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Summary
- Affleck was never in Saving Private Ryan, but he later starred in Pearl Harbor, a less serious WWII movie than Spielberg’s.
- Burns, not Affleck, played a main role in Saving Private Ryan and is often mistaken for his friend due to their physical resemblance.
- Damon played the title character in Saving Private Ryan, but his career trajectory differs from that of Ben Affleck.
Some viewers misremember Ben Affleck in the Saving Private Ryan cast. Saving Private Ryan is a men-on-a-mission tale at its heart, with Tom Hanks’ Captain Miller reluctantly leading his squad in search of a young soldier named Ryan, whose brothers were all killed in combat. The movie is full of then-up-and-coming acting talent, with Giovanni Ribisi and Vin Diesel both being part of Miller’s squad, Nathon Fillion playing a young soldier mistaken for Ryan, and even Bryan Cranston in a small role.
However, many people mistakenly believe that Ben Affleck is also in the movie. Before Saving Private Ryan, plenty of classic war movies were set during World War II, but Steven Spielberg’s 1998 drama brought the horrors of the conflict to mainstream cinema in a way that hadn’t been shown before. From its unforgettable D-Day landing scene to the siege in the finale, the movie gave an unflinching look at the bloodshed and chaos created by war. However, Affleck was never part of this war epic.
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Ben Affleck Is Associated With Saving Private Ryan’s Matt Damon
Matt Damon Played Private Ryan
|
Ben Affleck & Matt Damon’s Best Movies Together |
Characters Played |
|---|---|
|
School Ties (1992) |
Chesty Smith & Charlie Dillon |
|
Good Will Hunting (1997) |
Chuckie Sullivan & Will Hunting |
|
Dogma (1999) |
Bartelby & Loki |
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The Last Duel (2021) |
Count Pierre d’Alençon & Sir Jean de Carrouges |
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Air (2023) |
Phil Knight & Sonny Vaccaro |
Matt Damon plays the title character of Private James Francis Ryan, who doesn’t show up until toward the end of Saving Private Ryan. Damon appears in the movie after the incredible critical and commercial success that greeted Good Will Hunting, which came from a screenplay written by the actor and his best friend, Ben Affleck. The movie shot them both into the limelight, even winning them Oscars for Best Original Screenplay.
The best friends later reunited onscreen for the Kevin Smith movies Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Damon also passed on the 2003 Daredevil movie, which Affleck later starred in — a decision he famously regretted. Through it all, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have always been connected throughout their careers, which might be one reason that fans mistook another actor for Ben Affleck in Saving Private Ryan.
Ben Affleck Looks Like Edward Burns
Burns Is Easy To Confuse For Affleck Physically
The two friends seemed inseparable during this era, which might be one reason viewers recall Ben Affleck being part of Saving Private Ryan. People often mix up Affleck with actor Edward Burns, who plays Private Reiben, in the movie. Burns’ character is one of the most prominent of Miller’s squad and is easily identifiable with his BAR automatic rifle; he’s also one of the few characters to survive the movie.
Edward Burns won the Independent Spirit Awards’ Best First Feature Honor for directing
The Brothers McMullen
two years before
Saving Private Ryan
.
Ben Affleck and Edward Burns bear a mild resemblance, so given how closely identified Affleck and Damon were with one another when Saving Private Ryan was produced, the mix-up is somewhat understandable. However, despite Burns getting the big star-turning role in Saving Private Ryan, his career never quite went in the same direction as Affleck’s. While Affleck became an A-list star, Burns stuck with smaller movies he directed, such as No Looking Back and Sidewalks of New York.
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Nathan Fillion’s Breakthrough Was Saving Private Ryan’s “Faux Ryan”
Saving Private Ryan sees a squad set out to save Matt Damon’s title character but along the way they mistake Nathan Fillion’s Ryan for the real thing.
Ben Affleck Eventually Appeared In A World War II Movie
Affleck Starred In Pearl Harbor
Ben Affleck did not appear in Saving Private Ryan, but he would later appear in his own World War II adventure, Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbor, though the film was far away from the tone of Saving Private Ryan. While Spielberg’s film was one of the most accurate World War II movies ever made, Pearl Harbor took the real-life tragic event in Hawaii and added a lot of melodrama and explosions to make it more of an overblown disaster flick rather than a movie to honor the fallen at Pearl Harbor.
Matt Damon was the titular character in Saving Private Ryan but was only a minor part of the movie. Edward Burns was one of the main characters but had a smaller career than Affleck following that movie. Despite that, they starred in a film that made $482 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo) and won five Oscars in 11 nominations. Affleck didn’t do much worse in the lead role, as Pearl Harbor made $449 million (via Box Office Mojo) while winning one Oscar in four nominations. However, Saving Private Ryan became the movie to stand the test of time.
Saving Private Ryan
Tom Hanks stars as Captain John Miller in Steven Spielberg’s 1998 WWII film. Saving Private Ryan tells the story of Miller’s command of a company of soldiers who risk their lives in an attempt to extricate Private James Ryan from the fighting in Europe, in order to spare his family from losing all of their sons after Ryan’s brothers are killed in the war. Matt Damon, Edward Burns, and Tom Sizemore also star.
- Release Date
- July 24, 1998
- Studio(s)
- DreamWorks Distribution
- Distributor(s)
- DreamWorks Distribution , Paramount Pictures
- Writers
- Robert Rodat
- Runtime
- 169 minutes
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