Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures Ben Affleck, right, plays young CIA historian Jack Ryan opposite Morgan Freeman, who portrays CIA director Bill Cabot, in ãThe Sum of All Fears.ä Affleck is the third actor to take on the role of Jack Ryan, who is this time on the case of a terrorist group that bombs the Super Bowl.

Superhero or superhistorian, Affleck still saves the world

Itâs the end of the world as we know it, and Ben Affleck feels fine.

Sure, most of the population of Baltimore dies because a nuclear bomb goes off at the Super Bowl, but most of them were football fans, so itâs really not that big of a deal.

Audiences also need not worry, because itâs only a movie. Affleckâs new film, ãThe Sum of All Fears,ä tackles some pretty heavy subject matters ÷ terrorism, nuclear war, mass destruction ÷ but Affleck, who filmed the movie pre-Sept. 11, thought the film handled the sensitive subject matter well.

ãWhen everything sort of settled down (after Sept. 11), and everybody was evaluating the movies that they had done ÷ and evaluating them in light of Sept. 11÷ I thought, ÎItâs really lucky and smart of us that we did this in this honest and realistic and non-exploitive way as possible,âä Affleck said.

ãIt did change the tone of the movie from being this kind of somewhat escapist political thriller to being a drama about the dangers of nuclear proliferation, and the need to have global security.ä

Affleck realizes, though, that some viewers may have trouble watching some scenes in the film, which is based on, the novel by Tom Clancy.

ãIâm sure there will be some people that are so affected by that scene that they then think, ÎThis is too much.â I think it makes it harder to watch, but in that sense it makes it better. People realize in a collective sense, that this is not pure fantasy. This is something thatâs sadly and terribly a possibility,ä he said.

Playing the character of Jack Ryan, previously played by Harrison Ford in ãPatriot Gamesä and ãClear and Present Danger,ä and by Alec Baldwin in ãThe Hunt for Red October,ä seems like a departure for Affleck. While he has taken roles in a wide range of films, from ãShakespeare in Loveä to ãMallrats,ä and ãBoiler Roomä to ãGood Will Hunting,ä not since he was in ãArmageddonä has the fate of the world been put in his hands.

Affleck, however, chose this role in part because playing this sort of character would be a change for him.

ãIt seemed like such an obvious thing for me to try to do. I like the other Tom Clancy movies, and I also knew that to make this movie it had to have a lot of the elements of the other movies, but also be distinct and separate enough so we werenât just knocking off what other people had done,ä Affleck said.

ãIt was both challenging and appealing because it was making the kind of movie I already knew I liked. So it was kind of a no-brainer. The challenging aspect of it was an element that really appealed to me. Because it seemed like it would be fun to try to make that work. It was a little scary, maybe, but there was an appeal to that.ä

In ãThe Sum of All Fears,ä Affleck plays Jack Ryan, a young CIA historian who gets thrust into the world of high-stakes politics when tensions escalate between America and Russia. A nuclear bomb explodes in Baltimore, but Jack Ryan attempts to save the world from further destruction.

While the role may be a departure for him, Affleck doesnât worry about alienating fans who would rather see him in the next Kevin Smith film instead of a big-budget action movie.

ãI think if I started taking into account how Iâm going to be perceived or whether or not Iâm going to be liked, I would make myself so self-conscious,ä he said. ãAt the end of the day, like Vince Vaughn said, ÎIf more people like you than donât, youâre doing OK.â You know what I mean.

ãYou canât really please everybody. Whatâs really important is that Iâm the one whoâs going to have to live with myself. I want to be interested and challenged and happy and stimulated by the roles that I take. I try to do movies that are different and unusual, then do the kinds of movies that I watched as a kid growing up,ä he said.

ãI also want to do the best version of those movies that I can. I just have kind of an intuitive, sort-of-binary response. Itâs either ÎThis bookâs good,â or ÎNo, I donât think I can do this or want to do this.âä

Affleck will also become the kind of character he liked when he was growing up, when he begins work on the film version of ãDaredevilä the comic book. Itâs superhero who receives superpowers after being doused with nuclear waste. While the film has not begun shooting yet, Affleck, who wrote the introduction to a ãDaredevilä graphic novel by his friend Kevin Smith, has already begun training for the role.

ãAs far as preparation for the movie, itâs hard. I worked with this blind guy · while Daredevil is blind, heâs not exactly blind in that he has all these senses that allow him to see in a different way than most people see. All this research gets me kind of halfway there, but I have to do the rest with my imagination,ä he said.

While Affleck is doing wire training and karate to prepare for ãDaredevil,ä audiences shouldnât expect to see him doing his own stunts.

ãGod no. If I did all my own stunts, he would be the least-capable superhero ever. Theyâd say, ÎWhat is he doing, I thought this guy was supposed to be tough?âä he laughed.