Matt Damon is “Claus For A Cause.” As part of a guerrilla effort to help promote a clean water initiative, Mr. Damon went undercover and tried to convince kids to ask for a water bottle for Christmas.

In the video, he’s essentially the butt of the joke as none of the children have any idea who “Matt Damon” is. Dressed in a full Santa costume, he gets humbled by one child in particular who tells him she does, however, know Ben Affleck.

As far as philanthropy goes, no one does it like Damon. This video is reminiscent of his Entourage cameo when he stalks Vincent Chase to write a cheque for his ONEXONE effort.

Personally, I don’t mind when celebrities communicate a message doing what they’re good at: entertaining. If more notable faces stopped preaching and tried something unique, more fans would happily donate.

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Mad-scientist director Baz Luhrmann is hard at work on his new film adaptation of the classic F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, The Great Gatsby.

The film is already featuring huge names like Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan, and is also set to be shot in 3D (because nothing says 3D like early 20th century American literature).

Oh yah, and now Ben Affleck is getting in on the fun also.

Apparently Affleck, who now directs (Gone Baby Gone, The Town), is busy helming his 3rd directorial project, Argo. However if he can coordinate his schedule, the actor would play Tom Buchanan, the materialistic husband of Carey Mulligan’s Daisy.

Luhrmann must not have too much in store for the character of Buchanan, as Affleck’s acting has been parodied for being extremely one-dimensional and bland. (His directing ability is another story entirely.)

In the words of Bobb’e J. Thompson in Role Models, “You white? You Ben Affleck.”

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The usual enamor or utter decay of the American Dream is left behind and replaced with the realistic monotony of everyday life in The Company Men.

The film centers on the downsizing of a large corporation due to the recession and the subsequent men that the company is forced to lay off. The film revolves around the stories of three men who are searching for new jobs and dealing with the consequences of how being unemployed affects their lives.

Bobby (Ben Affleck), the first to be laid off, moves his family out of their beautiful white picket fenced in home to move in with his parents, and reluctantly leaves his MBA behind for a job manual labor after his wife confirms his fear that he is just “an asshole with a resume.” Phil (Chris Cooper) has trouble in the modern job market due to his obvious older age, the graying hair and wilting eyes, and finds it too difficult to mask his qualms. Gene (Tommy Lee Jones), the former right hand man and best friend of the CEO of the company, leaves his wife of many years and decides to do something positive with his new wealth of free time.

Altogether the film falls deep into the abyss of mediocrity. Though it is a realistic portrayal of the situation that many Americans and Canadians have faced in the last few years, it sheds no light on the improvement of such dire circumstances. The story is droning and depressing. The characters go from sitting in trivial board meetings, discussing business details of the company that are rendered completely arbitrary to the viewer, to moping around their households arguing with their wives and children. It appears that the director, John Wells, was going for something in between American Beauty and Up In the Air. Unfortunately, the script lacks the ambiance and originality of each of those films.

With such a star-studded cast, especially Jones and Cooper who have starred in such compelling dramatic roles (In the Valley of Elah, American Beauty), one would expect to see powerful performances that could possibly outshine the absolute dullness of the narrative. Costner’s character is the highpoint of the film as he plays a stubborn Boston accent wielding carpenter and the antagonistic brother-in-law of Affleck’s character, a role that is seemingly outside of his performance as leading actor.

In the end, The Company Men is just another one of those tragic films that is released at the height of Oscar season that will be entirely forgotten.

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The NBA Finals kicked off Thursday night, with the Boston Celtics losing to the Los Angeles Lakers.  As is tradition, the two teams’ cities will work out a bet, and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has already put up a big prize, reports E! Online.

The Lakers’ biggest celebrity fan, Jack Nicholson, has been offered up by L.A., and if the Lakers lose, he will have to appear in a commercial for Boston, dressed in Celtics green.

Villaraigosa’s bet also makes certain that the stakes will be equal, saying “Should the Lakers prevail, we will gladly accept your hometown boys, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, as spokespersons for a public service announcement extolling the virtues of the City of Los Angeles, where the climate, the beaches, and the food are far superior.”

As of yet, there is no word whether Boston Mayor Thomas Menino has accepted or not, we’re hoping this big bet will become official.

