unusual things. To experiment. They’re in a different situation then the studios because the studios start over from scratch every time they put out a movie. Netflix already has 130 million people that they have a relationship with and they can advertise to directly. I think that means they’re not so beholden to that opening weekend idea. You know what I mean? They already sort of have sold the ticket, in a weird way.

**MASSIVE SPOILERS Are Over**

This project has been in development for many, many years, with many different people attached to star. For you, what was it about the material, the script, that said, “I want to be a part of this. This is something that really interests me”?

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AFFLECK: You know, it’s complex, and it doesn’t make easy judgements, and you keep calibrating your opinion of the characters as the movie goes on. That keeps changing. I thought that was really interesting. I thought it was a really good action script, but it was kind of character-based. It owed something to The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, which is one of my favorite movies.

I really loved what Roman did with the cinematography in this. His composition was great. Can you talk a little bit about working with him?

AFFLECK: He’s very nice, he’s very agreeable. He’s a very funny guy. Like all good DPs, he’s meticulous, and insists and pushes and pushes to get what he wants in the movie. I think that’s appropriate. You kind of have to push because film sets are so chaotic and there’s so much pressure from all directions. You have to really insist on taking the time to do your little part of it well.

The heist sequence is very well choreographed, very well filmed. Can you talk about filming that sequence, and the rehearsals and whatever it took to make that thing work?

AFFLECK: Yeah, we rehearsed that more than anything else. They wanted to get a sense that we were professional soldiers from that. We really drilled every step because we wanted to look like we’ve done it before. We wanted to look convincingly like Special Forces operators. We were lucky because Guy Norris helped us with that, as well as Nick John, the technical adviser. We just rehearsed it so much that it became second nature. It was just a function of putting in the time.

When you were getting ready to film this movie, was there a sequence or setup that you were dreading to do, due to weather or the amount of water that was going to be used, or whatever it might have been?

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Photo: Melinda Sue Gordon / Courtesy Netflix

AFFLECK: Yeah, I was dreading the heist because J.C. just had to make it all happen in the rain. From experience, I know what it’s like. The first take is fun, but by take 7 you’re standing there, your underwear is wet, you're shivering between takes. Being wet can make almost any experience a little bit of a bummer. You know what I mean?

It also depends on if it’s 100 degrees and 100% humidity, you dread it even more.

AFFLECK: I had to get wet in Reindeer Games in British Columbia, and that was really cold. Because we were in Hawaii, it wasn’t the cold so much, it was just the discomfort, and the stickiness, and the athlete's foot. The body doesn’t really want to be wet all day. Bad things start to happen in your crevices.

Completely. I always find it funny that everyone who has never been on a movie set or doesn’t really understand how movies are made - I don’t think people really understand what it takes to make a big action movie.

AFFLECK: Yeah, hopefully they’re not thinking about that when they watch the movie, right? Which is probably why they don’t understand it. You want to get people swept up in the moment, swept up in the story, and not stop and go, “How did they do this?” and sort of analyze it. Yeah, there’s no way you would really know unless you had done it and worked on it. It’s certainly a lot of time and energy.

You’ve played a ton of different characters. I’m curious if you have a specific routine, as an actor, for getting ready for a role or have you refined it at all based on the amount of characters you’ve played.

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AFFLECK: I have a similar process. I do a lot of research. I’m very research dependent. I like to find true details that help me and flourishes the character. I do biographic work on the character, backstory, that kind of thing. It’s a similar approach every time, but it’s really rooted in reality. That’s what’s most interesting to me about acting, finding real behavior and making artificial behavior seem real so that it resonates with an audience.

The editing room is ultimately the final re-write. When you’re doing an acting role, how often do you like to visit a director when he’s editing, or is it more like you only want to see it when it’s done?

AFFLECK: I don’t mind visiting someone when they’re editing. I don’t like to see a cut unless somebody feels like, "Okay we’re ready to take notes." You could just say, “Well, what about this?” And they go, “Yeah, we’re doing that.” “What about that?” “Oh, yeah we’re planning that.” It’s hard to impact. I want to see it when a director feels like, "Okay, I’m finished with the movie more or less." And before they actually are finished with it so there’s time to, you know, I can cajole them into putting back in my favorite moment or something, there’s still time for that.

I am a big fan of when you’re directing. I’m curious when you might be making another movie, and is Witness for the Prosecution going to be the next film?

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Image via Netflix

AFFLECK: Thank you. I don’t know that it’s going to be the next film. I have multiple stuff in development. I’m hoping to shoot something at the end of the year. I have a couple of different things that are all in various stages of script, and outline, and finished script. We’ll see which one comes together and who wants to make them.

You’ve made a lot of films at Warner Brothers. Have you explored, now that you’ve worked with Netflix, working with Netflix?

