Ben Affleck May Direct Afghanistan War Film Starring Casey Affleck

Ben Affleck’s next directorial effort may reunite him with his little brother (and now fellow Oscar-winner) Casey Affleck, as the Justice League star is in talks to helm Afghanistan war movie Red Platoon.


The renaissance of Affleck’s career has been fascinating, to say the least. The Pearl Harbor star surprised everyone with his polished directorial skills, helming excellent genre films such as Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and Best Picture-winner Argo. The newfound success propelled him into one of the biggest roles in Hollywood history, becoming the seventh actor in film history to play a version of Bruce Wayne/Batman (if you count Will Arnett’s Lego Batman). Affeck’s newfound fortune has taken a turn for the worse a bit since landing that role, however, as negative critical reviews within the DC Extended Universe has led to rumors of the actor’s departure from Batman following Justice League, plus his fourth directorial effort Live by Night was also panned by critics last year.

Looking to get back on track, it appears that Affleck has circled a new directorial project, and it finds him reteaming with a familiar face. According to The Tracking Board, Affleck is in talks with Sony Pictures to direct Red Platoon, an Afghanistan war film based on the memoir of Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha. The film will chronicle the Battle of Kamdesh in 2009, when more than 300 Taliban fighters launched an attack on an American outpost, forcing Romesha to lead an impromptu counter attack with a much smaller band of soldiers and take back the base. Reports say that the studio is eyeing Ben’s brother Casey to play Romesha, with George Clooney serving as one of the producers.


Ben directed Casey in Gone Baby Gone, but the two have not worked together since that film. Ben’s career isn’t the only one that has seen a significant uptick since they last met, as Casey has generated awards buzz with performances in films like The Asssasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Out of the Furnace. He finally took home an award last year for his powerful leading role in Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea.


Affleck is next attached to direct an adaptation of Agatha Christie play Witness for the Prosecution, which he will also star in for a 2019 release date. Red Platoon would be Ben Affleck’s first directorial effort that he hasn’t also starred in since Gone Baby Gone, which is considered by a lot of critics to still be his best film. Allowing someone else to handle leading man duties, particularly someone as talented as younger brother Casey, could help refocus Affleck as a director following the failure of Live by Night. The gritty style that Affleck showed he could pull off in Gone Baby Gone and The Town makes him an ideal fit for an intense war film such as this one. It remains to be seen if Red Platoon will attempt to be more of an Oscar prestige picture or a war action/thriller, but no matter what the final product becomes, it’s worth getting excited over.