As Jimmy Kimmel wonders how it feels to be snubbed by the Academy, Affleck also reads a message from Matt Damon, congratulating the host on his Critics Choice Award win — noting, “You should have gotten canceled a long time ago.”
Ben Affleck is reflecting on one of the more embarrassing moments of his professional career: being snubbed by the Oscars.
Back in 2013, Affleck was favored to nab a Best Director nomination for his work helming Argo, in which he also starred. While the movie picked up seven nominations — including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing — he didn’t score a personal nom for directing or acting.
It’s a snub Jimmy Kimmel brought up as Affleck appeared on his show Tuesday night, after Affleck congratulated the late night host for his win at the Critics Choice Awards on Sunday. Kimmel then noted how Affleck won one as well, for Best Director, for Argo in 2013.
“Like you, I benefitted from some sympathy,” recalled Affleck. “It was a year, it was the horrible thing of everyone telling you, ‘You’re going to get nominated’ for this movie Argo that I did. Wake up that morning and sure enough — it’s not like any other morning that I had not been nominated for Best Director — but all of a sudden it’s a massive embarrassment. I woke up and people [were like], ‘You didn’t get nominated.'”
It’s then Kimmel compared Affleck to Leonardo DiCaprio, whose performance in One Battle After Another lost out to Timothee Chalamet’s in Marty Supreme at Sunday’s show.
“I was watching … and I was thinking, ‘Boy, he’s got so many better places to be.’ The movie wins Best Picture, the director Paul Thomas Anderson wins Best Director and I’m thinking he must be so pissed that he got airlifted form a yacht, he came to lose,” said Kimmel. “I was thinking about you, because this is maybe the worst awards show situation ever. Because Argo, not only was it nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture. You won Best Picture, you starred in it and directed it and you were not nominated in either category. It’s as if the movie directed itself.”
Laughing, Affleck joked that it was “nice to be here” as Kimmel rubbed salt in his wounds.
“That’s what it felt like. The nice thing about it, the day of the snub, I had to go to the Critics Choice Awards. I remember getting there and there was a red carpet line of 500 people dying to talk to me and every single one of them was, ‘Hi, so, the snub …'” he recalled. “What do you say to that? It’s a bummer. But I did end up winning the Critics Choice Award. This negative event turns into a positive.”
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As Kimmel asked whether Affleck was truly “angry” at the snub, he reiterated how embarrassing it was — reminding viewers he was never out there saying he was “going to get” a nomination.
“It was more being put through the ritual of then answering for why you didn’t get nominated. It was a little bit embarrassing,” he shared. “Then I won and I thanked the Academy .. .and then it, from there, I ended up a bunch more.” Affleck then quipped that, after Kimmel’s win on Sunday for Best Talk Show on Sunday, he “might win Best Picture,” joking, “Stranger things have happened.”
During Affleck’s appearance, he also relayed a message allegedly written by good friend Matt Damon — who, of course, has had a playful feud with the host for ages now.
“Dear Jimmy, congratulations on the Critics Choice Award,” the message began. “You should have gotten canceled a long time ago. Maybe you would have gotten sympathy then and maybe you could have won more than one minor movie award.”
Kimmel’s response? “Thank you for bringing that and I’m sorry you even have to know him.”
