Currently occupied with promoting his latest Netflix release, The Rip, actor and filmmaker Ben Affleck has found yet another way to entertain his fans, this time with his impression of the evergreen Billy Bob Thornton. In a recent interview, Affleck narrated a funny anecdote about Thornton, wherein he pulled off an immaculate impression of the latter.
Ben Affleck goes viral for Billy Bob Thornton impression
During a recent appearance on a talk show, the two-time Academy Award winner shared a quippy encounter he had with the Landman star at the 1998 Armageddon premiere, which took place at the Kennedy Space Center.
“Before Armageddon came out, I saw him at the premiere,” Ben Affleck iterated on Barstool’s Project Big Screen before he flexed his mimicry skills by channeling his inner Billy Bob Thornton voice. “He was like, ‘Hey, I saw you got that — you won that Oscar, didn’t you?’ I was like, “Yeah.”
Affleck then switched his persona completely to match Thornton’s voice tone as he disclosed what the Hollywood veteran said to him about his win at the 70th Academy Awards for Good Will Hunting (via Entertainment Tonight).
“So what? Did they give you like half an Oscar? Feels like you only wrote half the picture, right? I give you two, half an Oscar for that. That’s nice, that’s good. That’s like a kid’s Oscar, right? Participation Oscar, is that what you got?” the Gone Girl star noted while impersonating Thornton.
Notably, both Ben Affleck and Billy Bob Thornton appeared in Michael Bay’s Armageddon, with the former portraying A.J. Frost, a member of the oil-drilling team recruited to destroy an incoming asteroid. Meanwhile, Thornton plays the role of Dan Truman, the pragmatic NASA executive director who oversees the mission led by Bruce Willis’ Harry Stamper.
Affleck had secured his first Oscar win just three months before his interaction with Thornton at the Armageddon premiere. Incidentally, the latter was also coming off an Academy Award triumph, having won the accolade a year before Affleck for his performance in 1996’s Sling Blade.
