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Ben Affleck Joins Netflix Film The Last Thing He Wanted
Ben Affleck has joined Anne Hathaway in the cast of Dee Rees' new Netflix film The Last Thing He Wanted. Toby Jones, Rosie Perez and Edi Gathegi have also reportedly joined the cast of Rees' follow-up to her Oscar-nominated 2017 Netflix release Mudbound.
Based on the 1996 novel by Joan Didion, The Last Thing He Wanted centers on journalist Elena McMahon (Hathaway) who after leaving her job at the Washington Post to care for her dying father, somehow finds herself inheriting her father's role as a US government-connected arms dealer in Central America. Things get even more serious for Hathaway's character when she becomes caught up in the 1980s Iran-Contra affair, a plan undertaken during the Reagan administration to illegally sell arms to Iran and funnel the money to US-backed Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
As reported by THR, Ben Affleck will join Hathaway in Netflix's The Last Thing He Wanted, which is currently filming in Puerto Rico. Details of Affleck's character haven't been reported, but it's likely he'd be playing Treat Morrison, a government official who becomes romantically involved with Hathaway's character while investigating her. In addition, Toby Jones, Rosie Perez and Edi Gathegi have also jumped aboard the film in supporting roles. Willem Dafoe was previously named to the cast as Hathaway's father.
The Last Thing He Wanted marks Ben Affleck's second time signing on as a lead in a Netflix production. The actor is also set to appear alongside Oscar Isaac and Charlie Hunnam in the oft-recast action film Triple Frontier. Affleck also recently reportedly signed on for The Has-Been, a drama that would reunite him with The Accountant director Gavin O'Connor. The actor and O'Connor have also been trying to launch a sequel to The Accountant, the hit 2016 film starring Affleck as a math genius action hero. As for Affleck's continued association with the DCEU's Batman, that situation is very much up in the air after reports that Matt Reeves' The Batman may reboot the character with a younger Caped Crusader.
Affleck and Anne Hathaway have never worked together before, but they do have something of a connection via Batman, with Hathaway having played Catwoman in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises before Affleck took on the role of Gotham's favorite superhero. For director Dee Rees, the political thriller The Last Thing He Wanted sees her once again drawing upon the past for inspiration after her Depression-era drama Mudbound, which went on to nab three Oscar nominations including a Best Adapted Screenplay nod for Rees and co-writer Virgil Williams. Rees' latest sounds like another potentially strong Oscar play for Netflix as they seek further awards season legitimacy.
