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Hollywoodland presents two Ben Afflecks

Published Wednesday, August 30, 2006 by seanlmccarthy | E-mail this post

Everyone is buzzing today about the Photoshop job done on Katie Couric (see this New York Post story for details). But show bidness does this all the time. Remember the two Uma Thurmans from earlier this summer? Or when Queen Latifah showed up skinny in print ads for Chicago? Now comes Hollywoodland, (opening Sept. 8) which doesn't want you to know that Ben Affleck gained weight and wore a fake prosthetic nose to portray George Reeves (Affleck does a good job, for all you potential haters out there). Look at the movie poster. Then look at a movie still. What is Focus Features afraid of?

UPDATED: I should note that this first came to my attention when I interviewed director Allen Coulter earlier this month. Our photographer asked him to stand by the poster in the room, and Coulter did so, albeit reluctantly. Watching that go down, I couldn't help but notice that the Ben Affleck on the poster looked more like Affleck than Affleck-as-Reeves. Pointed it out to Coulter, who first expressed shock, followed quickly by dismay. He shrugged his shoulders. Coulter figured the studio wants Affleck the movie star to sell tickets, not the pudged-up Affleck, even if that's how he looks in the movie.