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Ben Affleck » talks about the “tremendous embarrassment” he experienced after the Oscars snubbed him in the best director category.
Affleck, 53, appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday, January 5, and recalled his reaction to learning in 2013 that he was not nominated to direct the thriller Argowhich ultimately won the Academy Award for Best Picture that year.
“It was the year where everyone told you, ‘You’re going to be nominated, you’re going to be nominated for director,'” Affleck told the host. Jimmy Kimmel58, adding: “And so, of course, I wake up that morning, and sure enough – and, by the way, it’s not. [unlike] another morning where I hadn’t been nominated for Best Director. But all of a sudden it’s a huge embarrassment. I woke up and people [said],’You were not nominated.’”
Kimmel admitted he thought of Affleck while watching Leonardo Di Caprio losing the best actor award to Timothée Chalamet at the Critics’ Choice Awards the night before. In the meantime, One battle after another – the film starring DiCaprio, 51 – won Best Picture and Best Director at the ceremony.
Steven Spielberg once refused to direct Ben Affleck in a film, says filmmaker Mike Binder. While appearing on a recent episode of Stephen Baldwin’s “One Bad Movie” podcast, Binder, 67, said he and Spielberg, 79, were in talks to have the latter direct Man About Town, which was released theatrically in 2006 and starred […]
“I thought, boy, he has so many better places to be,” Kimmel joked about DiCaprio. “And the film won the award for best film. The director Paul Thomas Anderson wins the best director award, and then he doesn’t win. And I think he must be so angry that [he had to leave] it didn’t matter where he was flown from – a yacht somewhere – and he couldn’t be there anymore. He came to lose.
Kimmel’s Sympathy for DiCaprio Evokes Affleck’s Argo snub, “Because this might be the worst awards show situation ever,” he mused. “I think you underestimate that. Because Argonot only was it nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, but you won Best picture. You starred in it and directed it, and you weren’t nominated in either category… it’s like the film made itself.
Affleck admitted he “felt” the same way at the time. On the day the Oscar nominations were announced, he attended the 18th Critics’ Choice Awards in January 2013 and faced a line of reporters on the red carpet.
“It seemed like there were 500 people dying to talk to me,” he recalls. “And each of them [said]’Hi. So, the snub. What do you say to that? ‘Ha, ha, ha, yeah. It’s disappointing.’”
However, on a more positive note, he ended up winning the Best Director award for Argo that evening, beating Steven Spielberg For Lincoln And Catherine Bigelow For Zero Dark Thirty.
“This negative event is turning into a positive,” said Affleck, who praised Kimmel for win the 2026 Critics’ Choice Award for Best Talk Show.
The actor, there to promote The tearhis next film with Matt Damonread to Kimmel a sarcastic note from Damon, 55, who he quoted as writing: “You should have been canceled a long time ago. Maybe you would have had some sympathy then and could have won more than one minor film award.”
Kimmel’s eponymous talk show was briefly taken off the air in September 2025, amid backlash over his comment on the murder of a right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk, who was shot that same month while speaking at Utah Valley University.
A Boston boy through and through. Ben Affleck has been a Hollywood star for over two decades, but he’s never forgotten his New England roots (or his love of Dunkin’ coffee). Born in Berkeley, California, the avid Red Sox fan moved to Massachusetts with his family when he was just 3 years old. He […]
Accepting the trophy at Sunday’s event in Santa Monica, Calif., Kimmel thanked “all the writers, actors, producers and union members, many of you who are in this room and who have supported us, who really stepped forward with us and reminded us that we do not take free speech for granted in this city or in this country. Your actions were important and we appreciate them.”
