Ben Affleck has said the most important thing to him is "being a parent and being present", saying it played a role in setting up his Los Angeles-based production company.
The American actor and filmmaker, known for starring in Good Will Hunting and Gone Girl and directing and starring in the Oscar-winning Argo, described how being a director is too "consuming".
Speaking to GQ Magazine, Affleck said he regrets how much time directing took away from being with his children.
The 52-year-old said finding a better work-life balance played a role in setting up his production company, Artists Equity, which allows him to work a nine-to-five day while still being present for his children.
Affleck said: "It's so consuming. The one regret I have about all the movies that I've directed is the amount of time it's taken me away from my kids.
"I love making art. I loved making The Town (2010 film), but I was away from my kids for long periods of time. There's little chunks that I missed and that doesn't feel good.
"I recognised that the most important thing to me was both being a parent and being present, and that for my own sake, going off to Austin or Louisiana or somewhere to do some movies, I was really missing time I could never get back."
Affleck shares three children, Violet, Fin, and Samuel, with his ex-wife, fellow actor Jennifer Garner.
He stars in the upcoming action-thriller film The Accountant 2, which follows Christian Wolff, played by Affleck, as he tries to track down a mysterious assassin by teaming up with his estranged and highly lethal brother.
In 2022, Affleck co-founded the artist-led production company Artists Equity with his longtime friend and colleague Matt Damon.
It aims to offer broader financial freedom to collaborators in film projects while also helping Affleck find a stronger sense of work-life balance with its base in Los Angeles, where he lives.
He said: "My kids were eight, 11, and 14, and I felt like, 'I don't want to miss any of this time at all'. And so, I thought, 'Let me figure out a way to work at home and have the kind of job where I can actually be here and build my schedule around that'.
"I think part of what's great about this Artists Equity job, part of why I love it, is because I'm in LA. When we're done at 2.30pm, I'm going to go, and I'll be home at 3.45pm when my kids get off the bus.
"I'm able to construct a life that does that. And that means more to me than any of it. That makes me happier."
The production company has since produced the Affleck-directed film Air, which follows the 1984 shoe deal between Nike and Michael Jordan, as well as the Cillian Murphy-starring adaptation of Claire Keegan's Small Things Like These.
The company is also behind The Accountant 2 and produced The Greatest Love Story Never Told, a music documentary about Jennifer Lopez, Affleck's ex-wife.
The full feature can be read in the April/May issue of British GQ and online.
Source: Press Association
