{"id":623565,"date":"2026-10-07T18:28:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T18:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/623565\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T18:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T18:28:11","slug":"ben-affleck-interview-animals-batman-movie-stars-and-matt-damon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/623565\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Affleck Interview: Animals, Batman, Movie Stars and Matt Damon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAt the offices of Artists Equity<\/a>, the full-service content company founded four years ago by Ben Affleck<\/a> and Matt Damon<\/a>, Batman is the doorman.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs you step out of the red-carpeted elevator in a sleek West Hollywood high-rise, the superhero replica greets you with a menacing stare. Affleck played the Caped Crusader in four films between 2016 and 2023. Across from Batman stands a mannequin dressed in the orange NASA costume worn by Damon in the 2015 hit \u201cThe Martian.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe display is an effective hype tool, like a version of Jennifer Hudson\u2019s \u201cspirit tunnel\u201d but for bros, as one enters a space rarely open to press. Covering two floors with expansive views of the Hills, the office doubles as a museum for memorabilia that chronicles the adventures of Hollywood\u2019s most consequential childhood besties. Outside Affleck\u2019s office, there\u2019s a credenza housing the Oscars he and Damon won for writing \u201cGood Will Hunting,\u201d the 1997 film that catapulted them to stardom. (Affleck has a second Oscar for producing best picture winner \u201cArgo,\u201d which he also starred in and directed.) Elsewhere, there\u2019s proof that nearly 30 years later, they continue to enjoy the fruits of that early acclaim: A miniature version of a Trojan horse from Damon\u2019s recent blockbuster \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d and the Batcycle Affleck rode in the less beloved \u201cThe Flash\u201d are also exhibited.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMatt Sayles for Variety<\/p>\n

\n\tAffleck, at 54, wants to make clear that this whole enterprise isn\u2019t just a Matt-and-Ben shrine. \u201cThe danger is that it looks like building a monument to the self \u2014 it\u2019s not,\u201d Affleck says. \u201cI\u2019m in an interesting line of work where you accumulate these physical tokens, and that\u2019s all that\u2019s left. You go spend all this time on a movie, work so hard, and all you get is a little plastic DVD. I always wonder what happens to this stuff. Most people put it in some warehouse in Simi Valley.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe movies commemorated throughout the office \u2014 in Affleck\u2019s suite, there\u2019s also the rubber nun mask he wore as a robber in \u201cThe Town\u201d and a Tommy gun from \u201cLive by Night\u201d \u2014 have little in common besides Affleck and Damon\u2019s talent. Yet they serve as reminders not merely of memories and hard work, but of a model Artists Equity hopes to reshape.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter all, Affleck will soon add a memento from \u201cAnimals<\/a>,\u201d the forthcoming abduction thriller that he directed and stars in alongside Kerry Washington, Steven Yeun and Gillian Anderson. It was not made in the legacy studio system, but through Artists Equity\u2019s partnership with Netflix \u2014 a first-look deal to produce and distribute films for streaming. The arrangement has made Affleck and Damon\u2019s humble shop the leading outside producer of the company\u2019s original movies \u2014 including their onscreen reunion, \u201cThe Rip,\u201d which hit the platform in January. (Netflix also acquired Affleck\u2019s AI startup InterPositive in July for nearly $590 million in cash.)<\/p>\n

