We all know Ben Affleck is a Red Sox fan. Like to nauseating levels, which is fine, because it means he is a true Red Sox fan so there’s authenticity there. And it was revealed last fall that his fandom caused a bit of a stir on set when Gone Girl director David Fincher was trying to film a scene where Affleck would wear a Yankees hat in a New York airport. Affleck refused, and things got dicey.
Via The New York Times:
“I said, ‘David, I love you, I would do anything for you,’” Mr. Affleck recalled. “‘But I will not wear a Yankees hat. I just can’t. I can’t wear it because it’s going to become a thing, David. I will never hear the end of it. I can’t do it.’ And I couldn’t put it on my head.”
While Mr. Fincher stood firm – “he said it was like it’s foregone, it’s destiny” – Mr. Affleck did too.
“It was an uprising; it was a coup, I rioted,” Mr. Affleck said, “It was a one-man riot against the Yankees.”
They eventually settled on a Mets hat, which gets past the whole rivalry thing, and who can really hate the Mets these days anyway? When Gone Girl was released on video, Fincher had a director’s commentary, where he mentioned a bit more about the hat incident.
According to Decider, Affleck held up production for four freaking days over the hat. Mind you, Nick Dunne, the character Affleck plays in the movie, is from Missouri and lived in New York with his wife Amy before moving back, so it’s not as if putting on this hat was at odds with the role. And they’re in a New York airport, so Dunne wearing said Yankees hat is not only in line with the plot but also would help him avoid being recognized (which is what he wanted).
Instead, the fuss spilled over, and Fincher had this to say about Affleck:
“I really wanted it to be a Yankees cap but being from Boston and not being very professional as an actor, Ben refused to wear a Yankees cap. I mean it did not come to blows, but we had to shut down production for four days.”
So there’s your lesson; if you cast Ben in a movie and you want him to wear sports stuff, it better be Boston, or you’re going to end up shutting down production and spending a lot more time at the craft services table trying to find something to wash down your migraine medicine with.