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Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have been good friends and writing partners for awhile, but now it’s reveled the two are actually distantly related, reports E! News. The New England Genealogical Society says both actors are descendants of bricklayer William Knowlton Jr., making Damon and Affleck tenth cousins, once removed.

Affleck is also revealed to be related to 16 American presidents, and Princess Diana, while Damon shares DNA with 11 former presidents.

“Ben is an eleventh cousin to Obama,” said genealogist Chris Child. “We just found that connection this week. They share a common ancestor in the Hinckley family of Cape Cod. It might be kind of one of those neat things to say at cocktail parties.”

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With sources confirming that Jennifer Garner is expecting baby No. 2, the actress and husband Ben Affleck are looking for a bigger home, reports People magazine.

“I guess they are looking for a bigger place now,” the couple’s pal Kevin Smith told People at a Maxim party on Saturday.

The director-actor is a long-time friend of Affleck’s and starred with Garner in 2006’s “Catch and Release.” Smith revealed to the entertainment magazine how he learned the couple were expecting.

“I saw him last week. Ben came over to watch my movie (“Zack and Miri Make a Porno”) at the house, and he told me, ‘We’re having another baby,’” recalls Smith.
The actor continued to add that Garner and Affleck were both great parents. The couple already have a 2-year-old daughter named Violet.

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Tabloids went on a frenzy when Jennifer Garner’s ‘Alias’ co-star Victor Garber responded “Yes, she is,” to the question of whether Garner was pregnant.

However, according to E! News, Garber’s words were taken out of context.

“I haven’t confirmed that at all, no,” Garber said at an ABC event. “I know they want to have another child and hopefully that’s true, but I don’t know that.”

Back in May, Garner’s husband Ben Affleck reportedly told the UK’s ‘Times’ newspaper that he and his wife were expecting baby No. 2.

“We’re going to have another baby soon,” he added, “now that we’ve figured out how to do it. We want lots of kids.”

Affleck and Garner tied the knot on June 29, 2005 and had daughter Violet later that year in December.

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BEN AFFLECK is selling the $300,000 Bentley his ex-fiancee JENNIFER LOPEZ bought him as a gift.

The movie star is shopping around the motor to private collectors to avoid the publicity of a big auction, according to America’s In Touch magazine.

Sources say Affleck plans to donate the proceeds from the sale to a children’s hospital in his native Boston, Massachusetts.

(c) 2007 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All global rights reserved. No unauthorized copying or re-distributing permitted.

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Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner had their daughter baptized on Christmas Eve.

UPI reports that the couple had their one-year-old baby baptized at Christ Church United Methodist in Charleston, West Virginia, near where Garner grew up.

Along with their daughter, Violet, Garner’s nephew, Alex, was also baptized at the same ceremony. Garner’s parents, as well as her sister and brother-in-law are members of the church.

Violet was born on Dec.1, 2005.

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Ben Affleck is desperate to have another baby.

The ‘Hollywoodland’ actor – who already has a daughter, Violet, with wife Jennifer Garner – is keen to extend his family but is unsure about how many more children he wants.

Affleck was asked by US chat show host Ellen DeGeneres: “Will you have more? Shall I ask that question?”

To which he replied: “Sure, I would love to.”

Ellen then quizzed the star about how many more children he wanted, saying: “How many? A lot. Some people would want five or six kids and would love to have a large family.”

A nervous Affleck, 34, answered: “OK, let’s back it up there. I think I should probably talk to my wife before I talk to you.”

The ‘Good Will Hunting’ star recently confessed that his family was the most important thing in his life, and admitted that he thanks God everyday for wife Garner and daughter Violet.

He said: “I thank the Lord for my wife and child every day. I can legitimately and truthfully say I do not know what she sees in me.”

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Ben Affleck is reportedly in talks to direct a remake of the Clint Eastwood film “Play Misty For Me.”

The “Hollywoodland” actor, who recently made his directing debut taking the helm on “Gone, Baby, Gone,” has been approached by bosses about making the movie.

Hollywood legend Eastwood directed and starred in the original 1971 film about a DJ who is stalked by a deranged listener obsessed with the song “Misty,” by Johnny Mathis.

Eastwood is rumoured to be producing the remake, while “Lucky Number Slevin” writer Jason Smilovic is said to be writing the screenplay.

