Ben Affleck just finished a well-publicized stint in rehab, and while many might not want to continue dealing with addiction issues in such a public way, it seems Ben Affleck is taking a different approach. The actor is back at work on a new film called Torrance in which he'll play a former athlete who is attempting his own recovery from addiction while becoming a coach at the high school he used to attend.
Torrance will see Ben Affleck star as a former all-star basketball player who loses his career as well as his wife due to his addiction. In an attempt to get his life back he looks for redemption as the coach of the high school basketball team.
Ben Affleck is producing the film as well as starring in it. This was an active project before Ben Affleck checked himself into rehab but it shows just how close art is imitating life when it comes to the actor. Ben Affleck's addiction struggles haven't been hidden previously, which may have been what drew him to Torrance in the first place.
Ben Affleck certainly has a unique perspective on being somebody in the public eye who has been dealing with addiction, so there may be no actor better suited to bring that to the screen. While we've seen this sort of story done before, this one could be different as the lead actor has a real, if unfortunate, understanding of the material.
While most of the buzz around Ben Affleck's film career may be about exactly what his future is as Batman, because nobody quite knows what's going on there, Torrance, as described by TMZ, sounds much more like the type of film that Ben Affleck likes to make. While he's no stranger to action, he's much more frequently part of dramatic films about more real people. When he is part of those sorts of films he's frequently also talked about in the race for awards and a movie like this certainly could be part of that conversation.
Torrance is a reuniting of Ben Affleck with director Gavin O'Connor who also helmed Affleck's hit The Accountant. A sequel to that movie is also reportedly moving forward, which could make for yet another film by the two. O'Connor himself has had an on again, off again, relationship with DC's film universe. He was previously on board to write and direct the sequel to Suicide Squad but he recently left that project. James Gunn has been announced as the new screenwriter, with a possibility he may direct as well.
Torrance is still early in production and hasn't been given a release date yet, though certainly, we won't see it before sometime next year at the earliest.
