The 49-year-old actor-director opened up in an interview with his best friend since childhood, Matt Damon.
Ben Affleck reached absolute rock bottom following the release of his 2003 film, Gigli, but nearly two decades later, the 49-year-old actor's revealing the "gift" that came after witnessing his film bomb in theaters.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Matt Damon interviews his childhood best friend and gets the Argo director to open up about where his feelings stand now when it comes to the film he starred in opposite Jennifer Lopez. Cinephiles are keenly aware the Martin Brest-directed film had a $75 million budget but grossed a paltry $7.2 million at the box office worldwide.
Affleck said he longed to work with the director behind Midnight Run, Beverly Hills Cop and Scent of a Woman, but admits the film, in essence, was doomed almost from the start, with subsequent multiple reshoots all but indicating the writing was on the wall.
"It doesn't work," Affleck told EW. "It's sort of a horse's head in a cow's body. And the studio at the time, because I had begun having this relationship with Jennifer Lopez, which was selling a lot of magazines and appeared to generate a lot of enthusiasm, they just predictably latched onto, 'They want a romantic comedy. They want the two of them together. More of that!' And it was just like that SNL sketch: 'Bad Idea.'"
What's more, Affleck says his relationship with Lopez "became a story in and of itself."
"The funny name, the Jennifer Lopez romance and overexposure of that, it was kind of a perfect storm," Affleck added. "And I remember talking to Marty the Friday it came out and I was like it's just spectacular, it's a tsunami, it couldn't be worse. This is as bad as it gets."
In the aftermath, Affleck says, "it engendered a lot of negative feelings in people about me." He also said "it was depressing and really made me question things and feel disappointed and have a lot of self-doubt."
That being said, Affleck says he looks back and realizes being part of Gigli proved to be a blessing in disguise. The film's where he discovered the two loves of his life.
"But if the reaction to Gigli hadn't happened, I probably wouldn't have ultimately decided, 'I don't really have any other avenue but to direct movies,' which has turned out to be the real love of my professional life," Affleck admits. "So in those ways, it's a gift. And I did get to meet Jennifer, the relationship with whom has been really meaningful to me in my life." Affleck and Lopez rekindled their romance last year.
Affleck, who has since directed critically acclaimed films like Argo and Gone Baby Gone, says even though Gigli didn't work on many levels, it served an important lesson.
"It was a movie that didn't work," he said. "Interestingly, I learned more about directing on that movie than anything else because Marty is a brilliant director, really gifted. It's not like it's worse than all... there's a bunch of horrible movies and in terms of losing money, I've had five movies — at least! — that have lost more money than Gigli has."
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