Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez may be mega superstars, but not every film they star in is a hit. Case in point: Their 2003 movie Gigli was an epic failure at the box office. And although he and J.Lo met on the set of the romantic crime comedy, Ben Affleck recently called Gigli the “most famous bomb in history.”
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In 2002, Ben and Jen struck up a romantic relationship not long after meeting on the set of the film. They became engaged that same year but called off their relationship in early 2004. Nearly two decades later, Bennifer rekindled their romance in 2021 before saying “I do” in 2022. By spring 2024, rumors of an imminent breakup started swirling—and Jennifer officially filed for divorce in August.
Recently, Ben brought up 'Gigli's poor performance in an interview.
During an interview with Deadline published on November 8, Ben and his friend/business partner, Matt Damon, spoke about filmmaking and their production company, Artists Equity. Ben discussed pay structures when creating a film and used Gigli as an example of a low-performing movie.
“I got a big cash payday for that,” he told the publication. “Well, it doesn’t feel right in retrospect because they lost money. It wasn’t the biggest money-losing movie in history even though it was the most famous bomb in history, perhaps.”
For him, the 'answer' is 'fairness.'
“But it also doesn’t sit right with people when they go, wait a minute, we all sacrificed to be committed to this,” Ben continued. “And then the old story about the $10 million movie that’s made $200 million and nobody’s seen a nickel.”
According to Ben, the “answer” is “fairness”—which is something Artists Equity aims for.
He explained, “That’s a basic fundamental principle that Matt and I are really drawn to, to create a fair deal for everybody that they can live with in success, in failure, or anywhere along the spectrum.”
Ben previously shared what he thinks of 'Gigli.'
“Really the truth about that movie, what it taught me, was how much everything around a movie sort of dictates the way people see it,” Ben said during a 2002 chat with Matt. “For being a movie that was such a famous bomb and a disaster, very few people actually saw the movie.”
He acknowledged the storyline was influenced by his behind-the-scenes romance with J.Lo, ultimately making it a “movie that didn’t work.”
“You try hard on those and you do interesting things,” he said. “And interestingly, I learned more about directing on that movie than anything else.”
He's lost more money on other movies.
“In terms of losing money, I’ve had five movies at least that have lost more money than Gigli has,” Ben continued. “It was just that it became a story in and of itself, the funny name, the Jennifer Lopez romance and over-exposure of that. It was kind of a perfect storm.”
In February 2024, J.Lo opened up about meeting Ben on the set of 'Gigli.'
During a February 2024 sit-down with Variety, Jennifer recalled meeting Ben on the set of Gigli.
“The first time meeting him on that film was at the read-through,” she told the publication. “They did a read-through of the whole thing and I remember kind of just walking in and thinking he was outside smoking a cigarette. And I saw him and we just talked for like a minute and then I sat down and we did the read-through.”
Although J.Lo said she didn’t “remember a whole bunch more about it,” she did “remember being on the set with him every day and loving it.”
Interestingly, Jennifer previously said she wanted to do a sequel with Ben.
In November 2022, Jennifer was featured in Vogue‘s “73 Questions” series. When asked which of her films she thinks deserves a sequel, J.Lo replied, Gigli. The “Let’s Get Loud” singer didn’t elaborate on her answer. However, considering her and Ben’s ongoing divorce, Jen’s answer has likely changed since then.