\n\tFor all of Artists Equity\u2019s bona fides, little is known about its inner workings. In 2022, well into the streaming revolution that turned show business economics upside down, Affleck and Damon formed AE with RedBird Capital kingpin Gerry Cardinale (an equity backer in David Ellison\u2019s acquisition of both Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery). \u201cMatt wants to win Oscars and Ben wants to make money. Together, they\u2019re the perfect person,\u201d Cardinale said.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe company\u2019s promise is to give creatives greater access to profits, almost in real time. The company shares all streaming revenue with above the line talent \u2014 including screenwriters, directors, actors and producers \u2014 in addition to traditional fees. It also negotiated performance-based bonuses with Netflix that pay out the entire crew of a given film.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat does this model mean \u2014 on its own terms and for the future of the business? For the first time, Affleck pulls back the veil for Variety to explain Artists Equity\u2019s proprietary model, one he hopes other companies will adopt.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs he discloses these details, Affleck says he\u2019s apprehensive about doing press about what he and Damon have built. Who can blame him? The spoils of Affleck\u2019s and Damon\u2019s onscreen accomplishments documented in these halls have had peaks and valleys. Affleck\u2019s life as captured by the celebrity press \u2014 including a romantic reunion with Jennifer Lopez and a breakup once more in 2024 \u2014 has often cast him in a role he wouldn\u2019t have chosen to play.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut all that may be in the rear view: Affleck has a business to grow and an industry to shift. Here, he discusses the beauty of a mundane routine and how Artists Equity helped him find balance within himself.<\/p>\n

\t\tThis is a wildly uncertain time for the business, but there\u2019s an undeniable revival happening this year at the box office. Is theatrical back? \t<\/p>\n

\n\tRevenue is almost back. Let\u2019s see what happens with \u201cDune: Part Three\u201d and \u201cAvengers: Doomsday.\u201d I still think we\u2019ll come in short on attendance numbers. Premium formats are creating a delta there, which addresses a peculiarity of this \u2014 uniform pricing. There\u2019s one ticket price. I remember thinking back in the day, \u201cThey\u2019re charging the same amount to see \u2018Armageddon\u2019 and \u2018Chasing Amy,\u2019\u201d even though we shot one in Kevin Smith\u2019s backyard and the other at NASA.\u201d I think theatrical is never going to come back to the place it was when it was the only way to see something. It\u2019s why \u201cGone With the Wind,\u201d I think, is still the movie that has sold the most tickets in history. It\u2019s also [the reason] it\u2019s harder to become a star now.<\/p>\n

\t\tWhy is that? \t<\/p>\n

\n\tThere are fewer people who everyone has heard of. When you were in a movie in the \u201980s or \u201990s or the aughts, a studio invested a lot of money around marketing you as an actor. We all benefited from that. There was a sense you could confer stardom onto certain people. People ask, where are the stars now? Obviously, you have Tom Holland, Jacob Elordi, Zendaya. A lot of them. But there are fewer that everyone in America has heard of. I remember being a kid reading Premiere magazine about what makes a star. It\u2019s getting the audiences to show up. \u201cCocktail\u201d and \u201cSleeping With the Enemy\u201d were easy sells because Tom Cruise and Julia Roberts are huge stars that can sell a great movie. But what if a movie is just OK?<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMatt Sayles for Variety<\/p>\n

\t\tArtists Equity has been up and running for four years. The elevator pitch is greater access to profits for creatives. You haven\u2019t really explained how that works until now. Why? \t<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019ve spent a lot of my life doing this. Promoting [my work] increasingly feels a bit like a minefield. It\u2019s like, \u201cDon\u2019t say something stupid that\u2019s going to haunt you forever.\u201d I used to have more fun; it\u2019s a little less so now. I\u2019ve been a bit reluctant to talk about [Artists Equity] because I don\u2019t want the perception of what we\u2019re doing to be limited to me and Matt. We\u2019re consciously trying to achieve something bigger.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut I\u2019ve been remiss in not being proactive. With \u201cAnimals\u201d coming, there\u2019s a context around our partnerships at Netflix and Sony and the performance-based compensation system we work toward. We\u2019ve had success. People got bonuses. The history of this business is full of promises of participation that don\u2019t end up coming true. You read it in Variety, stories that are true or apocryphal, where they say, \u201cWe made this movie, it grossed $200 million at the box office, and I haven\u2019t gotten any money.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tHow does this company remedy that? \t<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s been a yearslong effort to institutionalize this. Look at the work stoppages from the [Hollywood labor strikes] three years ago. A big part of that was around streaming and how are people being compensated. We did work to facilitate conversations about this, and it ended up that Netflix was willing to share some information about what\u2019s successful on their platform. It\u2019s in their interest to create a united incentive with the people they work with.<\/p>\n

