Jennifer Garner: ‘It’s my turn and I’m going to go to work this spring’

2015 Roundabout Theatre Company Spring Gala - Arrivals
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner have an arrangement, similar to Brad and Angelina (although Brad and Angelina are no longer as stringent about it), where if one of them is working the other tries to be available to stay home with their children. Affleck mentioned this during a speech in 2012 in which he bemoaned the fact that his wife’s work schedule kept him from directing the Showtime hit Homeland. He said that “my wife and I have an arrangement where when she works, I don’t work and when I work, she doesn’t work.” Affleck has also said that he’d much rather be working than staying at home being a dad, although he does do that sometimes due to the arrangement with his wife.

That’s why, when Jennifer Garner goes back to work, she gets super excited and talks about it like it’s a great opportunity. It makes me a little sad for her, but then I remember her acting and don’t feel so bad. Anyway Garner is promoting her film Danny Collins, which stars Al Pacino as a famous musician trying to find himself in his twilight years. It also features Annette Bening, Christopher Plummer and Bobby Cannavale. Garner plays the wife of Pacino’s long lost son, Cannavale. You can see the trailer here and the film is out March 20. Here’s some of what Garner said in a recent press conference for the movie:

“I’ve been home for a long time,” Garner spilled. “It’s my turn and I’m going to go to work this spring. I think I’ll work the spring and summer, maybe the fall too, as long as some of it’s at home. I don’t think my deals are done yet so I can’t say, but yeah, I’m about to go to work.”

“I really choose by what I like,” Garner said at the Danny Collins event on Sunday, March 1. “I thought Alexander was a super smart script. Just [costar] Steve [Carell] alone would have been enough, gosh I love working with that guy, he’s just the best.”

“I have had the best luck with costars, I’m just saying. And I’ve only married a couple of them,” Garner continued, joking about Affleck, whom she met on the set of the movie Pearl Harbor, and first husband Scott Foley, whom she started dating after working together on the classic series Felicity. “But yeah that was fun for me. My kids really got a lot of juice out of the fact that I was in that movie. I heard about a little kid saying to their mom the other day at school. The mom said something about Ben and the little kid said no Sera’s mom is a movie star, and her dad just comes along. I was like that’s awesome, because she saw Alexander.”

“Ben is super busy and I’m super happy for him,” the Valentine’s Day star said. “I chose to stay home this year and just said, ‘Go for it babe. Do it all. Do Gone Girl, do Batman, do The Accountant. Do everything.’ I want that for him and I’m happy for him. And he says the same to me. Except that he’s really busy. But he understands that when I really have to do it, we figure it out.”

“You’d be amazed how we figure it out,” she added. “I’ve never been away for more than I think four days. Maybe once I was gone for my kids for five days… I sit down at the beginning of the movie and say to the people making the schedule, ‘Let’s look at this.’ Then I figure out where I’m going to take the kid and when I can get home.”

[From US Magazine]

Those two figure it out because they have a lot of help, but they do mention that occasionally. No shade on having help and good for them for being there for their kids if that’s what they want to do. If they both want to work, that’s fine too. I get the impression that Ben would like to work at all times and that Garner makes him get a taste of life with the kids so he realizes how hard it is.

Here’s a photo of Garner out for a walk on 2-7. I’m pretty sure that’s her nanny and that she’s had the same nanny for four years, which is awesome for her kids.
Jennifer Garner Out For A Walk With A Friend

2015 Roundabout Theatre Company Spring Gala - Arrivals

Photo credit: WENN.com, FameFlynet and Getty Images

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43 Responses to “Jennifer Garner: ‘It’s my turn and I’m going to go to work this spring’”

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  1. Bea says:

    It’s hard to find a good nanny, you’ve got to hold on to them if you find a good one. Smart lady.

  2. Div says:

    Um, I actually think she’s a good actress and can be incredibly charming on screen a la Emma Stone. She never really took advantage though of her upswing when she had 13 going on 30 and Alias. She also was probably getting some decent offers post Dallas Buyers Club but instead picked some so so family film. She doesn’t ways pick the best movies to do

    • Dońt kill me i'm french says:

      Juno. She was very good in Juno

    • Mia4S says:

      She’s an incredibly limited actress. Not bad, just limited. No real range, but that hasn’t stopped many of them!

      She sounds so grateful it’s a bit sad. Frankly she’s going to have a tough time these next few years. The top brass want Affleck pumping out Batman appearances, Affleck’s going to want time for directing, and let’s face it, no one at the studios cares a bit about her working. At all. I feel a bit bad for her.

    • Luca76 says:

      I loved her in Alias but she’s been terrible in every movie I’ve seen her in or just sort of ‘there’ I’m pretty sure the star power she showed in Alias was just because JJ Abrahams made her look good. I didn’t see Dallas Buyers Club but she didn’t get good reviews for her performance. Affleck isn’t really a good actor either and should really stay behind the camera.
      Still Ben A just seems like such a selfish pig.

      • bettyrose says:

        Yeah Alias was great. But tv still sucked back then so anything semi original felt great. Then cable and Netflix taught us how great tv can be.

      • paranormalgirl says:

        Actually, she got pretty good reviews for her performance in Dallas Buyers Club.

    • Bea says:

      I like her face. She’s the female Hugh Grant for me, if she’s in a rom-com I’m watching it no matter how shitty it is.

  3. Sabrine says:

    Oh right, their lives are so hard. They have no idea what life is like in the real world.

    • Esmom says:

      I didn’t get that attitude from her at all. In fact I think she’s pretty good at recognizing how fortunate she is to have these “problems.”

