During Outfest, the annual Los Angeles LGBTI film festival, director Kevin Smith made a number of comments that have inadvertently placed actor Ben Affleck at the centre of a great deal of criticism.
The festival featured a 20th anniversary screening of the film Chasing Amy, which follows a comic book artist (Affleck) who becomes friends with, and eventually falls in love with, a lesbian (Joey Lauren Adams).
Smith, the director of the film, said during a speech on Saturday that Affleck was at first very apprehensive of a scene in which he had to kiss another man. Smith alleges that the 44-year-old actor remarked, “A man kissing another man is the greatest acting challenge an actor can ever face”.
Once the scene had been filmed, Affleck then said he now considered himself “a serious actor”.
While it seems Smith's speech was intended to place a spotlight on the conservative attitudes towards the LGBTI community two decades ago, fellow actor Evan Rachel Wood has weighed in on Affleck's comments.