\t\tYou\u2019re talking about changing deal structures that date back to the 1940s. I imagine having two movie stars in a room asking for that gives you and Matt Damon some leverage?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tPart of it is to take advantage of [that]. It\u2019s present, but it\u2019s not a thing you can rely on day-to-day. This is not a business where you get tenure and a gold watch. The phone stops ringing for us all. [Stardom] helps with momentum.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s impossible to say, \u201cLet\u2019s adopt something new\u201d \u2014 people have spent ages navigating the system that exists. Matt and I started this model with \u201cAir\u201d at Amazon, and \u201cThe Rip\u201d at Netflix is another good example. We asked them to try it our way. We seek to compensate old-school above the line talent \u2014 directors, writers, actors, producers \u2014 as if they were investors in a film. It works on the clean, evident construction that those parties are compensated exactly as equity financiers would be. Not in some kind of arcane, separate bonus pool that\u2019s distant from where the revenue comes in.<\/p>\n

\n\tI understand the studio\u2019s point of view. Historically, they\u2019re living in a position where [talent] is treated as cost. They\u2019re getting paid up front; they\u2019re not investors. But we\u2019re trying to create a template that can be widely adopted. To that end, we just closed a deal to start Artists Equity Independent Pictures, an indie theatrical film fund that I\u2019m really excited about. That\u2019s specifically for next-generation filmmakers. Another part of our mission with [this model] is to maintain Los Angeles as an important hub for film.<\/p>\n

\t\tHow? \t<\/p>\n

\n\tWanting to be here. I\u2019m divorced, I have shared custody, and I don\u2019t want to miss these years. My kids are here, and their life is flying by. I don\u2019t want to have to be in Shreveport or New Mexico in order to work. I know some people don\u2019t have the luxury of making those choices. I\u2019m certainly fortunate, but I know from experience that the best crews in the world are in L.A.<\/p>\n

\t\tWith the federal tax incentive coming, and all the promises David Ellison has made with output for his merger, it feels like L.A. has been bailed out. What do you think of Paramount-Warner Bros. combining? [Variety interviewed Affleck a week before Paramount Skydance reached a settlement with state attorneys general to clear a path for the merger to close.]\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWell, there\u2019s no merger right now. I think people are worried, appropriately, about the Fox-Disney [effect]. Fox sort of went away. What people want is more production, more work and a diversity of offering. Audiences don\u2019t want to see the same thing over and over again. [Paramount] has been clear about their plan to release 30 movies, and that would be amazing. It\u2019s critical for everyone to keep robust production volume. The real shame would be if we essentially lost one of those two studios. This isn\u2019t to slam Disney \u2014 they\u2019re people with good intentions who are trying to do good for their shareholders. What I know about David and what he\u2019d say to me is that they\u2019re absolutely committed. I hope that happens. We\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMatt Sayles for Variety<\/p>\n

\t\tStars are expected to be brands now. You have a branded content and advertising division at Artists Equity that you say helps artists eat.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tExactly. Artists should be making money. You see it massively in the music business. People \u2014 either tacitly or explicitly \u2014 are expected to make money elsewhere. Now you\u2019ve got your social media identity. You work to develop that. I\u2019ve seen both Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Garner do amazing jobs cultivating and accruing value in those spaces. Don\u2019t think that\u2019s not real work. I couldn\u2019t do it. What am I going to do, unbox something?<\/p>\n

\t\tIf you\u2019re getting photographed dragging 10 boxes of Dunkin\u2019 Donuts into your house, you may as well shoot a commercial for them. \t<\/p>\n

\n\tYou have to recognize the value there. That\u2019s the spirit and nature of media and celebrity interaction now. You have to have a sense of humor and be in on the joke with people. Like how I became a meme for \u201cthe beleaguered man,\u201d as my daughter calls it.<\/p>\n

