Last week, on-set photos of Ben Affleck rocking platinum blonde hair and a goatee for Ridley Scott‘s upcoming historical epic The Last Duel. They quickly went viral, which surprised even Affleck himself. The movie features Matt Damon and Adam Driver, who also looked unrecognizable in their 14th Century garb.
“What the f—! I can’t believe the blonde hair pictures,” Affleck told E! News at the premiere for his new movie, The Way Back. “I haven’t even seen the [pictures]. I’m nervous because there’s good ones… from the right angle… I’m looking a little bit like if [Draco] Malfoy [from Harry Potter] grew up and had a tough life and grew a goatee.”
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The movie is being filmed in Sarlat, France, and the photos showed Affleck, Driver and Damon looking as if they just took a trip back in time to 700 years ago.
The Last Duel is based on Eric Jager’s non-fiction book The Last Duel: A True Story of Trial by Combat in Medieval France, and tells the story of Jean de Carrouges (Damon) and Jacques Le Gris (Driver), who are ordered to fight to the death after Carrouges accuses Le Gris of raping his wife, Marguerite (Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer). Affleck has a supporting role in the film, although he was originally slated to play Driver’s role. Affleck and Damon wrote the script with Nicole Holofcener, who earned an Oscar nomination for co-writing Can You Ever Forgive Me?.
Despite the film’s subject matter, Disney will still release it under its 20th Century Studios banner, as it was originally set up at 20th Century Fox. The film is scheduled to be released on Dec. 25 to qualify for awards, before going wide on Jan. 8, 2021.
While on break from filming The Last Duel, Affleck has been busy promoting his upcoming film The Way Back. In the Gavin O’Connor-directed film, Affleck plays a former high school basketball player struggling with alcoholism who gets a chance to put his life back together by coaching the team. The character has several parallels with Affleck’s real life.
“There’s stuff in this movie that’s very close to my own life, you know, a recovering alcoholic—this character has hit a really rough patch in his life, where he’s just drinking too much,” Affleck told E! News. “He’s unhappy and he’s been through some personal trauma. And some of it I can relate to, and some of it, I use my imagination.”
The Way Back opens on Friday.
Photo credit: JEAN-BAPTISTE LACROIX/AFP via Getty Images
