Do you remember Gigli (Troubled loves in French version), the romantic comedy with Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez released in 2003? Probably not. And for good reason, since the film was one of the biggest flops of the 2000s. Nevertheless, if this failure was a hard blow for Ben Affleck, it was also the occasion for a salutary questioning as well as a decisive encounter.
“For a film that was such a famous disaster, very few people actually saw it,” the actor first defended himself in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, before admitting: “ But it’s true that it doesn’t work. It’s a bit like putting a horse’s head on a cow’s body. »
The bright side
“I thought my job (as an actor) was just to be a flimsy puppet. Now I can see how people viewed me and this person as some kind of mindless, careless greenhorn. It produced negative preconceptions among people about me. It was that aspect of people that I got to see and it was sad, difficult, depressing and it really made me question things and doubt myself,” Ben Affleck continued.
Nevertheless Gigli was a milestone for the actor. Not only was it the opportunity to meet Jennifer Lopez with whom he had a first romance, but also to closely observe the work of director Martin Brest. An experience that then led him to take flight behind the camera, directing being today “the true love of his professional life”.