Audiences have always been captivated by the great Hollywood romances, the classic couples whose chemistry on the wide screen and in real life is electric and enduring. And who could forget Bogey and Bacall, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, or Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor? This summer, another charismatic couple is in the spotlight — Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, two big stars who met on the set and made headlines worldwide after a whirlwind romance. Do they have the stuff and the staying power to become another classic couple? Lopez and Affleck sit down for their first-ever primetime interview together, an exclusive from Pat O’Brien of “Access Hollywood.”
Forget what your astronomy teacher told you. This is what happens when stars collide. In this case when Ben met Jen. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez were of course famous in their own right before the film “Gigli” brought them together on-screen and off. He, the leading man with brawn and brains, only 25 when he won an Oscar for writing the script “Goodwill Hunting” along with childhood buddy Matt Damon; she, the triple threat known as J. Lo., a singer, dancer, and actress with a personal life as Technicolor as her movies.
But their romance has propelled them to a whole new level of fame. Every move they make, from the red carpet to a Red Sox game is photographed and talked about again and again. And all that buzz has made Ben and Jen a very formidable duo.
Pat O’Brien: “So you are dating, huh?”
Jennifer Lopez: “Uh, uh.”
Ben Affleck: “I guess we just found out, it seems.”
O’Brien: “This is your first interview together. What does it feel like? You’re finally doing this.”
Affleck: “Good, pretty good, I gather. It is like being stoned apparently. [laughter] No!”
The future Mr. and Mrs. Affleck invited us into a rental house he’s staying in, in Vancouver. It’s more modest than one might expect. Both are shooting films in Canada. And this is where they’ve spent most of their summer weekends — a waterfront haven, away from the relentless attention they’ve received since becoming a couple.
O’Brien: “Do you realize how fascinated America is by you? I mean, do you ever say, ‘What happened here?’”
Lopez: “It’s so weird to even hear you say that.”
Affleck: “Yeah.”
Lopez: “It’s like such a strange thing. No we don’t sit around here and think about that.”
Affleck: “I don’t know what’s the fascination. It seems strange to me. I don’t know what to tell you. I think you can really make yourself crazy if you start thinking about who is paying attention to me, who is interested in me.”
Okay, so another couple may have briefly stolen their thunder.
O’Brien: “How happy were you when Ashton Kutcher and Demi started dating?”
Affleck: “Elated. I tried to drum that up. I’m constantly calling the tabloids, like have you guys heard about Kirk Douglas and Mandy Moore? You know I sort of anticipated that, like, there would be a certain amount of attention this would get and then something else would come along that would be more tabloid fodder.”
Wishful thinking Ben. Expect a whole new round of buzz when the two walk the red carpet as co-stars for the first time, when “Gigli” has its world premiere next week. Since becoming what some have labeled, “The Bennifer Show,” Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez have seen their already impressive status and earning power rise even more.
This year, both cracked the top ten list of Forbes celebrity hottest 100. Ben was at number seven and Jennifer was ahead at number five. Although, according to the magazine he out earned his fiancé last year, $36 million to her $29 million — and that can buy a lot of bling-bling.
But Ben says don’t believe those stories you’ve read about his lavish spending habits, though there’s no denying he went all out on that 6.1 carat, pink diamond engagement ring.
O’Brien: “What’s the most extravagant thing you bought her? You bought the ring?”
Affleck: “I would say engagement ring’s probably a thing that men spend the most money on and they’re right.”
O’Brien: “What about car rumors that you’re like —”
Affleck: “Yeah, because I somehow have like 8,000 cars. I wish. Where are all of these cars? [laughter] I want the cars. I’m sure I’m number one carjack target. Carjackers are so disappointed. They’re staking out my house like, where are all the cars?”
In fact, these two super-rich superstars say it’s their middle class background that brought them together. At heart, he’s just a kid from bean town and she’s, well, you know.
O’Brien: “You and Ben are kind of from the same background. Does that work for you?”
Lopez: “We really connect on that level. You know I could say this is how we spent Christmas or this is how we did New Year’s and blah blah, and he’s like yeah, that’s exactly what we did, too.”
