Take that, Jeff Vice: Ben likes me more

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. — I don't want to brag or anything, but Ben Affleck likes me more than he likes Deseret Morning News movie critic Jeff Vice.

Not that that's necessarily much of an accomplishment.

OK, so Affleck doesn't like me more than he likes Jeff. But he does like TV critics more than he likes movie critics. Not that he likes any of us all that much.

"First of all, I want to say that it's nice to be in a room that's just full of critics," Affleck deadpanned in the midst of an appearance to promote the upcoming third season of "Project Greenlight," which is moving from HBO to Bravo. "That's sort of always been my dream.

"And you know what? You can hide it, but I feel the love. Critics love me, let's face it."

Coming off "Surviving Christmas" and "Gigli," it's not surprising that Affleck is feeling, well, a little bit critic-shy. But those were theatrical films.

TV critics, on the other hand, have been quite kind to "Project Greenlight," which chronicles the struggles of neophyte filmmakers chosen by Affleck and Matt Damon's production company to produce a theatrical film. And TV critics generally gave their "Push, Nevada" film good reviews.

OK, I didn't like it much, so maybe Affleck doesn't like me that much more than he likes Jeff. But I did give Affleck's 1993 series "Against the Grain" a great review.

"Yes, TV critics, it's true, have been kinder to me. You're all very nice," Affleck said. "It's those (bleep)ing (bleeps) who do the movie writing that I don't like. You guys are wonderful, wonderful people."

Yeah.

How could you not like this guy?

And it's not just us TV critics Affleck likes; he likes working in TV.

"One of the things that keeps me coming back is that I'm able to do it as a writer and as a producer without kind of putting myself out there — without having to be the face of it, and that's really rewarding," Affleck said. "Maybe I'm more comfortable with that.

"We've got two or three more pilots in development, stuff that we're doing, and it's fun. . . . As a writer, you have more control in television. You know, you write movies and they just get swept away and somebody else works with them, whereas in television it's really interesting, and you have the chance to foster other people's talents."