However, Affleck is yet to commit to the project.
Meanwhile, the “Good Will Hunting” star has admitted he is glad he didn’t marry ex-fiancée Jennifer Lopez.

The 34-year-old actor – who is now married to actress Jennifer Garner, with whom he has a baby daughter, Violet – is relieved his relationship with J.Lo
fell apart because his life was becoming “miserable”.

Affleck recently said: “I should never have got engaged and never gone down that route. I thought I wanted certain things, but I didn’t. I got lost and felt suffocated, miserable and gross. I had to stop and think, ‘What am I doing with my life?’”

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Ben Affleck took a blast against paparazzi photographers at the Venice Film Festival.

Reuters reports that the actor, who was in Venice to promote his new film, “Hollywoodland,” took aim the photographers during a news conference.

“I think more and more people pay attention to actors’ private lives (and that) makes it difficult to suspend disbelief when you are going to watch their movie because really what you are thinking about is whatever you have read about them in a magazine rather than the performance they are giving, and it makes the actor’s job harder. The movies become incidental pit-stops and commercial breaks in the soap opera of their life,” Affleck said.

However, it seems not every actor agrees with Affleck.

When asked how he felt about the intrusions, Ethan Hawke said, “If the paparazzi are bothering you, it probably means you are having a pretty wonderful life.”

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Ben Affleck was rushed to a Boston-area hospital Monday afternoon after suffering a painful migraine attack, according to the Boston Herald.

Affleck’s wife, Jennifer Garner, drove him to the hospital.

He was released two hours later.

A spokesperson for Affleck said he is “recuperating at home.”

Affleck has been in Cambridge, MA directing his first major motion picture, Gone, Baby, Gone.

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Jennifer Garner has given birth to her and husband Ben Affleck’s first child — a daughter named Violet, E! Online reports.

US Weekly reported Garner, 34, was admitted into a Los Angeles Hospital on Wednesday where labour was induced that night.

It is still unknown if the baby was born on Wednesday or Thursday.

“Ben was with her the entire time,” a source told Us.

Garner and Affleck, 33, wed in June.

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Is Bennifer #2 seeing pink?

Jennifer Garner appeared on NBC’s “Tonight Show” on Tuesday night. Host Jay Leno asked, “So what do we have here? A boy or a girl? Do you know yet?”

With her response leaning to neither at first, Garner accidentally referred to her baby bump later as a ?she.?

“You can just start to feel really pregnant. Like you are the hugest person on the face of the planet. … And then I felt just bigger and bigger like she …”

Oops. Garner put both hands over her mouth as if she had ruined a surprise.

Garner and Ben Affleck were wed in June. Although their baby is due around Christmas, it looks like the secret may have come out a little early this year.

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Ben Affleck escaped potential arrest on Monday after making an illegal u-turn in Vancouver to ditch the paparazzi, reports the Boston Herald.

Affleck, 32 had dropped off his fiance, Jennifer Garner, at a local gym when he had been spotted in a rented SUV Mercedes. He was served a warning and released without charge.

He and Garner, 33, are both filming new movies in Canada. They reportedly flew to Vancouver on Sunday night, where Garner is currently filming her role in Catch and Release. Her future hubby, Affleck, will be in Toronto to make another film called Truth, Justice, and the American Way.

According to 24 Hours, Vancouver Police declined to comment on the incident.

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Bennifer: Version 2.0 didn’t get hitched in a hush-hush ceremony in West Virginia on the weekend, as was reported by The New York Daily News.

Ben Affleck’s publicist, Ken Sunshine, has told reporters that Affleck, 32, did not marry his 33-year-old girlfriend, “Alias” star Jennifer Garner.

“Ben and Jen are not in West Virginia. They did not get married yesterday. They did not get married today,” says Sunshine.

Rumours broke when Brandon Tucker, a florist and wedding planner, told the Daily News that Garner had ordered a bridal bouquet of ivory Virginia roses, Casablanca lilies and gardenia, and six bridesmaids’ bouquets for a late-night ceremony at the posh Greenbrier Resort.

Affleck proposed to Garner at her 33rd birthday party in April. It would be the second marriage for Garner, who is reportedly pregnant, and the first for Affleck, who broke off his engagement to Jennifer Lopez last year.

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