Their drive is another thing they have in common. Both have put in years of hard work to get to where they are now. Affleck grew up in a working-class neighborhood outside of Boston. His father was a part-time actor who worked odd jobs to make ends meet. His mother was a school teacher. They split up when he was 11.
By then he was already in show business, landing a role at age eight in the PBS series, “The Voyage of the Mimi.” The child actor eventually graduated to adult parts in independent films like “Dazed and Confused” and “Chasing Amy.”
And then, in 1998, came the big break that’s become legend in Hollywood: that Oscar for “Good Will Hunting” and the clout that goes with it. Within a few years, Ben Affleck was one of Hollywood’s highest-paid actors. The former Indy guy was now the heroic leading man in films like “Armageddon,” “Pearl Harbor,” and “Daredevil.” And the 30-year-old actor says it’s those blockbuster movies that allow him to do other films like “Gigli,” for which he is earning a cool $12.5 million.
Affleck: “The pattern in terms of doing one kind of movie to afford myself the opportunity to do another more interesting, sort of less obvious kind of move, the kind of movie people typically don’t want to take chances on unless they feel like they have some one who was just in a hit movie, you know what I mean?”
Jennifer Lopez entered show business a little later in life than her fiancé. She grew up middle class, one of three sisters. Her dad is a computer programmer and her mom, just like her fiancé’s, is a schoolteacher. Jennifer trained as a dancer and was a Bronx girl barely out of her teens when she got her first big break in 1990, selected to be one of the Fly Girls on the television show, “In Living Color.”
She broke into the movies at age 25, with a luminous debut in “Mi Familia.” But it was the lead role in the 1997 film, “Selena,” that really got her noticed. She’s been working steadily in films ever since, proving she can play everything from an abused wife in “Enough,” to a real-life Cinderella in “Maid in Manhattan.”
Movies, it seems, were just part of the plan. Lopez, who says she always wanted a career like Barbra Streisand’s, is also a top-selling recording artist.
Lopez: “Barbara Streisand. I don’t know if I would like my career just to be just like anybody’s. I want to, you know, make my own way and make my own path.”
O’Brien: “I think you’re doing that.”
Lopez: “You know, blaze my own trail.”
This girl from the Bronx accomplished something that girl from Brooklyn never did. Lopez is the only woman to have a number one movie, “The Wedding Planner,” and a number one record, “J. Lo,” all in the same week. And it was that drive and talent that got Ben Affleck’s attention, long before they even met.
Affleck: “One of the things I was most struck by was how she was able to do the sort of rock star thing and be an actress as well. A lot of people have tried to do it and it’s a really hard thing to both at a high level.”
It would take one of those Hollywood twists of fate to bring them together on the set of “Gigli.” Jennifer Lopez was in only after another famous actress bowed out.
O’Brien: “Have you thanked Halle Berry for dropping out of the movie?”
Lopez: “I should. I could write a little note now that I think about it.”
O’Brien: “That was a twist of fate, right?”
Lopez “Yeah, that was, you know, a funny thing, how things happen.”
A MATCH MADE ON THE SET
It’s a bit of movie history, when Affleck and Lopez are on screen together for the first time. The film is called “Gigli,” and Ben plays the title character, Larry Gigli. He’s a mobster wanna-be — with a soft side. Jennifer is Ricky, a tough, take-no-prisoners female enforcer — who also happens to be a lesbian. Believe it or not, it’s a love story.
Before “Gigli,” these two superstars were virtual strangers to each other.
O’Brien: “When did you meet?”
Lopez: “We met at a couple of the parties. You know we barely paid any attention to each other at all...”
Affleck: “Yeah. [laughter] That’s a nice way of saying, so you iced me?
Lopez: “No. You iced me.”
But both stars came to the set with their own expectations about the movie and about each other.
O’Brien: “When you found out that you were going to work with her on this movie, what were your first thoughts?”
Lopez: “For real...
Affleck: “I thought, I actually wanted Jen to do the movie. l thought that it was important. I wanted to have somebody who was well-known, a big star, and then I was a little bit kind of thinking, well is she going to be, you know, what’s that going to be like? You know, I’m sure it’s the same for you, that you go in, you kind of want to see what people are going to be like.”
Lopez: [makes a face]
Affleck: “No, not the same for you?”
