S20.E06: Ben Affleck, Sir David Attenborough, Matt Smith, Claire Foy, Sting

[Athena]

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Graham is joined by Oscar-winning actor and director Ben Affleck, starring in new action thriller The Accountant, Sir David Attenborough, who is presenting BBC One's Planet Earth II, and ex-Doctor Who star Matt Smith and Wolf Hall's Claire Foy, starring as Prince Philip and the Queen in Netflix series The Crown. Sting performs I Can't Stop Thinking About You from his new album.

[dubbel zout]

I like Claire Foy better as a brunette, I think, even though blonde might her natural color. Maybe I'm just used to seeing her as a brunette in both The Crown and Wolf Hall.

I wish we'd heard more from Matt Smith. He kind of got lost in the shuffle, and he's delightful.

I was relieved Ben Affleck was sitting between Sir David Attenborough and Claire Foy. Sir David got awfully handsy with Cameron Diaz when they were on together.

"I Can't Stop Thinking About You" sounded a lot like "Can't Stand Losing You" to me.

[kat165]

All Sting's stuff sounds alike to me, but I'm not a fan so I'm not familiar with his most of his music.

Affleck looked kind of weird, his eyes, like he'd been crying or he was stoned. He seemed so much bigger sitting on the couch with Matt & Claire. He also did not seem comfortable, but trying to.

I too would have like to have heard more from Claire and Matt. Too many guests.

What was the nickname the guy in the red chair got after his experience? With his thick accent I didn't quite get it.

Watched James Cordon for the first time last night and he did a couch thing too which I liked. But he's no Graham Norton. Does he usually do a couch? If so I might watch him more often.

[dubbel zout]

11 hours ago, kat165 said:

thick accent

Wasn't it, though? I was relieved that the other British guests seemed to have trouble understanding him.

[attica]

14 hours ago, kat165 said:

What was the nickname the guy in the red chair got after his experience?

Aran Bru. (Which I only got from the closed captions, tbh) I did some googling around, and I think it's an allusion to Irn-Bru, a Scottish soft drink that's a distinctive orange color. Which would make sense with a splotchy fake tan? I'm perfectly willing to be corrected.

Affleck seemed perfectly uncomfortable on the couch. Whether that was social discomfort or physical discomfort, I couldn't say. 

16 hours ago, dubbel zout said:

Maybe I'm just used to seeing her as a brunette in both The Crown and Wolf Hall.

..And Little Dorrit!  (I've binged the entirety of The Crown, and she's really good in it.)

[kat165]

Thanks, Attica. Even if I'd heard what it was I would have no idea why it was so funny.
Or at least Graham thought it was. And glad I wasn't the only who thought something was
up with Affleck Hasn't he been on the show before? (Although if he was I have not seen
it.)

[dubbel zout]

2 hours ago, attica said:

(I've binged the entirety of The Crown, and she's really good in it.)

The whole thing is so well done. I can't wait for the next season. 

2 hours ago, attica said:

Affleck seemed perfectly uncomfortable on the couch. Whether that was social discomfort or physical discomfort, I couldn't say. 

I've seen him on other talk shows, and while he's a decent guest, he never seems entirely at ease. 

[Athena]

10 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

I've seen him on other talk shows, and while he's a decent guest, he never seems entirely at ease. 

Yeah, the one I think he is sorta more OK on is Jimmy Kimmel but they have a long running gag and joke with Matt Damon too. It seems more of an act than Affleck being himself. He honestly comes off as uncomfortable and sometimes even rude in his PR interviews. I don't necessarily think he's a bad guy, but he's not at ease in talk shows or most televised interviews.

[tenativelyyours]

On 11/13/2016 at 0:57 AM, kat165 said:

 

Affleck looked kind of weird, his eyes, like he'd been crying or he was stoned. He seemed so much bigger sitting on the couch with Matt & Claire. He also did not seem comfortable, but trying to.

 

 

Surgery thy name is plastic.  At one point when I saw him on his way back to the set of that awful batman movie, he looked almost Asian.  But taking over and ruining the Superman franchise while having to stand next to Henry Cavill had him going back for even more tweaking and twittering.  Post promotions for the movie at times had him looking rather Asian.   Here it looks like he backed off the fillers a bit but the eye job and whatever he had done to his lower face still have him looking like the makeup artist gave him a bit of an ironing just before he came out.  Poor thing.  I think he is going to be the next John Travolta.  So much I wonder how much of his hair is original.  I think he is going to take aging even worse than Brad Pitt and already shows signs of not having as good a surgeon to take on the task.

Foy is lovely and seems like fun.  Nothing against Matt Smith but I really find him horribly miscast as Prince Philip, though the writing also is a bit flat for his character.  So while I find him amusing, I wasn't upset he didn't get much here because I think Foy holds up the series by the end as even Lithgow, brilliant as he is, ends up being way too much of the focus.  This is an episode that I would have liked to see devoted to the main cast of The Crown.  Lithgow.  The two actresses that play Queen Mother Elizabeth and Princess Margaret.  And just for something to look at Daniel Ings.  I know he is mostly in the background of the series, but I'm so excited Scrotal Recall is getting a second series as Lovesick simply because of his 'Luke'!

 

Sting?  Why have same old same old when I can just go back and have the original that sounds better.  I found the performance rather flat (my parents will kill me for that if they knew!)

[kat165]

Tentatively, thanks for the info. I had no idea that he's had work done.

