‘I Killed My Lesbian Wife’: The “atrocious” 1993 movie that haunts Ben Affleck to this day

Ben Affleck has once again distanced himself from a piece of his own early work, this time singling out a short film he made in 1993, provocatively titled I Killed My Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meat Hook, and Now I Have a Three-Picture Deal at Disney. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the actor and director called the short "atrocious" and "horrible", saying it is the only one of his early films that still haunts him. The revelation fits a pattern for Affleck, who has previously criticised his own work on films such as Daredevil, Justice League and Armageddon, but this short stands out as a rare pre-fame misstep from long before he became an Oscar-winning filmmaker.

The short follows a violent, misogynistic director who murders his wife after learning she is a lesbian, and despite its title, has no actual connection to Disney. Affleck made it roughly 14 years before his acclaimed directorial debut Gone Baby Gone, and admitted it "looks like it was made by someone who has no prospects, no promise". He went on to win two Academy Awards, including Best Picture for Argo, and has become one of Hollywood's most respected directors, making the gulf between this early effort and his later career all the more striking.