\t\tThe \u201cSmoking Ben\u201d is my favorite. The photo where you\u2019re standing outside, rolling your eyes into the back of your head.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s right. That\u2019s how I was feeling. Does anyone have any idea what I had to deal with by 11 a.m. that morning? All of us have moments \u2014 you\u2019ve got to be willing to let your guard down about it. It\u2019s about fairness. It\u2019s why we have the word \u201cequity\u201d in the company name. I can\u2019t change the world, but I can change the nature of commerce or the way we work and operate. If you want more control as an artist, you\u2019ve got to be willing to take more responsibility. Even if that means how you\u2019re exploited, on your own terms.<\/p>\n

\t\tTo your earlier point, so much of modern stardom is dependent on a social following.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tEvery time I do a movie with young actors, we talk and I get a sense it\u2019s tougher. They feel an enormous pressure to be accruing an online following. Casting directors ask about [social followings] because it\u2019s a meaningful metric.<\/p>\n

\t\tHow would you have done if you started today under the same pressure? \t<\/p>\n

\n\tI would not be good at that. I\u2019d be a terrible influencer.<\/p>\n

\t\tWould Matt Damon be better?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tNo. He\u2019d be worse. He\u2019s even more conservative in that regard.<\/p>\n

\t\tSo you don\u2019t have an Instagram account? \t<\/p>\n

\n\tI got banned from Instagram twice for impersonating myself. I had six followers. It was my kids and some of their friends. It was just an excuse for me to look at [my kids\u2019] social media accounts. There used to be a time when everything you said or did wasn\u2019t on the permanent record. As you get older, you become aware of what that means. I experienced the whole world and had a whole life in private. I have a real sense of how valuable that is. I think Daniel Day-Lewis and Meryl Streep and Viola Davis and Denzel Washington are brilliant actors. It doesn\u2019t help me appreciate their movies to see what they had for lunch. I realize I sound like an old, out-of-touch person, but I believe that as an actor you have to maintain an illusion.<\/p>\n

\t\tThat\u2019s interesting, because you\u2019re someone who experienced fame in a different but equally intense time in media: when the weekly celebrity magazines ruled the world. Matt even said during his \u201cOdyssey\u201d press tour that he\u2019s had a similar career trajectory to yours, but hasn\u2019t had to endure the kind of scrutiny. \t<\/p>\n

\n\tHe has plenty that he\u2019s dealt with, but to his credit he deals with it very wisely and gracefully in ways that I sort of careened around. He has had less sensationalistic stuff in his life, and good for him. There are ways in which events in my life, and sometimes my own actions, contributed to fostering some of that. When I was younger, I had my turn in the gossip mill. It\u2019s the exact moment you\u2019re describing, when the weeklies blew up. Us Weekly, which used to be a quasi-People magazine and very friendly, turned into something totally different and gossipy. We discovered there\u2019s a lot more audience for that kind of material. In fact, there weren\u2019t enough celebrities and lives to fill [the pages]. So whole new genres emerged out of that demand \u2014 like reality TV stars and other characters engineered for that audience. But I was around for that, and I remember it was really overwhelming because it was unprecedented. You went from seeing an actor on the cover of a magazine or two, five minutes on \u201cEntertainment Tonight.\u201d But then the genre emerged online, Gawker came in, and it was everywhere.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMatt Sayles for Variety<\/p>\n

\t\tOn that topic, were you aware that an interview you did with Howard Stern in 2021 recently went viral again? You spoke about addiction, and it resonated with a lot of people because you said the only solution to addiction was \u201csuffering.\u201d \t<\/p>\n