Lopez: “I go into a movie with an open mind.”
Affleck: “Do you really?”
Lopez: “I wasn’t worried. I wasn’t worried at all. I worry more that the people are going to like me!”
O’Brien: “So did you call your girlfriends and say, I’m working with Ben Affleck, he’s the sexiest man alive.”
Lopez: “He wasn’t the sexiest man alive then, no.”
Affleck: “He wasn’t even remotely appealing, really, to tell you the truth, he was so far from the sexiest man alive I thought he was kind of homely.”
Lopez: “No, I didn’t mention it. Actually I was excited to work—”
Affleck: “Don’t lie, you called your girlfriends up and were like, hey I’ve been working with Ben Affleck.”
Lopez: “He’s so fine... No, I didn’t... It felt like we had good chemistry. You know what I mean? He likes to improv. I could improv back. He’s the best person to improv in the whole entire business, he’s so funny.”
Affleck: “Don’t be like my mom. [laughter]
Lopez: “I’m your mom now!”
Affleck: “Don’t do that thing where you’re like, he’s the best.”
Lopez: “He is though. I’m not the only one who says it.”
One Gigli scene that’s sure to get talked about has Jennifer striking yoga poses. With some not-ready-for-primetime dialogue, the studio is keeping it tightly under wraps.
O’Brien: “The yoga scene, which is sensational, — you’re smiling! We can’t even say that word here.”
Lopez: “You can’t say yoga? No, no, I know what you’re talking about, but you have to go see the movie to know what we’re talking about.”
O’Brien: “When people see this movie, they’re going to see that first time when you see each other in the movie...and it looks like you’ve fallen in love right there when that door opens.”
Affleck: “Acting. We should get Academy Awards for that right there, is all I can tell you. Golden Globes at least.”
Lopez: “For chrissake.”
Affleck: “Sag. People’s Choice. Blockbuster.”
Lopez: “Ha, Blockbuster!”
Remember, when Ben and Jen were filming “Gigli,” she was a newlywed, married to her backup dancer Chris Judd. And she was, in Ben’s words, “off-limits.”
Lopez: “I think people will inevitably wonder. The truth is that when we did start working together we got along great. I mean, we really did become friends, really good friends.”
O’Brien: “How good?”
Lopez: “Really good friends. You know what I mean. We talked a lot and that’s the thing. There was no kind of idea that we would be together in the future, so it was one of those things where you kind of like say too much.”
O’Brien: “What did you tell him that you don’t want him to know?”
Lopez: “We talked about past relationships and how you are and...we gave out too much real quick, you know, but it was fun.”
And with hours and hours of filming together, the costars say the intimate details flowed.
Affleck: “Because you know when you aren’t trying to impress someone cause you don’t think that you’re going to be dating them its like, oh this doesn’t matter, I don’t have to impress her. You’ll kind of admit to things.”
Lopez: “He told me all about his ex-girlfriends.”
Affleck: “Ah, turn the volume down on that. So anyways, you know how you like put out a representative, like Chris Rock says, and the representatives meet.”
Lopez: “He wasn’t trying to impress me.”
Affleck: “We could get to know the real person.”
Lopez: “He’s real person, he wasn’t trying to rap to me.”
Affleck: “I haven’t forgotten all that sh*t either.”
Lopez: “Ha, luckily I had nothing bad to tell. Him, on the other hand.” [rolls eyes]
O’Brien: “And when did you realize something was happening here? When did you fall in love?”
Lopez: “You keep asking that. I told you.”
O’Brien: “America needs to know this.”
Lopez: “You can’t pinpoint it. It was like we became friends first, that is the honest-to-god truth.”
The two remained friends after the movie wrapped. Ben even joined Mr. and Mrs. Judd at the opening of her Pasadena restaurant “Madre’s” in April 2002. Just three months later, Jennifer and Judd split, her second divorce. Within another three months, she and Ben were engaged.
O’Brien: “How did you pop the question to her? Traditional way?”
Affleck: “You know there’s some of it that I would like that the details of it are private.”
Lopez: “It’s not private anymore because I told everybody.”
Affleck: “No you didn’t.”
