Alice Braga has revealed her astonishment that Hypnotic co-star Ben Affleck is fluent in Spanish.
Per The Wrap, the actress discovered his command of the language while conversing with the Academy Award winner during an off-camera moment, and she could scarcely believe it.
“Ben speaks super good Spanish, like, impressively good […] ‘I was like, ‘Oh, you speak Spanish? Great.’ I thought it was going to be a couple of words. And he’s [talking] and I’m like, ‘you’re still going?’ He’s making a whole conversation really good.”
Though Affleck is of Anglo-Germanic ancestry, he became proficient in Spanish at 13 when he was working as a child actor on TV show filmed on location in Mexico. He later studied Spanish at the University of Vermont before transferring to Occidental College, where he took up Middle Eastern studies. The bilingual star happily rose to the challenge of becoming fluent in the language like his daughter, Violet.
It turns out that Braga is not the only one Affleck has dazzled with his language skills. Earlier this year, a video of the actor discussing basketball legend Michael Jordan and the film Air in impeccable Spanish on La Cadena SER went viral, and while some may think it has something to do with his long-running love affair with Jennifer Lopez, his passion for the language predates their romance.
Braga and Affleck can be seen in the Robert Rodriguez’s latest Hypnotic, which tells the story of Danny Rourke (Affleck), a detective searching for his kidnapped daughter, which leads him to Diana Cruz (Braga), a clairvoyant. Thus begins his journey down a long, winding path riddled with shocking discoveries.
Hypnotic premieres in cinemas on Friday, May 12.