\n\tI do believe that in a lot of ways. I wish it weren\u2019t the case, but it is in my experience \u2014 and the experience of people I know. When addiction starts to really take hold, it\u2019s not enough to have it in your front brain and say, \u201cThis is something I want to change. This isn\u2019t good for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSomething has to click on an amygdala level. That\u2019s where the \u201crock bottom\u201d clich\u00e9 comes from. It\u2019s the same thing: You\u2019ve got to suffer enough to have something at stake you don\u2019t want to lose. Long-term sobriety, the gift of it is that it just gets easier. It seemed to me that part of it is you\u2019ve got to run up against something difficult and painful enough. But the good news is that\u2019s different for everybody \u2014 you\u2019ve got to understand what you can control and what you can\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\n\tLike, both of my parents passed away this year.<\/p>\n

\t\tI\u2019m very sorry. \t<\/p>\n

\n\tOne of the things you grapple with at my age when parents die is there\u2019s a comfort and awareness in knowing this is how it\u2019s supposed to go. When I go, it will be hard for my children, but none of us want it any other way. My mom said to me at the end of her life: \u201cGod, I thought 84 years would seem longer.\u201d And I thought, \u201cI bet, because I thought 54 would seem longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s what we get. We get this much time, and it\u2019s a reminder not to put anything off or fix it later. It\u2019s more about how you show up every day with everybody else. I\u2019m lucky my mom didn\u2019t pass away younger of something more painful.<\/p>\n

\t\tDid you say what you needed to? \t<\/p>\n

\n\tMy gosh, yeah. She\u2019s an amazing woman. Going through her stuff, you see this woman lived an entire lifetime that had nothing to do with me. We got to have this nice adult relationship; we were really honest, and I was [able] to have discussions with her that I didn\u2019t even imagine I would be able to when I was younger.<\/p>\n

\n\tShe had this cancer diagnosis, and a great lesson was the proactive way she said, \u201cI\u2019m going to make a decision about how much treatment I want to do and how that\u2019s going to impact my life.\u201d She made her choices. She wanted to see her friends. She really committed to being a great grandmother. [We tried] to get her to move to L.A. She had her friends and her thing. She shoveled her own walk. But she would get on a plane for any of her five grandkids.<\/p>\n

\t\tDo those realizations change your outlook at home or as a leader at work? \t<\/p>\n

\n\tIn all the ways we just discussed. You know, I have nothing salacious or all that interesting in my life. I work hard, and then I go home and pick up the kids from school. We have dinner if they agree to hang out with me. They\u2019re with me for a week, then with their mom for a week. They have a great thing with their mom, for whom I\u2019m also really, really grateful. I know things will come up that are hard, and I don\u2019t want to jinx that, but this time in my life as a human being is really wonderful.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat we\u2019re doing [at Artists Equity] \u2014 to do something new that is needed and valuable is amazing. To be able to say yes to financing movies of a certain scale is a gift. We\u2019ve got great partners, a robust unscripted division, and our brand studio and advertising operation has been really successful. I\u2019m doing a spot for Ford on Monday with Jon Bernthal. It\u2019s fun, because I miss directing when I\u2019m not doing it. Commercials are lovely because they\u2019re shorter.<\/p>\n

\t\tLet\u2019s talk about \u201cAnimals.\u201d You direct and star in this with Kerry Washington. One of the most surprising things about the film is how frank it is in confronting social issues. You play a white L.A. mayoral candidate married to a Black woman and raising a biracial son. Class issues are there; so is immigration. And what a shitshow L.A. is. \t<\/p>\n

\n\tOur goal is to force the audience to recalibrate what they think of the characters and the movie as it goes along. It\u2019s about two things to me. One is about the difference between the way that we live our lives performatively and when no one is watching.<\/p>\n

\n\t[The other] is an interesting question about marriage. There\u2019s a lot more to marriage and relationships than having a house and kids together. Whether you\u2019re straight, gay, whatever \u2014 we\u2019ve invested in sharing because it\u2019s easier and better and wiser for us to live in a partnership. Old-fashioned economics and the rules of commitment and love. But then you realize this guy\u2019s a slob, or this one snores? At what point in a relationship are you able to say, \u201cThis is who I am\u201d? Neither of our characters are able to tell the fundamental truth about each other, even to themselves. It\u2019s interesting to see how brave these characters get when they think they\u2019ve lost everything.<\/p>\n

