Even big Hollywood stars have to start somewhere, so it’s not at all uncommon to discover that your favorite actor appeared in bit parts and background roles before making it big. Often times you can tell, at least in hindsight, that somebody in a movie with a small role was going to be a big star one day. But that apparently wasn’t the case for Ben Affleck, who actually had his one line in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie overdubbed.
Ben Affleck had quite a few small acting jobs before he ultimately made it big. He and Matt Damon even appeared as extras with no lines in a couple of films. It must have seemed like a big step up when he appeared as Basketball Player #10 in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie, as he actually had a line. But the actor appeared on The Late Late Show with James Corden and said his performance was so bad that the movie was forced to do his line over again with somebody else. Affleck explained…
I got one line, it was for a basketball player… I was feeling it. I felt authentically afraid… And then I went and saw the movie with friends … and I sounded very different. And I realized right then they re-recorded my line. I was so bad. They needed me to be in the scene, but the director obviously [was like], 'I can't hear the voice again!' They had to pay someone to come in and say, 'Hey man, take it.' Because apparently, I couldn't say that convincingly enough.
The original Buffy the Vampire Slayer film starred Kristy Swanson in the title role. It’s something of a cult classic now though it’s known more for being the movie that inspired the much more popular Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series. The Buffy movie already had a solid cast, in addition to Swanson, you’ll see Luke Perry and Donald Sutherland as well as Paul “Pee Wee Herman” Rubens. And now you can add a very young Ben Affleck to the number of notable actors in the film.
But you apparently cannot add Ben Affleck’s voice to things you will recognize in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Affleck says that they did a surprising number of takes for the scene, where he gets scared by a vampire on the basketball court and just hands over the ball. At the time, Affleck assumed the director was just being thorough; but in retrospect, it appears that she maybe wasn’t happy with the line delivery and was trying to get a better take... which never came. Maybe he should have tried it in a Batman voice.
It might have been that, or it might have been something less Affleck’s fault. The scene on a basketball court was probably a noisy one and maybe the line just didn’t come through clearly enough, requiring ADR. Of course, they could have asked Affleck himself to come in and record the line if that was the case, and they didn’t. So maybe Affleck was right that the director just didn’t like his voice for some reason. You can check out Affleck’s full comments, and the scene, in the clip below.
Whatever the issue, Ben Affleck clearly got through it, as he’s made a pretty solid career for himself, including a couple of Oscars. But he does still remember this experience and seemingly finds it somewhat humbling. I bet he could deliver that line really well now. There was talk of a Buffy reboot a while back, if that ever happens maybe Ben can get a cameo and take another shot at the line.
