Ben Affleck is really proud of some things in his life, and he just shared one of them.
The actor is still amused by his now-legendary DVD commentary for Armageddon, calling it one of the proudest moments of his career.
In a recent chat with GQ, the actor looked back on his brutally honest remarks about the 1998 Michael Bay film, which have become an internet sensation over the years.
“That is one of the achievements of my career on which I’m willing to pat myself on the back,” Affleck said.
“I believe that may be at least top five all-time DVD commentaries.” He added that, at the time, no one involved in the film seemed to notice his candid approach—at least not until years later when clips of it resurfaced online.
“I was kind of shocked and appalled that I went on there and started being like…. I mean, that’s all true. Everything I said was a hundred percent true, but that’s the point. You’re not supposed to go on there and tell all of the truth.”
One of the most infamous moments in the commentary features Affleck recalling a conversation he had with Bay.
“I asked Michael why it was easier to train oil drillers to become astronauts than it was to train astronauts to become oil drillers, and he told me to shut the f*ck up,” he said.
Affleck then reenacted the exchange in Bay’s signature no-nonsense style, “‘You know, Ben, just shut up, OK? You know, this is a real plan.’ I was like, ‘You mean it’s a real plan at NASA to train oil drillers?’ And he was like, ‘Just shut your mouth!’”
Another highlight from the track comes as Bruce Willis’ character, a seasoned oil driller, critiques NASA’s equipment.
Affleck humorously narrates, “Bruce is going to tell them that they did a bad job of building the drill tank. Because he’s a salt-of-the-earth guy and the NASA nerd-o-nauts don’t understand his salt-of-the-earth ways…his rough and tumble ways. Like somehow they can build rocket ships, but they don’t understand what makes a good trannie.”
Affleck also poked fun at the film’s training timeline, questioning why NASA’s astronauts required eight months to learn drilling while the oil drillers were expected to master space travel in just a week.
“Like eight whole months,” he quipped, “as if that’s not enough time to learn how to drill a hole, but in a week we’re going to learn how to be astronauts.”
Even decades later, his commentary remains a fan favorite—proof that sometimes, honesty really is the best policy.