Lopez: “I know I’m terrible. I’m a girl. What do you want from me? I like to talk about these things.”
O’Brien: “I want to know.”
Affleck: “You know, we took the ring out and I asked her to marry, I took the traditional approach.”
It was the proposal heard round the world. And neither Ben nor Jen was ready for the fallout, even though both had been down the road of high profile romances before.
Three years ago, she had Versace draped on her body and Sean “Puffy” Combs on her arm. Their romance was a match made in tabloid heaven, complete with that now infamous nightclub shooting, his arrest, acquittal and their breakup on of all days, Valentine’s Day. But even all that didn’t prepare her for “The Bennifer Show” hype
O’Brien: “Boy you’d think you had enough rehearsal for that with Puffy.”
Lopez: “Well, me and Puffy were in the paper a lot and there was a kind of fascination with that relationship, too, but this was a different level. I felt like I had been in the press enough that I could handle it, but even I felt a little uncomfortable with so many eyes on you watching all your steps and wondering if you’re going to break up or stay and you’ve only been together a few weeks and you’re like whoa!”
And Ben also had his own dress rehearsal five years ago when he dated an Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow.
Affleck: “I went through a lot, a similar type of thing with Gwyneth, not to this degree, but it was something I was the first time, like news about a relationship I was in was on CNN. I thought this world has gone mad now.”
But Ben says his relationship with Jennifer has earned him some major props, not only with his school teacher mom’s sixth graders, but with some old buddies from his hometown.
O’Brien: “What did they say when you started dating Jennifer? Who was the first to call?”
Affleck: [in Boston accent] “‘I got you bro. Listen I don’t mean to get in your business or nothing, but are you really with J.Lo? Tell the truth? Did you have sex with her? Did you tell me the truth? Don’t lie to me.’ I got a couple of guys that haven’t heard from, you know, 10 years from Boston. You were never impressed with anything I’ve ever done in my life until they were like, no sir, Affleck. It can’t be true.”
O’Brien: “Did you have sex with her.”
Affleck: “That’s the question, ‘did you have sex with her? You did? No sir, for real? I can’t believe it, man. I love this. Mom remember Affleck, that skinny kid from down the block?’ So I made good in Boston. That was my crowning achievement.”
LONG ROAD FROM ‘THE BLOCK’
Jennifer Lopez has come a long way from that block in the Bronx, surpassing even her own dreams of stardom. Six years ago, when she broke ground with the film “Selena,” her million dollar salary was a record for a Latina actress. Now, a week shy of her thirty-third birthday, Jennifer Lopez is one of Hollywood’s highest paid actresses period, earning $12 million for her role in “Gigli.”
And all this has made her something of an icon in the Latino community. So it was some homecoming when Jenny came back to the block to do a “Today Show” concert for the kids in her old Bronx neighborhood.
Lopez: “I think it’s important for the Latin community and just for people in general to have all different kinds of people to look up to and to be able to see yourself as a little girl and look up at a screen and say, oh that person’s just like me. That means I can do that, too, or I can do anything I want to do.”
She’s the American dream in spandex and stilettos — or as her proud finance puts it, a symbol that you can make something of yourself no matter where you come from.
Affleck: “This is somebody who nobody ever said like, hey kid, you’re going to be a star. You’ve got what it takes. She didn’t look like how people were supposed to look, she didn’t have the body shape that women were supposed to have, and rather than changing herself or trying to be something else, she said, this is who I am and she believed in herself. It’s a real Horatio Alger story.”
Jennifer Lopez: singer, dancer, actress, and she is also an entrepreneur. She has her own clothing line, accessories and even her own perfume. Being the face of J-Lo, Inc. has landed Ms. Lopez a prestigious spot on Crain’s list of the 100 most powerful minority business leaders in New York. But with power and success comes something else: a reputation. Jennifer Lopez has been branded, she says unfairly, with the dreaded big “D” for diva, who reportedly demands white flowers and candles in her dressing room, a certain thread count on her sheets, and a specific water temperature for her Evian. Hey, even Ben admits he was concerned.
Affleck: “I probably secretly thought like, you know, this is going to be a pain in the ass working with this woman. I’ll try to get through this thing and just, you know. And then it still wasn’t that way, and then at a certain point, I thought that’s a shame, you know what I mean? This woman kind of has a bad rap.”
