Ben Affleck Once Shared He Didn’t Want to Work With Jennifer Garner While They Were in a Relationship

It’s not uncommon for real-life celebrity couples to share the screen together. Even Ben Affleck once starred alongside his significant other in Jersey Girl. However, he wasn’t too keen on repeating the process with his ex-wife Jennifer Garner.

Ben Affleck fell in love with Jennifer Garner on the set of ‘Daredevil’

Ironically, although Affleck wasn’t too keen on sharing the big screen with his ex-wife, he first fell in love with her while they were filming a movie. As many know, it wasn’t until they shared time together on Daredevil that the two bonded.

“That’s where I found my wife,” Affleck said in an interview with Playboy (via US Weekly). “We met on Pearl Harbor, which most people hate, but we fell in love on Daredevil.”

Affleck quipped that Daredevil would not only bring the pair together but would foreshadow their marriage.

“By the way, she won most of the fights in the movie,” Affleck said of Daredevil. “Which was a pretty good predictor of what would happen down the road — my wife, holding swords and beating the living s*** out of me.”

At the time, Affleck credited Garner for helping him out of the rut he believed his career was in at the time.

“I sunk into a morass,” he further opened up. “My wife was definitely around then. Getting to know her, falling in love with her and being connected with her gave me a foundation to reach out and say, Okay, I’m going to do Hollywoodland; I’m going to direct Gone Baby Gone. Those were the steps forward I needed to put positive stuff on the board.”

Ben Affleck didn’t want to work with Jennifer Garner while they were in a relationship

Although at one point, the relationship might have been good for Affleck’s career, the Argo director couldn’t see himself working with Garner profesionnaly. Part of the reason was that the two had already done two movies prior to being together. Neither of those movies was well-received, which factored into Affleck’s decision.

“My wife and I made Pearl Harbor and Daredevil. With our track record, I don’t know if anyone’s looking for a threequel,” he quipped.

But he also took into account that their relationship might have distracted audiences from whatever film they were in.

“I think audiences have a hard time suspending disbelief,” he told Time (via US Weekly) “They already know a whole bunch of things about the relationship you have with the other person and if you try and thrust you and another person into a fictional relationship, I think it is distracting.”

Ben Affleck wanted to direct Jennifer Ganer in a female-led film

Ben Affleck may not have been too keen on working with his ex-wife on-screen. But behind the scenes, he once revealed his ambition to direct his wife in a movie.

“I would love to, are you kidding? I think that would be great,” Affleck told People. “I’ve often said that I want to direct a movie that Jennifer was in because I think she’s so great and she could do something really cool.”

Although the couple was already divorced when Affleck made the remark, the Batman V Superman star would’ve still been up to the challenge. But it was their children that made Affleck potentially directing Garner a difficult task.

“The problem that gets in the way is that one of us has to be looking after the kids at home,” he said.