Twitter Is Seeing Red Over Ben Affleck's New Award Nomination
Ben Affleck is an Oscar winner twice over, having snagged a trophy for Best Picture for his 2013 film "Argo," which he directed, and the 1997 movie he wrote with Matt Damon, "Good Will Hunting," took home Best Original Screenplay that year (via People). Just today, USA Today states that the actor is likely to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role in "The Tender Bar." And Variety opines that Affleck's turn as Pierre d'Alençon in "The Last Duel" was also an Oscar-worthy performance from the star. Vulture claims he "steals the show."
All the positive reviews of his performance are perhaps why Affleck's recent Razzie nomination for "The Last Duel" has Twitter seeing red. The Razzies award actors and films with honors for the worst showings each year, and this year sees Affleck competing with the likes of Mel Gibson for his role in "Dangerous" and Jared Leto for his turn in "House of Gucci" (via New York Post).
Fans are coming to Affleck's defense on the social media platform. Even critics are appalled by the nomination, with movie critic Courtney Howard tweeting, "Ben Affleck's name shouldn't be anywhere near that Razzies list. His performance as obnoxious, narcissistic, philandering royalty is on another level in THE LAST DUEL. He makes a meal out of his screen time and also has one of the best deliveries of a line in that movie."
Fans think Ben Affleck's performance deserves praise not punishment
Twitter seriously wasn't having it with Affleck's Razzies nomination for "The Last Duel." "Affleck has absolutely one of the very best performances of the year," opined one fan in response to the announcement that he had received the unfortunate distinction.
"Ben Affleck does not deserve this," tweeted another person, while someone else declared, "I just have to honor my truth in this one and say Ben Affleck's performance in The Last Duel was genuinely phenomenal and one of my favorite parts of the movie."
"Ben Affleck rules in The Last Duel, but everyone who's hip and sexy knew that already," tweeted another fan of the star's performance. "Ben Affleck's performance in the Last Duel was superb," agreed someone else. Indeed, it was hard to find a single tweet that supported the Razzies' pick for Worst Supporting Actor.
Filmmaker Jesse Hawken even went so far as to tweet, "The Razzies suck. Ben Affleck belongs in the 'Best Supporting' category at the Oscars and he won't be nominated."