Kevin Smith Had Reservations Working With Jennifer Lopez for ‘Jersey Girl’
Jennifer Lopez collaborated with filmmaker Kevin Smith in the comedy-drama Jersey Girl. Smith was already accustomed to working with Lopez’s ex-boyfriend Ben Affleck. But working with Lopez would be a first for the Chasing Amy director. Smith admitted he had a few concerns about her before she stepped foot on the film set.
Kevin Smith didn’t know what kind of Jennifer Lopez he’d work with for ‘Jersey Girl’
Smith was pleasantly surprised when he worked with Lopez for the first time in the 2004 feature. Lopez wasn’t in the movie for very long, but her presence in Jersey Girl had a large impact on the project. Her relationship with Affleck at the time was seen as the source of the film’s underwhelming performance. But even before she was officially brought on board, Smith worried that her involvement might cause a few problems.
Around this time, Lopez had a reputation of being a diva, traveling around with large entourages and causing a scene wherever she went. Speaking with Digitally Obsessed, Smith confided that he was aware and somewhat intimidated by the rumors. But his concerns were quickly put to rest.
“With her, you know she comes into the mix as a movie star and I had nothing to do with that. She did that all on her own, and also you hear tons of stuff before she got there,” he said. “We just heard she’s got like a 20-person entourage, and she comes to the set only when she’s ready to come to the set. You hear any number of rumors and nothing turns out to be true. I can’t impart to you enough that I did not have [one] problem with her or Ben.”
Smith also commented that he was more than impressed by Lopez’s work ethic, which she’s often prided herself on.
“At the end of the day she was perfect for the part,” Smith said. “She worked incredibly hard, and that’s the one thing I really f***ing dig about Jen. Aside from like she’s really a great actress I think, but she works so hard. She’s so committed and so into it. She doesn’t f*** around between takes. She’s just ready to go with the next take.”
Ben Affleck asked Kevin Smith to include Jennifer Lopez in ‘Jersey Girl’ as a favor
Affleck was well aware that his relationship with Lopez might overshadow the film. But he felt the movie’s story was strong enough to take the audience’s minds off of his real-life relationship. Still, it seemed that the publicity surrounding Affleck and Lopez’s romance might’ve affected the feature, anyway. The Town star deeply regretted it since he insisted on Lopez being in the movie in the first place.
I” feel bad, and I feel so much a part of it. Here I was, and I asked Jen to do this small part as a favor to me. And I said, ‘Hey Kevin, what if Jennifer does it?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, yeah, great.’ And then now it turns out that it’s… that that element of the story threatens to subsume the rest of the movie. It’s a shame because it’s a really great movie. I think it’s Kevin’s best movie. I think it’s my best movie,” he once told IGN.
Jennifer Lopez was open to doing another movie with Ben Affleck when they reunited
Jersey Girl was the last film that Lopez and Affleck starred in. The two would break up not too long after the movie’s release in 2004. But they later tested the waters of their relationship again in the 2020s. After their reunion, they hoped to avoid the mistakes that doomed their relationship the first time.
But one thing that wasn’t off the table when they reunited was doing another film together. In an interview with Variety, Lopez confided that she was at least open to the possibility.
“I don’t know, in the right thing, maybe, she said. “I mean, we love working together and being together, so maybe.”
