Why people still mix up the actors in the movie The Way
Honestly, naming a movie The Way is a bold choice. It’s a common phrase. It's short. It's easy to forget. Because of that, people are constantly confusing Gavin O'Connor’s 2020 gritty sports drama (officially titled The Way Back) with Emilio Estevez’s 2010 pilgrimage film, which is actually just called The Way.
If you’re looking for the cast list for the Ben Affleck sobriety drama, you’re likely thinking of The Way Back. If you’re looking for the movie where Martin Sheen walks across Spain, that’s the "real" The Way. It’s a mess for SEO, but for a film buff, the distinction matters because the performances in both are wildly different but equally heavy. Let's look at who actually showed up for these roles.
Ben Affleck and the heavy lifting of The Way Back
Ben Affleck didn’t just play a coach. He played himself, or at least a version of the man the tabloids had been dissecting for years. In The Way Back, he plays Jack Cunningham. Jack is a construction worker, a former high school basketball star, and a full-blown alcoholic who drinks beer in the shower.
Affleck’s performance is the anchor. There's no vanity here. He looks bloated. He looks tired. He looks like a guy who has spent a decade mourning a loss he can't name out loud. This was filming right as Affleck was going through his own real-life relapse and stint in rehab. Director Gavin O'Connor, who previously worked with Ben on The Accountant, actually had to wait for Affleck to get out of treatment to finish the film.
It wasn't just Ben on screen, though. The supporting cast had to be believable enough to push back against a man who was essentially a ticking time bomb.
The St. Jude’s Basketball Team
The kids weren't famous. That was intentional. O'Connor wanted the basketball team to feel like real South LA teenagers, not CW models.
- Brandon Wilson as Brandon Durrett: He’s the quiet leader. Wilson plays the role with a reserved intensity that makes Jack (Affleck) realize that these kids need more than just a coach; they need a functioning adult.
- Charles Lott Jr. as Chubbs Hendricks: The "vibe" of the team.
- Will Ropp as Kenny Dawes: The guy who provides the brief moments of levity in an otherwise suffocatingly dark film.
When you watch the interaction between Affleck and these young actors, it doesn't feel like a typical "inspirational sports movie." There is no Hoosiers miracle here. It’s gritty. It’s uncomfortable. It feels like a locker room smells.
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The other "The Way": Martin Sheen and the Camino cast
If you landed here because you’re looking for the actors in the movie The Way (2010), you’re looking at a completely different beast. This is a family affair. Emilio Estevez wrote and directed it, and he cast his father, Martin Sheen, in the lead.
Martin Sheen plays Tom, an American doctor who heads to France to recover the body of his estranged son (played by Estevez in flashbacks) who died while trekking the Camino de Santiago. Tom decides to finish the walk himself.
The cast here is a ragtag group of pilgrims.
- Deborah Kara Unger as Sarah: A Canadian woman trying to quit smoking but really trying to outrun a history of abuse. She’s sharp, cynical, and provides a necessary friction to Sheen’s stoicism.
- James Nesbitt as Jack: An Irish writer with a massive case of writer's block. He’s loud. He’s talkative. He’s the comic relief that eventually breaks your heart.
- Yorick van Wageningen as Joost: A Dutchman walking the trail to lose weight. He is the heart of the group.
Why the casting works (or doesn't)
In the Ben Affleck version, the casting relies on the "broken hero" trope. Al Madrigal plays Dan, the assistant coach and the one person who actually tries to hold Jack accountable. Madrigal is mostly known for comedy, but here he plays the "straight man" to a tragedy. It’s a nuanced choice. You expect him to crack a joke, but the joke never comes because Jack is literally drinking himself to death in the next room.
Janina Gavankar plays Angela, Jack’s ex-wife. Her role is relatively small in terms of screen time, but she carries the weight of the film's backstory. She represents the life Jack could have had if he hadn't let grief swallow him whole. Their scenes together are some of the most painful to watch because they don't scream. They just look at each other with a profound sense of "what happened to us?"
Comparing the two ensembles
The 2020 film (The Way Back) is an ensemble of youth vs. experience. The 2010 film (The Way) is an ensemble of shared trauma.
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In The Way Back, the actors in the movie are largely there to serve as a mirror for Jack’s redemption. If the kids don't succeed, Jack doesn't succeed. In The Way, the pilgrims are all on their own separate journeys that just happen to intersect.
One is about a man finding a reason to live through others; the other is about a man finding a reason to live through himself.
Common misconceptions about the cast
People often think Matt Damon is in The Way Back. He isn't. He’s Ben Affleck’s best friend and they produce everything together through Artists Equity now, but Damon stayed behind the scenes on this one.
Another weird one: people often mistake The Way for a documentary. Because the actors are actually walking the Camino and the filming was done with a very small crew and natural light, it has a "found footage" or "live" feel. Martin Sheen actually walked the miles. There weren't many trailers or craft services. It was raw.
Supporting players you might recognize
- Michaela Watkins: She plays Jack’s sister in The Way Back. She’s fantastic at playing the "concerned relative who is tired of your crap."
- Tchéky Karyo: In the 2010 film, he plays Captain Henri. You’ve seen him in a thousand French and American films (usually as a villain), but here he provides a grounded, local perspective to the pilgrimage.
The "Director as Actor" dynamic
Emilio Estevez appears in his movie as Daniel, the son who dies. It’s a literal ghost performance. He appears in visions and memories. It’s meta—a son directing his father in a movie about a father losing his son.
Gavin O’Connor doesn't appear in The Way Back, but his fingerprints are all over the acting style. He demands a certain level of "un-acting." He told the kids on the basketball team not to worry about their lines as much as their "physicality." He wanted them to be tired. He wanted them to sweat.
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Technical details that influenced the acting
In The Way Back, the cinematography by Eduard Grau uses a lot of close-ups on Affleck’s face. This forced Affleck to act with his eyes and his pores. You can see the broken capillaries. You can see the tremors. It’s a masterclass in internalizing a role.
In The Way, the landscape of Spain is essentially a character. The actors had to compete with the Pyrenees. They had to compete with the wind. It creates a physical performance that you just don't get on a soundstage in Burbank.
How to watch these performances today
If you want to see the Ben Affleck "comeback" performance, The Way Back is usually streaming on platforms like Max or available for rent on Amazon. It's a tough watch, but it's arguably the best thing Affleck has done in a decade.
If you’re looking for the spiritual journey, The Way with Martin Sheen has had a resurgence lately, especially with a 2023-2024 theatrical re-release and updated digital versions. It’s the "nicer" movie, but it hits just as hard.
Actionable Insights for Film Fans
To truly appreciate the acting in these films, try these steps:
- Watch for the "Silences": In The Way Back, pay attention to the scenes where Jack is alone in his apartment. There is no dialogue. The "acting" is all in how he opens a can or stares at the fridge.
- Research the Camino: If you watch the Sheen film, look up the actual route. It adds a layer of respect for the physical toll the actors took.
- Double-check the Title: When searching for clips or soundtracks, use "The Way Back 2020" or "The Way 2010" to avoid the algorithm giving you the wrong cast list.
- Look at the Kids: In the Affleck movie, watch the background actors on the bench. Their reactions to the game are mostly unscripted, giving the film its documentary-style realism.