Lopez: “All I do is really you know go to work and try to be professional and be on time and be prepared. And then you hear all this stuff that people say about you, and yeah, it can be hurtful.”
O’Brien: “Because it gets laughable — the white candles, the thread counts on the sheets, the entourage, right?”
Lopez: “And it’s funny the ones that don’t die, like I’m always...yeah, I think people are always surprised. Like when I go work on a movie or do something, when I show up and it’s just me and my cousin, my assistant and the driver, and they’re like, well, where is everybody else? This is it. It’s just me.”
Jennifer’s defenders say it’s Benny Medina who helped create that J.Lo diva image. Medina was more than a manager. In her last album notes she called him her “man on the front lines, her right hand man.” But last month they had an ugly professional breakup. She not only fired Medina, but is suing him for millions in back commissions, claiming Medina unlawfully acted as her agent on certain deals.
O’Brien: “Why did you erase all that part of your life.”
Lopez: “You know that part of my life is being settled right now and I feel like it’s been a hard situation, but I think in the end it will resolve itself in a good way because Benny and I do care about each other.”
Benny Medina issued a statement to the press in response to the lawsuit filed by his former star client, calling the charges “lies” and added: “Jennifer Lopez, by making false allegations against me, is now trying to add me to the long list of people whom she has used and discarded after she took from them all she could get... I look forward to the opportunity to have the world come to know the real Jennifer Lopez.”
O’Brien: “He said some harsh things about you.”
Lopez: “You know it’s not nice.”
O’Brien: “Not a subject you love.”
Lopez: “No I don’t love the subject because I don’t feel like you have to explain or talk about personal things or business even so much. You know what I mean? I think it’s a lot more simple than everybody makes it out to be.”
As for talk that the other Ben, Mr. Affleck, is behind the Medina firing, he insists he and Jennifer keep their professional lives separate.
Affleck: “It’s not as though I say, you should do this, that or the other thing or she says, you should do this that and the other thing, because I think it’s dangerous in any relationship if you let too much of the professional life intrude.”
These two high powered superstars try to leave the business at the office, Jennifer says they’re homebodies at heart.
O’Brien: “I read this quote.”
Lopez: “Uh oh.”
O’Brien: “Curled under Ben’s arm is where you want to be, ‘those are my favorite places,’ That’s great.”
Lopez: “You’re embarrassing me. Why did I say that? That was girl talk.”
O’Brien: “You like that though.”
Lopez: “I do, that’s my favorite place, you know. But at the end of the day, I really enjoy the safety, security, serenity of family and home. That’s what I love and I’m glad I found somebody who appreciates it just as much. And we are able to enjoy together.”
LIFE OF STARS AT HOME
They’re on screen lovers in “Gigli,” larger than life co-stars, who say even love scenes are work.
Affleck: “Even when we were doing a love scene it was about trying to make it work. I hope that once you get in there and start watching the movie that actually we’re playing two people very different from ourselves. We spent a lot of time being in character on the set.”
Ben and Jen insist working together and living together are two very different productions. When they walk through the front door, they leave all the action behind. This is how Ben and Jen say they really live: It’s Sunday afternoon at the Affleck-Lopez house and like a lot of couples, they like hanging out in sweats, just enjoying each other’s company.
You can catch Ben on the court. He’s not only a die hard sport fan. Don’t get him started on his beloved Celtics and Red Sox. But he’s pretty good playing hoops as well. Yes, the sexiest man alive’s got game.
O’Brien: “Who does wear the pants by the way in this house?”
Lopez: “Ben wears the pants. He definitely wears the pants. [laughter] ... We respect each other.”
Affleck: “I don’t think there’s any — I don’t think anybody has any like interchangeable...”
Lopez: “But I’m traditional in the way that.”
Affleck: “Yes.”
Lopez: “I take on the woman roles in certain things.”
Affleck: “She’s much more traditional than I anticipated she would be kind of when I first met her.”
Lopez: “I like to cook. And I like to make sure he has things. I’m a caretaker.”
O’Brien: “You like make him toast in the morning.”
Lopez: “Whatever. Whatever he’d like.”
