Since the ‘80s, People Magazine has devoted an issue to celebrating the sexy men of Hollywood, with the top honors being named the “Sexiest Man Alive.” The most recent name to earn the title is Ant-Man’s Paul Rudd, following over 30 leading men receiving the honor. Of all of them, four men held the title for two separate years. Those men are Richard Gere, Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Johnny Depp. 2002’s Sexiest Man Alive Ben Affleck just had a hilarious reaction regarding one of the two-timers.
Of course Ben Affleck took a joking jab to George Clooney, who held the title in 1997 and again in 2006. Affleck recently worked with him on their new film The Tender Bar, which Clooney directed. When People asked the actor what he thought about Clooney upstaging him with the title one more time than him, Affleck said this:
Well, I passed a few times, obviously. George, he likes that stuff and he wanted to keep doing it and I felt like maybe one was enough.
In a fun-loving response, Ben Affleck said he humbly declined being named “Sexiest Man Alive” more than once, whereas George Clooney was all for getting the title two years in a row. That being said, we don’t know if that’s actually true or Affleck is saving face. Either way, Affleck got the last word, and it couldn’t have been more perfect.
Another big thing the pair of actors have in common is they’ve both played Batman. Affleck certainly gets the point there considering his Caped Crusader was well much more appreciated in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad and Justice League than Clooney’s time as the Caped Crusader in Batman & Robin, which he calls “terrible” to this day. Affleck is even coming back to the role for the upcoming Flash movie alongside Michael Keaton’s version.
Let’s see… what else? Another similarity between these two colleagues is they have both become directors after finding successful careers in acting. Both of them have two Oscars, Affleck for co-writing Good Will Hunting and being a part of 2013 Best Picture Winner, Argo. George Clooney was also a producer on Argo, contributing to one of his own Oscars, along with his Best Supporting Actor win for 2005’s Syriana. On that front, Clooney has more nominations, but Affleck has never lost an Oscar he was nominated for… yet.
The pair have definitely aligned on a lot of things throughout their career, including “Sexiest Man Alive,” and their paths continue to cross with The Tender Bar. The Amazon Prime Video original follows a boy and the father figures he looks up to while growing up in Long Island. Ben Affleck plays the protagonist’s Uncle Charlie. The Tender Bar is coming to select theaters on December 17 and arriving on streaming January 7.