Ben Affleck Reveals ‘the First and Only Time’ He Ever Saw His Father Cry

• Ben Affleck visited the Criterion Collection’s closet to pick out his favorite movies
• Among them was David Lynch’s The Elephant Man, which the actor-filmmaker said was “tied to a very personal memory”
• The movie marked “the first and only time” Ben saw his father, Timothy Affleck, cry

Ben Affleck is sharing a cherished memory about his father Timothy.

In his visit to the Criterion Closet, Affleck, 52, perused and selected some of the company’s cinematic offerings he considers favorites. David Lynch’s 1980 movie The Elephant Man, he recalled, “is the first and only time I ever saw my father cry.”

Lynch’s hit film, which stars John Hurt as a deformed man and Anthony Hopkins as a doctor treating him, is a “movie about what it means to be a human being,” Affleck continued. “And it’s heartbreaking and beautiful and… it’s tied to a very personal memory for me.”

Appearing to get emotional as he added the movie to his bag, the Oscar winner concluded, “That’s probably a good note to end on.”

Timothy, who shares sons Ben and Casey with ex-wife Christine Anne “Chris” Boldt, separated from her and moved from their Massachusetts home to California when Ben was 12. 

The Accountant 2 star told PEOPLE in 2020 that his father, a former janitor, had marked 30 years of sobriety at the time.

He had “a tremendous amount of respect for what that takes and what that means,” Affleck said of his father. “Part of being an adult is learning that your parents are just people. They’re not perfect. They were just doing their best. As a child, we expect perfection out of our parents.”

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Affleck called Criterion’s renowned closet, owned and stocked by the home video distributor, “my idea of heaven.” In addition to The Elephant Man, his selections of favorites to take home included 1990’s Miller’s Crossing, 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs, 2000’s Traffic and two movies he starred in: 1993’s Dazed and Confused and 1998’s Armageddon. 

He also hailed Jean Renoir’s 1939 classic The Rules of the Game for having his “favorite line from all of cinema” — “Everyone has their reasons” — which he quipped he “stole” for his 2007 movie Gone Baby Gone.

Affleck also praised Denzel Washington’s work in Spike Lee’s 1992 biopic Malcolm X. “There is not a performance I can think of that’s better than this,” he said. “I remember where I was when I watched the movie, and I remember when I walked out, I thought, ‘I want to be a better man.’ ”

Affleck produces and stars with Jon Bernthal in director Gavin O’Connor and writer Bill Dubuque’s The Accountant 2, in theaters now. Among his upcoming projects are Animals costarring Gillian Anderson and RIP alongside longtime collaborator Matt Damon.