Casey Affleck is planning to "reclaim" his birthday.

The 'Instigators' star - who has Indiana, 20, and 16-year-old Atticus with ex-wife Summer Phoenix - turns 49 on 12 August, just three days before his older brother Ben Affleck tuns 51, and after spending their childhood having shared celebrations, only to let his special day take a back seat once he had his own kids, but now they're older, he's ready to take the time for himself.

He told 'Entertainment Tonight': "We had to [share], all growing up. We got one birthday party between the two of us."

Asked if that's a tradition that has continued into adulthood, he added: "Not so much.

"Once we had kids, like, my birthday became not so important, you know? And it was always about them.

"But now that they're moving out of the house, maybe I should reclaim that... [This year] I'm throwing myself a birthday party!"

Aways from his birthday celebrations, Casey is looking forward to challenging himself more professionally in the years to come.

He said: "I really just want to keep working with people I love and some people I've not had a chance to work with, but focus less on trying to climb the ladder, trying to achieve things, and focus more on personal work and my own challenges that I want to work on and work with people I like and have a good time.

"[I'm interested in] seeing if I can dig deeper into being a writer and a director and actor and see what else is out there -- before it's all gone and it's all AI and TikTok."

Casey can next be seen opposite his girlfriend Caylee Cowan and friend Matt Damon in 'The Instigators' - for which he also co-wrote the screenplay with Chuck Maclean - and he felt really "lucky" to shoot with familiar faces in his hometown of Boston.

He gushed: "I'm not gonna lie, I've been doing this for 38 years and had a lot of ups and downs and I worked hard -- but still, when I was standing on set, I felt really lucky, you know?

"It's in my hometown, working with people I love, working with new people I'd admired for a long time, doing what I like to do and making a living.

"So, you know, [I was just] waiting for someone to wake me up."