Ben Affleck has revealed the one movie line he tries his hardest to live by, and it's one that a lot of us would probably agree with.
In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, the award-winning actor and director opened up about a number of topics, ranging from the piece of advice that changed his life to the one thing that keeps him motivated.
Although the Hollywood star generally seems pretty cagey when it comes to opening up about his personal life, when it came to answering questions about the movies, he was much more forthcoming.
Advert
"I wouldn't say I live by one movie line, but I suppose the closest thing would be Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redemption: 'Get busy living or get busy dying'."
Maybe it's not a controversial pick but it certainly isn't a bad one either - The Shawshank Redemption has been consistently ranked as one of the most beloved films of all time and still tops lists of the 100 greatest movies to this day.
In a 2014 interview, Morgan Freeman said: "Just about everywhere you go, people say, 'The Shawshank Redemption - greatest movie I ever saw' and that such praise, just comes out of them".
Advert
His co-star Tim Robbins agreed with him, later saying "I swear to God, all over the world wherever I go, there are people who say, 'That movie changed my life'."
Elsewhere in the interview, Affleck opened up about a person who had changed his life and name-checked his old drama teacher for helping him learn the fundamentals of the industry.
"He took what we did very seriously and so in order to be involved, it meant you had to treat your work with respect, take it seriously, treat everyone else you worked with, no matter what they did, with respect.
"He refused to allow any hierarchies to emerge. So there was a kind of equality across everything.
"You started off building sets; he made sure you did every job. He really taught me the importance of hard work and how nothing really can come without that."
Advert
The Gone Girl actor also claimed that the secret to his success is that he does a tremendous amount of research before filming, and said that it's impossible to authentically represent a character either in the script or on-screen unless you put in some serious hours making sure you understand them.
"I'm not imaginative enough to be able to imagine what everyone else is like, and I have my own internal biases.
"I think we all do. I talk to people who've had experiences like the characters and try to get them to elaborate, share, help me.
"I've never done anything good in my career that wasn't in part the result of help from someone else."
Featured Image Credit: Alamy