Ben Affleck once asked Michael Bay a question that basically broke the movie. "Why is it easier to train oil drillers to be astronauts than to train astronauts to drill a hole?"
Bay told him to shut up.
Seriously. That was the response. It’s the kind of blunt, high-stakes Hollywood ego you’d expect from a 1998 blockbuster set, but it also defines exactly why Ben Affleck on Armageddon has become a legendary piece of pop culture history. People love this movie for the explosions and the Aerosmith power ballad, sure. But the real ones? They love it for the DVD commentary where Affleck spent two hours roasting his own paycheck.
The Dental Work and the "Geek" Problem
When Ben Affleck showed up for Armageddon, he wasn't exactly the chiseled Leading Man™ he is now. He was fresh off Good Will Hunting. He was an indie darling with "baby teeth"—Michael Bay’s words, not mine.
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Bay actually went on record saying he wasn't impressed with Affleck's screen test. He called him a "geek." Jerry Bruckheimer had to step in and play peacemaker, convincing Bay that this kid was going to be a massive star. But there was a catch.
Affleck had to transform.
He was sent to the gym. He was forced to get a tan. And, most famously, the production spent roughly $20,000 to give him a new set of pearly white caps. Bay wanted "hero teeth" for those low-angle shots under the chin. You can actually see the difference if you watch his earlier work like Dazed and Confused back-to-back with the asteroid mission. It's a whole different vibe.
That Infamous DVD Commentary
If you haven't listened to the Criterion Collection commentary for Armageddon, you’re missing out on what Affleck recently called the "best work" of his career. He isn't being humble. Honestly, it’s a masterclass in unintentional comedy and brutal honesty.
While Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer are talking about the technical brilliance of the explosions, Affleck is in his own booth just... questioning everything. He points out the "logic stretch" of NASA not knowing how to use a drill. He mocks the idea that a group of roughnecks would be the best choice for a billion-dollar space mission.
"I mean, how hard can it be? Aim the drill at the ground and turn it on."
That line has lived rent-free in the heads of film nerds for decades. It’s refreshing because actors usually treat their blockbusters like sacred texts during press tours. Affleck did the opposite. He treated it like a weird summer camp he got paid millions to attend. He even joked about the "space madness" that supposedly makes Steve Buscemi’s character go crazy. It’s just pure, unfiltered Ben.
Why the Logic Actually (Sorta) Failed
Let’s be real for a second. NASA actually uses this movie in their management training program. No, they don't use it to teach physics. They use it as a "spot the error" exercise.
The tally? Over 168 scientific inaccuracies.
The big one—the driller vs. astronaut debate—is where the movie loses anyone with a STEM degree. Training an astronaut (who usually has multiple PhDs and thousands of hours of flight experience) to operate a mechanical rig is objectively easier than teaching a guy who drinks beer for breakfast how to handle G-forces and oxygen scrubbing in a week.
But Michael Bay didn't care. He wanted the blue-collar hero aesthetic. He wanted Bruce Willis to look like a god among men. Logic was a secondary concern, way behind the "cool factor" of a shuttle landing on a jagged rock.
The Chemistry With Liv Tyler
The "Animal Cracker" scene. You know the one.
Affleck has since admitted that filming romantic scenes with Liv Tyler was incredibly awkward. They were friends. They knew each other's families. He described the kissing scenes as feeling like he was "making out with his sister."
The audience felt it too. The pair actually got a Razzie nomination for Worst Screen Couple in 1999. It’s funny in hindsight, considering Affleck eventually became a prestige director and Tyler stayed a genre icon, but at the time, the "cringey" chemistry was a major talking point. They were just too comfortable with each other to make it look like "forbidden love."
What Really Happened with the Script?
Most people don't realize the script was a total mess right until the last second.
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Originally, the science was even worse. A NASA engineer reportedly called Bay and told him that if the asteroid split the way they planned, the debris would still wipe out Earth. Panic mode. The writers were reportedly locked in a hotel room with nothing but pizza and coffee for 48 hours to rewrite the third act.
They added the "nuke from the inside" plan to make it slightly more plausible. They also added that iconic line: "It's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden stop."
Why We Still Talk About Ben Affleck on Armageddon
It was the bridge.
Before this, Ben was a writer who acted. After this, he was a Movie Star. He made enough money from this flick to basically do whatever he wanted for a few years, which eventually led to him hitting a career slump and then reinventing himself as an Oscar-winning director.
There's a specific kind of 90s nostalgia attached to Ben Affleck on Armageddon. It represents a time when movies didn't have to be part of a "cinematic universe." They just had to be loud, expensive, and have a leading man with brand-new teeth.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Filmmakers
If you're a fan of the film or just someone fascinated by the Hollywood machine, here are a few things you should actually do to appreciate the "Affleck Era" of Armageddon:
- Listen to the Criterion Commentary: Don't just watch the movie on a streaming service. Find the physical or digital version with the Criterion track. It is genuinely funnier than most modern comedies.
- Watch for the Dental Shift: Pay attention to Affleck's mouth in the first 20 minutes versus the space scenes. Once you see the "hero teeth," you can't unsee them.
- Contrast with Deep Impact: If you want to see how the "other" 1998 asteroid movie handled the science, watch Deep Impact. It's more accurate, but it's way less fun.
- Check Out "The Accountant 2": If you want to see how far Affleck has come as a leading man, his modern roles show a level of grit that Michael Bay was trying to manufacture with that $20,000 dental bill.
The movie is ridiculous. The science is broken. But Ben Affleck’s refusal to take it seriously is what makes it a masterpiece of the era. He knew it was silly, we knew it was silly, and yet we all still cry when Bruce Willis stays on the rock.
That's just the magic of big-budget nonsense. It doesn't have to make sense to work. It just has to have heart—and apparently, a very expensive dentist.
Next Steps:
Go track down the Criterion DVD or a high-quality upload of the commentary track. Focus specifically on the chapters where they reach the NASA training facility. You'll hear the exact moment where Affleck stops being an actor and starts being the world's most relatable film critic. It’s a transition that arguably saved his public persona years later when he leaned into that same "don't give a damn" honesty during his directorial comeback.