And I got a treat: a cooking lesson from Jennifer herself. A Lopez family recipe for Puerto Rican fried chicken cutlets, red beans and rice.
Lopez: “I don’t even think Ben likes me to cook as much as I do. [laughter]”
O’Brien: “No, I’m sure he appreciates it.”
Lopez: “No, he does love it actually. That’s a lie. He does love it. He loves it. He really loves it... he likes everything I make.
O’Brien: “Of course he does.”
Lopez: “I don’t know what his favorite is. I’ve never asked him.”
O’Brien: “The week after your marriage, what will your name be?”
Lopez: “What do you think my name will be? Am I going change it professionally you mean? No. I think I’m going stay with Jennifer Lopez. But my name will be Jennifer Affleck obviously.”
O’Brien: “So what will your stationary say?”
Lopez: “Jennifer Affleck.”
O’Brien: “J.A. That’s J-Aff.”
Lopez: “It doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. but you gotta make sacrifices. [laughter]”
O’Brien: “Actually Jennifer Affleck’s a good name.”
Lopez: “It’s not bad. It’s not bad. I’ll take it.”
O’Brien: “where’s Ben?
Lopez: “Where he always is when I’m cooking. Watching the Red Sox, I’m sure. Ben?”
Affleck: “Yeah... is this is the domestic goddess part of the program?”
O’Brien: “We’ve put this little dinner together for you.”
Lopez: “We?”
Affleck: “Pat, I appreciate that.”
O’Brien: “Yes, we have.”
Affleck: “What is this? Fried fish or chicken? Chicken.”
Lopez: “Chicken.”
Affleck: “Well, I couldn’t see.”
Lopez: “It’s always fried. [laughs]”
O’Brien: “You do dishes Ben?”
Affleck: “When duty calls, yeah. It’s not my favorite thing in the world to do. So now I’m happy if I don’t have to do them. I do do them though.”
Lopez: “I’ve never seen you do them though!”
Affleck: “I don’t like to wash dishes. It’s not my favorite thing, no.”
THE BIG EVENT
O’Brien: “When is your wedding?”
Lopez: “Come on, Pat.”
Affleck: “Bring in the priest.”
Lopez: “Well...”
O’Brien: “Is it this summer, next summer?”
Affleck: “What do you think?”
Lopez: “When should we do it?”
Affleck: “Yeah. I’d say...”
O’Brien: “Do you have a date?”
Lopez: “Yeah, kind of.”
Affleck: “We’re working on something. But we’ll let you know when the time is appropriate.”
O’Brien: “Okay.”
Affleck: “We’ll give you a call.”
O’Brien: “One wedding matter.”
Affleck: “I told you, you can’t come, Pat. I’m not going to go through with you. [laughter] It’s a very small list. It’s very narrow. You’re just on the cusp, you’re a bubble.”
O’Brien: “Can I possibly— can I make that list?”
Affleck: “You could crash.”
O’Brien: “Okay.”
Lopez: “It’s not going to be a thing where we’re trying to hide or anything like that. We’re just— we’re not sure. We don’t feel the need to let people in because it’s boring.”
THE DRESS
O’Brien: “You’re famous for your dresses. Obviously one of the most famous dresses ever at the Grammy’s. What about your wedding dress? Do you remember that dress you wore at the Grammys?”
Affleck: “I’m not— this was the titty dress!”
O’Brien: “What’s wrong with you?”
Affleck: “I knew if I said it that way—”
Lopez: “The titty dress?”
Affleck: “—they can’t put that in the show.”
O’Brien: “It’s like you really wanted to say that.”
Lopez: “They’ll bleep it and put it in, baby. Just to have you saying that on TV.”
Affleck: “The green dress. It was a lovely dress. Beautiful dress. Very nice. Very gorgeous.”
Lopez: “Thank you.”
O’Brien: “So you have to outdo that one.”
Affleck: “Oh, no.”
Lopez: ” No. No. No. It’s not that. No, but I’m having something made.:
Affleck: “Is it green?”
Lopez: “It’s not green.”
Affleck: “It’s not green? Is it— is there a lot of cleavage?”
Lopez: “I don’t really have a lot of cleavage, baby.”