\t\tYou seem pretty convincing in those onscreen stump speeches for mayor. Would you ever consider public office? \t<\/p>\n

\n\tI just think that\u2019s enormously \u2014 I don\u2019t know, man, that seems terrible. There\u2019s a reason why political stories are often chosen as parables for moral compromise. You really get thrust up into the contrast between the ideal version of us and how we should be in our lives and the way it is. It\u2019s a very depressing world, in my opinion. Tawdry. And that has no appeal to me.<\/p>\n

\t\tYou\u2019re an Angeleno. Who are you backing in the upcoming mayoral election? \t<\/p>\n

\n\tI haven\u2019t thought about being asked that. I don\u2019t know if, given this movie, my endorsement harms or helps anybody. I should stay agnostic, at least until the movie comes out.<\/p>\n

\t\tYou\u2019ve said this film was meant to star Matt and Jennifer Garner, and when he dropped out and you came in, you didn\u2019t think it wise to have Garner play your wife. Too many people would project onto the real thing. \t<\/p>\n

\n\tYes. In a movie, the illusion has to be the thing. And I still want to find something to do with her.<\/p>\n

\t\tYou were a producer for \u201cKiss of the Spider Woman\u201d with Jennifer Lopez. I don\u2019t think she got her due for that performance, nor the Oscar nomination she should\u2019ve had for \u201cHustlers.\u201d Why does she get overlooked? \t<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m biased. I have an enormous amount of respect and admiration for what she can do. What I\u2019ve found with awards is that sometimes the degree of commercial success for things doesn\u2019t always correlate to my taste. It\u2019s a part of this weird, subjective business that people bring a lot of their own stuff to.<\/p>\n

\n\tI don\u2019t always think the right person won the right award. But guess what? I don\u2019t think you die and go to heaven, and God says, \u201cThis was the actual best picture in 1986.\u201d At the end of the day, it\u2019s just a bunch of people voting on movie prizes.<\/p>\n

\t\tI passed a Batsuit and a Batcycle on my way in here. You\u2019re going to have to talk about playing Batman until you die. Are you glad you did it? \t<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah. I really liked doing \u201cBatman v Superman.\u201d That was really fun. \u201cJustice League\u201d had a lot of issues, and that wasn\u2019t that much fun, frankly. I was glad that Zack [Snyder] was able to get his vision for how he wanted that movie to be out there. That was rewarding. But there was a sense of \u201cOh, the movie was a little bit too dark or scary, and it lost some of the younger audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt seems to be an ongoing question, and I don\u2019t know the answer: Do you go all the way to a hard-R rating like \u201cJoker\u201d? Or do it like Marvel, which does something broad, unless you\u2019re talking about \u201cDeadpool & Wolverine\u201d?<\/p>\n

\n\tThe interesting thing with the DC characters [comes down] to the legacy of Frank Miller. There seems to be more tension between \u201cAre we doing the grown-up version or the one that\u2019s open to kids?\u201d There\u2019s a risk of being a feathered fish. It\u2019s something they\u2019re still navigating at DC. But I have to say, Kevin Feige is a kind of genius. I can\u2019t think of any producer in the world who can say, \u201cThis is what the audience wants,\u201d and be right, except for him.<\/p>\n

\t\tSo I lost a bet at the office and have to ask you this. There is some debate about \u201cGone Girl,\u201d about whether you wore a prosthetic for your shower scene with Rosamund Pike. What\u2019s the truth? \t<\/p>\n

\n\tI wore no prosthesis. I\u2019ve only worn one in one film, \u201cHollywoodland.\u201d It was a nose.<\/p>\n

\t\tGrooming: Torsten Witte\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the offices of Artists Equity, the full-service content company founded four years ago by Ben Affleck and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[50,139367,9896,430,156,15660,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-623565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-animals","tag-artists-equity","tag-ben-affleck","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-matt-damon","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}