Casey Affleck will have a shiny new Leading Actor BAFTA to put up on his shelf for Manchester by the Sea, and he had a special thank you to deliver to Matt Damon... for not starring in the movie.

Damon – who produced the film – was originally attached to play the lead role of Lee Chandler but dropped out due to a scheduling clash, paving the way for Affleck's win.

"Matt who?" joked Affleck when asked about Damon in the BAFTAs winners' room, standing beside director Kenneth Lonergan.

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"I feel very grateful to him for allowing this opportunity to happen, but in truth he drops out of a lot of movies – most movies – so Kenneth was really the one who gave me the opportunity"

"We really didn't think he was going to do it anyway, but it's not everyday you can tell yourself, 'Thank god Matt Damon didn't do my film'," added Lonergan.

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Affleck had more questions to answer on the subject of giving thanks when his brother Ben Affleck's complaint that he wasn't thanked during Casey's Golden Globes acceptance speech in January.

Casey Affleck admitted, "I can't remember what I said or what I saw when I was up there," but added that he had planned to thank his big bro.

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"Although he didn't really have anything to do with the movie," he said. "I was planning on thanking him for being my brother at some point."

Manchester by the Sea also took home the best original screenplay award.

From: Digital Spy
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Naomi Gordon

Naomi Gordon is news writer mainly covering entertainment news with a focus on celebrity interviews and television.