Director Wells casts his ideal actors

WHEN WRITER-director John Wells made up his wish list for his recession drama "The Company Men," it included Ben Affleck, Kevin Costner and Tommy Lee Jones.

Wells struggled to make the movie for a decade and in more despairing moments probably would have settled for Rob Schneider and a few players to be named later, but he didn't have to.

When casting was finished, he had Affleck, Costner and Jones.

Plus Chris Cooper. Four Oscars in all. And he didn't even have to ask. Costner called HIM, out of the blue.

"His agent called and said he wants to play this guy Jack, and I was floored. When I was writing it, I'd actually pictured Kevin in the role."

Suddenly the project Wells had been pushing for 10 years had a green light. (He'd written the first draft of the corporate collapse saga after the dot.com bust.)

Wells has updated "Company Men" for our recent economic troubles, now the story of a shrinking industrial giant that you're perfectly justified in viewing as America itself.

It's an ensemble piece that shows the bitterness and confusion in the ranks of management when years of downsizing finally hits home. Jones and Cooper are white-knuckled survivors, Affleck the cocky salesman who slowly loses everything and ends up hanging drywall for his brother-in-law (Costner).

Affleck has the richest role and the most central arc - his character's diminished expectations, his slow adjustment to a post-bubble, post-optimism "new normal," is one that many Americans are facing.

Wells catches a resurgent Affleck coming off "The Town," which has the actor back in top form. After a bit of a hiatus.

"I knew Ben as a guy who'd done some good work in smaller films and as a writer who had won an Academy Award for 'Good Will Hunting.' I guess like a lot of people, I was wondering, 'Where's that guy?' " Wells said.

"My guess is he kind of followed a very lucrative path toward being a leading man, and that eventually he wanted to return to something more creatively challenging," Wells said.

He's challenged in "Company Men," filling out a role that will resonate with many Americans. It was crafted by Wells to reflect the financial and psychological consequences of losing a job, where so much of an individual's sense of self resides.

"One of the things I discovered during interviews is how surprised people were, especially men, that their families rallied around them. What I heard, over and over, is you really find out what's important in your life."

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