AFFLECK: Well, you know, an old friend of mine works at Netflix and I really like the new friends that I’ve met, and I’d be happy to work there going forward. It’s one of those things where, if they’ll have me, I’d be thrilled.

You mentioned you have a few projects in various states of development. Are these all things that you’ve written, or are there projects that you might helm that you haven’t written?

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Image via Netflix

AFFLECK: They’re all things I might direct, but there’s one that I just made a deal to do a rewrite on an existing script. There’s another one that’s a book that I’m trying to sell. There’s another one that’s not quite in script form, the writer’s working on it. It’s an outline, and it’s going to be turned into a script. They’re options, all of them, for me to try to direct. Part of it is it’s just so hard to get a movie made, and hard to find someone who wants to partner with you and really sees the movie the same way that it makes sense to have multiple irons in the fire.

Absolutely. I’ve spoken to Guillermo del Toro a few times and he always has 8 different things in development because he never knows where he is going to get the money.

AFFLECK: Yeah, exactly.

You and Gavin [O'Connor] have talked about making an Accountant sequel. Is that in the cards?

AFFLECK: Yeah, I hope so. I would love to. We’ve talked about kicking some ideas around, this last movie we just did. We talked to the studio and they seemed interested, and they kind of brought it up so, we’re looking to do that. I think it would be fun. I love Gavin, I love the movie I just did with him. I had a great experience and I love the character in The Accountant. I’d certainly be open to it.

I heard a rumbling that you might work with Robert Rodriguez on something called Hypnotic. Any truth to that?

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Image via Netflix

AFFLECK: I met with Robert, I really like him. He’s got a movie he’s actually doing with Netflix first, so I’m not sure. That’s one of those kind of like, “Hey, nice to meet you. Let’s see if it works out down the road,” kind of things.

I am very excited for City on a Hill.

AFFLECK: Me too! Yeah, it’s awesome.

You’re producing this thing. Talk a little bit about what it’s about, what excited you to put your name on it.

AFFLECK: Well, it was my idea to do this story. I had this writer Chuck MacLean who I really like, and I thought does a great job writing Boston. I brought him in, pitched him the idea, talked to him about it. He wrote the script from that pitch and then he came up with a broader, ongoing series take. It’s set in the 90s and it has to do with corruption, and racism, and politics, and crime in the city during that time, which was a time of transition. Those were years were known as the “Boston Miracle” because the crime rate came down so dramatically. It’s a look at the city during that time. It’s Aldis Hodge and Kevin Bacon. It’s a really good cast. Chuck did a great job. We were lucky enough to get Tom Fontana to be the showrunner, which was amazing. I love working with Showtime and it will be on, I guess, in the fall.

I cannot wait to see it, as someone who is from Boston. With your films that you’ve directed, do you still have a lot of deleted scenes and alt stuff that is on the cutting room floor that people have never seen?

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Image via Warner Bros.

AFFLECK: No, most of the stuff that was cut or deleted, because of DVD or bonus packaging, streaming and stuff, they’re always looking for content to charge a little bit more money for. So, I’m happy to furnish, in that case Warner Bros., with the bunch of the alternate stuff and outtakes, that kind of thing. There’s not a lot of stuff that is still hidden away somewhere. If you care to see that kind of thing, at least with my movies, you’ve probably already seen it.

Talk a little about your thoughts regarding the test screening process and maybe how your films that you’ve directed have been impacted by the test screenings.

AFFLECK: Test screenings are useful to get a sense of the audience, while you’re sitting in there with them. You can see where you’re losing them, you can feel where they’re connecting with the story. It’s also really useful for logic stuff. Often times you’ll do something and you’ll think, “Okay, was this clear?” And it was crystal clear to everybody, and something you thought was obvious, people were having a hard time with. That’s what it’s useful for. I think people get into this sort of thing of, well, it’s going to diagnose the whole movie, and it’s going to forecast the movie’s success or failure. I don’t think it’s particularly useful in that regard. I know some people don’t like doing it. They don’t like numbers. They don’t like to get a value attached to their movie, which I totally understand. By the same token, I show a movie, even when I’m cutting it, I’ll show it every week to just random people just to get a sense of, is it working? What’s playing and what isn’t?

With the films you've done, have you made any big changes as a result of test screenings? Or has it been little tightening of screws?

AFFLECK: It’s hard to say. I’ve certainly made big changes along the way, but never because there was one big issue that came out of a test audience and they said, “Oh, we don’t like this character,” so I recast him, or, “We don’t like the ending,” so I rewrote it. Usually what they say is that it’s too slow, or this or that is what’s confusing to me. Those are things that I focus on. I don’t have any crazy stories of totally rejiggering the movie in post.

For more on Triple Frontier:

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Image via Warner Bros.