Ben and Casey Affleck's dad, Tim, died earlier this year

Well, it's dedicated to my parents because I lost both my mom and my dad this year, and they're very important to me, and I really wanted to show this movie to them, and I didn't get to. I think they would have liked it. And, you know, I'm surprised to hear you say that you were waiting for me for 10 years, but I'm very touched. And, you know, this honestly is really my favorite place to share movies. I love it. I think every time you come here, you can't be cynical. People love movies. They love talking about them. They take them seriously. They're not forgotten. There's no sense that they're going to be forgotten or that the world is moving on for movies. And I just find that really moving and empowering and important. And in the last 10 years, you know, it's, let's see, I'm 51, so I was 41, and my kids grew up, and I went through COVID and divorce and a million things, and I took all of that stuff. You know, the good thing about being an artist, the best thing maybe, is that you can take all of the hardest experiences in your life and put it into your work, and it just makes you better if you're willing to face it all, be honest about it all, and show up vulnerably with those feelings, and allow for the fact that you might not be able to really fully understand them, but you're willing to put them into what you're making. It's a blessing, and for me, it's the only way that I can understand what's happening in my own life. It's because sometimes I'll see movies from five years ago, and I think, oh wow, that's what that was about. I had no idea. I didn't know that is what I was going through at that time. That is what was on my mind, because we go through our lives thinking about picking the kids up or making lunch or buying the groceries, but there's this other stuff that's churning deep, deep, deep down, and that's the stuff that comes out when you're making something, and then there you see it on the screen. You think, oh, I guess that's me, and so I think someday I'll look back on this movie, that's me, and I'll have a better understanding of what the last 10 years have been like, but for now, I'm just here with a vampire movie and happy to be here. She also asked, Casey, if you want to address why Ben Mendelsohn was announced as not. Yes, so Ben was here and was planning to stay. He just had to leave this morning because his dad is very ill, and he wanted to go and be with him, so he was sorry to leave. Your sons have been dragged into the family business. Was it kicking and screaming? I'd like to hear from them. Can we hear from them? I see they're in the front row. No, you're not allowed, Helen. You're not allowed to. I'm the director, but I'm still a father, and so I've forbidden it, but I dragged them kicking and screaming is not inaccurate. Neither one of them really wanted to be a part of this production. I think that they grew up around it and had some interest in it and a sort of innate understanding of what it was. Like I did, my dad worked in the theater for many years, and so it's passed down, I suppose, which is a really nice thing, and they were willing to be a part of this. The casting process was pretty conventional. We just hired a great casting director, A.D. Kaufman, who I've worked with before, and I couldn't find people, but I was sitting around the house doing read-throughs of this script over and over, and I would have my two kids read the younger and older teens, and they were fantastic, but I definitely didn't want to put them in the movie, and they had no interest at the time of being in it. I got to the point where I was there in pre-production, and I hadn't cast the film, and they were willing to show up and do it. Atticus, the younger one, had a spring break from high school of a week or so, and that was kind of all we needed him for. Indiana, the older one, he showed up, and he played his part, and he stayed every single day and worked in the other departments and shoveled snow and carried light stands around and never complained or rarely complained. They were amazing, and it made it the best professional experience of my life by far, because I got to go to work every day with my kids and hang around, and I would do it over and over again if I could. I don't think that they will let me, but I'm going to try.