Ben Affleck may be associated in most fans’ minds with the South Boston accent the character he played in “Good Will Hunting” had, but his linguistic skills were on display at the recent premiere of his new movie, “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice,” in Mexico City.
“Hola, Mexico!” the Hollywood star yelled out to the crowd that gathered outside the Auditorio Nacional, and he proceeded to answer questions in a surprisingly fluent mix of Spanish and English.
“I live in Los Angeles,” he started to explain in English before switching to Español. “We speak Spanish in Los Angeles… Los Angeles is part of Mexico, didn’t you know that?”
Even though the premiere’s hosts kept trying to facilitate Affleck switching to English, the 43-year-old star, who plays Batman in the Zack Snyder directed movie, resisted, discussing how his 4-year-old son thinks Affleck is the real Batman in Spanish after being asked about it in English.
He even expressed indignation when it was suggested that the costume he wore in the film came with muscles added.
“They’re my muscles!” he said in excited Spanish. “Of course they are. Here, touch them.”
Affleck and his younger brother, Casey, spent a year in Mexico when Ben was 13 years old and working on the PBS kids show, “The Voyage of the Mimi.”
"I was pretty much on my own down there, getting into trouble,” Affleck once told Biography Magazine. “I was earning money and I had my own hotel room; I thought I was all grown-up and had all the answers. Mr. Big Shot at 13."
While promoting “Argo” in 2012, Affleck also conducted interviews in a mix of Spanish and English.