Matt Smith has the smoothest looking skin, like he was photoshopped.

[peeayebee]

Matt Smith always looks odd to me. I think it's his deep-set eyes. 

 

On 11/13/2016 at 0:13 PM, attica said:

Aran Bru. (Which I only got from the closed captions, tbh) I did some googling around, and I think it's an allusion to Irn-Bru, a Scottish soft drink that's a distinctive orange color. Which would make sense with a splotchy fake tan? I'm perfectly willing to be corrected.

Thanks for that explanation. I had no idea, but what you've said makes sense.

Affleck's face looked puffy to me, like he was taking prednisone or something. Anyway, I agree that he was not at ease. It astonishes me when one of the guests is telling a really interesting or funny story, and another guest seems so stuff and self-conscious, maybe glancing at the monitor. If I were there -- and I'm rather shy and self-conscious -- I would just be focusing on the other people's witty banter and charming personalities. That's not hard!

I saw The Accountant the other day. I found it entertaining, but a little odd, particularly at the end. My sister thinks Affleck should get an Oscar for it. Uh... no. 

I loved The Crown, and I loved Claire Foy. She is fantastic as the Queen. I was pleased to see here that she's funny and quick-witted. She's also gorgeous. 

[tenativelyyours]

He has always fallen to puffy when he drops the fillers because he crashcoursed his fitness regimen to bulk up for the batman role.  There were rumors of steroids but I think even the heavy legal protein supplements if overused in trying to fast build a physique lend to that.  But you can't load on that much muscle mass, try to lean down to not look like a bloated off season professional wrestler for the cameras and then try to go back to simply maintaining a more natural but fit form.  Some have natural builds that lend to muscle.  Again, Henry Cavill in compare seems to have that luck.,  Hugh Jackman also does.  Affleck actually is tall but tends to have a soft middle which he reverts to if when he was not in an action role.  That weird little roll that supposedly had him so depressed that he had to cheat on his wife, gamble ferociously and of course seek spiritual guidance in front of a stripper pole.

I found the Accountant an odd movie and not exactly one where its strengths rested in the acting.  So Oscar? Not by my call.  But I always get those wrong usually, so that probably makes him a shoe-in.

The weird thing about Affleck being so stiff is that wasn't his huge fake promotional effort with Jennifer Lopez to cast themselves as Hollywood's reborn Glamor couple from the fifties see him all over interview couches?  Was he that stiff then?  I know even back then he was said to have a huge ego.  But was also rather affable.  Of all hosts, I would think Graham would be the easiest to sit back and just enjoy.  Take the two Matts.  Leblanc and Damon.  Both came on seemingly unprepared.  Both were a bit taken aback as to what the show could and did do.  And both sat back and just enjoyed it their first time and became more engaged but still just happy to be there with whoever else was on the couch with them.  Their second times even moreso.  But maybe the fact I just don't like Affleck and find him pompous and self-important after his comment about how hard it was so often to be the most interesting person in any room he was in.

[peeayebee]

1 hour ago, tenativelyyours said:

He has always fallen to puffy when he drops the fillers because he crashcoursed his fitness regimen to bulk up for the batman role.  There were rumors of steroids but I think even the heavy legal protein supplements if overused in trying to fast build a physique lend to that.  But you can't load on that much muscle mass, try to lean down to not look like a bloated off season professional wrestler for the cameras and then try to go back to simply maintaining a more natural but fit form.  Some have natural builds that lend to muscle.  Again, Henry Cavill in compare seems to have that luck.,  Hugh Jackman also does.  Affleck actually is tall but tends to have a soft middle which he reverts to if when he was not in an action role. 

Wow. All very interesting information. I know nothing about all that.
 

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I found the Accountant an odd movie and not exactly one where its strengths rested in the acting.  So Oscar? Not by my call.  But I always get those wrong usually, so that probably makes him a shoe-in.

I hope not. I thought he was fine in the role, but nothing to write home about. Plus, I don't think this is anywhere near the type of movie that typically gets nominated for anything.

[sugarbaker design]

10 hours ago, kat165 said:

Matt Smith has the smoothest looking skin, like he was photoshopped.

Gorgeous skin, a great head of hair, my type of guy!

[attica]

10 hours ago, peeayebee said:

Matt Smith always looks odd to me. I think it's his deep-set eyes. 

His skin always looks to me as though it's just starting to melt, or like the makeup job they gave Rene Auberjonois to play Odo in one of them there Star Trek things.

[fastiller]

I didn't find Affleck to be stiff.  I watched him during Attenborough's rhino story and his reaction was exactly what mine would've been.

[Bruinsfan]

At least Affleck didn't zone out like he did in that BvS interview that was the basis for the "Sad Ben Affleck" meme. And agreed about what spending a lot of time around Henry Cavill could do to one's self-image—I was astounded a year or so ago to see a picture of him and Chris Evans side by side in tuxes and realize Evans was the one who suffered in the comparison. If I were in physical proximity to the guy I'd feel like wearing a hooded cloak and blurting out "sanctuary!"

[catray]

I thought this was an ok couch. Again, we ended up with too many people-- I would have loved to hear more from Claire Foy and Matt Smith. Ben Affleck isn't my favorite, but he was ok here. Overall I didn't find it very remarkable; I would have been fine with solely a British couch but I guess they need "big names" now.

[Bruinsfan]

I'm hoping he'll get Judi Dench or Miriam Margolyes back on before too much longer. Shows with either are always hilarious.