Affleck Mixes Politics, Film in State of Play

Ben Affleck returns to the ranks of leading men next week in State of Play, starring as a congressman entangled in a murder investigation. The high-profile liberal activist is out promoting the thriller—and so eager for ink that he talked politics with the Wall Street Journal. Some highlights:

• On wall-to-wall media scrutiny: "I work equally in the arts and in politics, and there's a similar dynamic in that actors are trying to make movies and politicians are trying to make policy, and blogs—and to a certain extent magazines—want to create stories that people will buy."

• On the AIG bonus hysteria: "I only wish they had spent that much time and paid that much attention to our original bailout plan."
• Real-life lawmakers Anthony Weiner, Adam Smith, Rahm Emanuel, and Patrick Murphy helped with research for his State of Play role, "though given that my character cheats on his wife within the first couple scenes of the movie, I want to emphasize that I only borrowed positive behavior from those guys."

(More Ben Affleck stories.)