Emotional farewell scene despite illness: Ben Affleck continued filming “Armageddon” with food poisoning. Details about the difficult filming and why he didn’t call in sick.
In an interview to promote his new film, Ben Affleck recalled an unpleasant incident during the filming of director Michael Bay’s late ’90s classic Armageddon. The actor believes that an illness during filming improved his performance.
Ben Affleck delivered despite being sick on set
While the 53-year-old was promoting the Netflix production “The Rip,” an incident from the beginning of his acting career brought back unpleasant memories. On the day of filming an important scene with colleague Bruce Willis for “Armageddon: The Last Judgment,” Affleck felt sick to his stomach and vomited between takes. As he told Fox 32 Chicago, it was “the only time in my life.”
The sequence in question was the 1998 film’s emotional farewell scene, in which Willis, starring as Harry Stamper, sacrifices himself to blow up the asteroid that would otherwise destroy the Earth. This was the only way fiancées AJ Frost (Ben Affleck) and Grace Stamper (Liv Tyler) could build a life together. Between takes, the California native threw up into a trash can and delivered. According to Affleck, the food poisoning “probably made the scene better.”
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Calling in sick was not an option
The then mid-twenty-year-old did not know that there was a possibility of calling in sick. The newly minted actor thought to himself: “I’d better come.” And I went.” So his appearance on set with gastrointestinal problems was not out of a sense of “martyrdom” or extreme dedication to his job, but out of ignorance and lack of experience.
That’s what production is about and that’s what makes it so special
In Affleck’s new project – the Netflix production “The Rip” – the two protagonists and police officers JD Byrne (Ben Affleck) and Dane Dumars (Matt Damon) receive a tip that there is a large sum of money in a criminal cartel hideout that is to be confiscated. However, when they arrive on site, they discover barrels of money containing several million US dollars – corrupt colleagues are targeting the operations team.
Watch the trailer for the action thriller here:
Director Joe Carnahan’s film has been available on Netflix since Friday, January 16, 2026.
The two fellow actors and business partners achieved unprecedented financial success on the streaming service, as the New York Times first reported. Her production company, which produced the film, is committed to fair pay in the industry – this is underlined by the company name Artists Equity. If the $100 million film becomes a hit in the first 90 days, all 1,200 people involved in the production will receive a one-time bonus, although the amount has not been disclosed. This deal currently represents an exception in the streaming provider business.
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