Affleck: “you got the green dress. [laughter]”
THE PAPARAZZI
O’Brien: “Well, how are you going do that though? Seriously, I mean, think about you two guys getting married with the helicopters and the paparazzi and the pictures, the scramble?”
Affleck: “Yeah, because it seems like it’d be so loud. I’ve never been to a—”
Lopez: “I think they do the helicopters when you’re trying to hide and nobody can get close or anything. And I think one of the things that we’re not going do — or maybe I should have discussed this with you? [laughter] Is that —”
Affleck: “We’re always this way.”
Lopez: “No, I think a smart thing to do would be to not make it—”
Affleck: “Invite the paparazzi?”
Lopez: “No. Is not to make it the biggest secret in the world, you know what I mean? If people want to be outside and they want to take our picture, then okay. You know, we’re not going to, you know, be with 24 million security guards that are right there. We want to just be like— have a nice wedding. We want to have it be a beautiful day about what it’s about. And if there happen to be cameras outside then that’s fine, you know. We’re not going to obsess over them.”
Affleck: “Well, I guess we’ve established that then. Guess we worked that out. No, I think the truth is to not change your life one way or another, conform to the dictates of other people. And how that’s perceived, what people might say, what good or bad. Whether there are going to be photographers or not. If I want to go to the movies or get a slice of pizza or whatever, we do that. And if somebody takes a picture and we look just ridiculous slightly then, you know, we do... that why Jennifer keeps me around. She always will look good compared to me, you know what I’m saying? She’s always a glamorous thing and I’m —
Lopez: “There are things obviously that we would keep private. We want to keep the day about our family and about us and about what we’re doing and about the commitment we’re making. That’s what it’s about that day.”
Affleck: “A wonderful little window of domestic tranquility. Isn’t it nice?”
Uh, good luck keeping that wedding private. When “Dateline” was filming right there in their own backyard...
Lopez: “Oh, that’s the paparazzi right there.”
Affleck: “That’s the real fu**ing window in the day of our lives.”
Lopez: “This is crazy. This is private property.”
Affleck: “shh...shh....”
Lopez: “Oh my God, I can’t believe this. The paparazzi right here.”
THE TOAST
O’Brien: “Do you think Matt [Damon] will break down when he makes the toast at the rehearsal dinner?”
Affleck: “He’s a very weepy, weepy man. [laughter]”
Lopez: “Well, actually the best man does the toast.”
Affleck: “The best man does do the toast. That’s true. But it’ll probably be my brother as opposed to Matt. Although—”
Lopez: “Matt can make a toast if he likes, though. [laughter]”
Affleck: “He’s welcome. He’s made many.”
THE FUTURE
O’Brien: “And the most important question: Will this be a Red Sox family or New York Yankees family?”
Affleck: “Yankees? Tell me that’s not a Red Sox family. You know what I’m saying?”
Lopez: “You can’t be involved.”
Affleck: ” I draw a line.”
O’Brien: “How are—”
Lopez: “Well, you should go now.”
Affleck: “You know, you’re not even really a Yankees fan.”
Lopez: “What do you mean?”
Affleck: “You’re father’s a Mets fan—”
Lopez: “My father’s a Mets fan.”
Affleck: “The Mets is fine. I could put up with the Mets. The Mets I could live with. I can’t— pinstripes can’t be in the house.”
O’Brien: “Right.”
Affleck: “Can’t abide it. I can’t.”
O’Brien: “But you—”
Lopez: “Our child will pick whether he wants to be a Yankee or a Red Sock.”
Affleck: “I don’t see— not if he wants to have a father he won’t. [laughter]”
So that’s a scoop. They plan on having kids, and that’s one co-production we can’t wait to see. Until then, for Ben and Jen’s short term plans, they’ll be co-stars once again in “Jersey Girl.” And in just two weeks, on July 30, there is the opening of “Gigli,” where it all began. Whether on-screen or off-screen, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, we’ll be watching. So, will their chemistry on the set morph into magic at the movies? Or end up mixed into the sale bin at Blockbuster? No doubt their fans will be rooting for Jen and Ben and “Gigli,” when it opens later this month. Because as everyone in Hollywood knows, we all love a happy ending.