Ben Affleck says he did not enjoy smoking pot as a teen, and that drinking only became a problem for him later in life.
In the recently released book “Alright, Alright, Alright: The Oral History of Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused,” the Oscar winner — who had a small part in the 1993 movie — says he didn’t join the other cast members in drugging or drinking much.
“I had a bad experience with marijuana at 15. I had a dissociative panic attack,” the 48-year-old actor said. “So I only smoked weed if everyone else was smoking and I had to sort of Bill Clinton it and fake it. I didn’t really like marijuana.”
“I also wasn’t a very heavy drinker then,” continued the star, who has been candid in recent years about his struggles with alcohol.
“I became an alcoholic much much later and I’m in recovery now, so that was a whole different time. I was a little nervous, like should we be drinking before we’re working tomorrow? Some people were actually drinking and stoned at work.”
Affleck also mentioned that some of the cast would go to shooting ranges on the weekend for fun, something he now views differently.
He explained: ”Texas had extremely lax gun laws and most of us came from states where it was next to impossible to buy guns and part of the newfound freedom being down there was a bunch of us bought guns and went shooting at ranges on weekends, which seemed fun and innocent at the time, but given the subsequent tragedies with young people and guns, it makes me uncomfortable to remember.”
The “Gone Girl” star was only 20 when the beloved teen coming-of-age comedy was filmed in Texas. It featured a then-unknown cast including Matthew McConaughey, Parker Posey, Anthony Rapp, Adam Goldberg and Milla Jovovich.