Movies

Ben Affleck Open To Reuniting With Kevin Smith For 'Jay And Silent Bob Reboot', But It Might Be Too Late

Ben Affleck in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot
By Ethan Anderton

This month, Kevin Smith has been busy shooting Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. The film will act as a reboot/remake/sequel to Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, but as we've seen in various set photo revelations and production diaries, this is also a way for Kevin Smith to revisit his old movies and friends from the View Askewniverse (including Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, and Clerks II). But there's been one face from Kevin Smith's that everyone has assumed wouldn't return.

Kevin Smith used to be great friends with Ben Affleck. The director even helped boost Affleck's career as a leading man thanks to Chasing Amy. However, the last time they worked together was Clerks II in 2006, and over the years, Smith has made it clear that he and Affleck really weren't friends anymore. However, it sounds like Affleck is open to burying the hatchet if there's an opportunity. The only problem is it might be too late.

Ben Affleck was recently interviewed by Collider while making the publicity rounds for the Netflix movie Triple Frontier. Thankfully, they were bold enough to ask whether Affleck's douchebag Mallrats character Shannon Hamilton or the Bluntman and Chronic co-creator Holden McNeil from Chasing Amy would make a comeback. Affleck gave a somewhat surprising answer:

"I haven't been asked to make an appearance but you never know, there's still time. We'll see. I think if it was up to me, I would rather do Holden than Shannon, but I would defer to Kevin."

That could be Affleck merely being friendly on the publicity circuit instead of actually wanting to reconcile with Kevin Smith, but maybe he would like to rekindle the friendship they used to have. At the very least he didn't outright say no and even left it up to Kevin which role he might like Affleck to reprise.

If you don't know why Smith and Affleck haven't been friendly in a long time, Ranker has a great timeline of events that provide some background details involving Smith putting his foot in his mouth various times and making a bad impression on Affleck's ex-wife Jennifer Garner (who co-starred in the movie Catch and Release with Smith) when their romance was just starting.

Sadly, it sounds like Ben Affleck making a Jay and Silent Bob Reboot cameo might not be in the cards anymore. Kevin Smith posted this to Twitter this morning:

That doesn't mean it's impossible for Ben Affleck to make an appearance in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. Surely there are reshoots that will need to take place at some point. But this does make it a little more difficult. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

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