  4. Dońt kill me i'm french says:

    It smells the revolt of the desesperate housewife

  5. tracking says:

    I’m not familiar enough with her work to comment on her talent, but this arrangement seems a little sad to me. So unbalanced. But I suppose if she’s able to do the occasional project that is meaningful to her and that works for her, then good for her. She does seem like a really excellent parent.

    • SamiHami says:

      I think it’ s a matter of choosing what’s important to you. I firmly believe we can all have it all, but just not all at once. It’s important to her to be a hands on parent while her children are young, therefore she can’t take on as much work as she would if she didn’t have kids. Perhaps her thinking is that she has time to act later on when the kids are older and less dependent on her. She and her husband are rich, so it’s not like she needs to work to survive financially. I can foresee her in 10-15 years taking on smaller character roles and being successful at it.

      • Esmom says:

        Yes, I tend to agree. You’ll never get the time back when the kids are little. It’s so precious and goes so fast.

      • lucy2 says:

        I could see that too. Right now the kids are young, and she seems to enjoy staying home with them. Plus Ben’s career is at a high point right now, so I think it may be a little unbalanced, workwise, for them for a bit.

  6. Maya says:

    If all the Jennifer’s in Hollywood – Garner is the one I like most.

    She seems a nice woman who loves her children.

    Although her cheating with Ben while she was married to Scott and Ben engaged to JLo does bring her down in my estimation.

    PS: Angelina and Brad managed to keep the agreement for a decade and only has to work seperately during Fury and Unbroken shooting. Unbroken had to be pushed back 4 months because of Louis’s declining health.

    By the Sea the worked together while the children were in class.

    Angelina only has Africa (Meryl Streep is rumoured to be joining as Leakey’s mother) at the moment while Brad has 3 other movies lined up. They are doing a brilliant job so far to work their schedule around the children. Plus I remember them saying that they always eat dinner together at 6 – no matter what.

    • Merritt says:

      “Although her cheating with Ben while she was married to Scott and Ben engaged to JLo does bring her down in my estimation.”

      I’m pretty sure Jen was officially separated from Scott and dating Michael Vartan, when she and Ben got together. No wonder Ben doesn’t like her to have male friends. For all the rumors of Ben’s cheating, she could probably give him a taste of his own medicine if the rumors are true.

      • Diana B says:

        Mmm Michael Vartan… so yummy. Jen you should have stayed with him. Affleck just doesn’t cut it.

  7. Tanguerita says:

    Garner is such a crappy actress. She would be better off a s a stay at home mom.

  8. Jayna says:

    In the interview of read of her before she said it is Ben who pushes her to take roles, like the one with Matthew McConaughey, which she was going to turn down. She said she gets stuck in mommy mode and is so happy at home being a mom at this point in her life and just at home with them, but he tells her he sees the difference in her when she’s working on set and so encourages her to take this or that, not to worry, they will work it out. Her mom has helped Ben when she is away.

    She said once that Ben is right, once she is back on a movie set she loves it and it is good for her creatively and the experience of working with fellow actors and directors. She sad it’s hard at first being away from the children, sobbed the first time away from Sam when he was little, but she comes home on weekends or he brings them to her. She takes movies with much shorter shooting times as far as her role in it. So that she works just enough for it to be enjoyable but that being home with her children is the priority and what makes her happiest. She doesn’t take three-month movie shoots or hadn’t while the children are young. One was just three weeks, I remember.

    I’ve always gotten that it’s Ben who encourages her, not that he puts up with it. He wants it for her.

    I thought he turned down the role as director on HBO because she put her foot down that it would long term take too much time away from the family, so he turned it down, which worked out in the end. Later he got Argo..

    • Mia4S says:

      You do realize she always tailors her interviews to be very “Minivan” friendly? The Mommy magazines are the only thing keeping her relevant. I don’t necessarily fault her for that, her husband who I believe she loves struggles with substance abuse and gambling addiction. He would be quite happy for her to stay home, that’s clear from his interviews. She’s in a tough spot, I feel for her but I’m also not going to smile along with the fantasy.

    • MrsBPitt says:

      @Jayna….You should know by now, there is no defending Ben to most of the people here. They will always believe the worst of him. He is a cheater, he is a drunk, he is a drug addict, he keeps his wife chained to the house, he is never with his kids…even though, I haven’t seen him stumbling our of bars or giving out awards slurring his words, like Johnny Depp. My Dad really enjoyed playing cards and gambling, but he was careful of the money he spent, (I’m sure Ben doesn’t need, too) and yet, he was an awesome Dad. In pictures, he seems very loving and protective of his children.

      Maybe years ago, when he was younger, he had a reputation as a drinker, and womanizer, but I haven’t seen any proof of anything scandalous since his marriage (and one picture, on set, talking and laughing with Blake Lively, does not an affair make). It seems to me that some other big star had a reputation of being wild and doing drugs and sleeping around when she was young…oh yes, Saint Angie (and I love and respect Angie)…but she has matured and grown, since those days. I don’t understand why people can’t give Ben the benefit of the doubt that he has matured and grown, too!

      • Jayna says:

        LOL Mrs.Pitt, You’re right. I give up.

        Poor Jen, married to an awful, selfish man, who is a drug addict and drunk and cheats nonstop, and doesn’t care about her at all, just a baby-maker so tied to her and doesn’t like being a father.

        How did I not see this clear evidence? Thanks CB’ers for enlightening me.

      • Bridget says:

        Has your dad been kicked out of a casino for counting cards?

  9. Jets says:

    I used to think that Jen was a good actress during her Alias days and when I watched Juno, now I think she is crap, her facial expressions are distracting and so is her baby voice, you can’t really take someone with a baby voice seriously… weird because when she played Sydney Bristow she disappeared into that role, maybe it helped that I didn’t see he as a celebrity, which is all I see her as now, a celebrity not an actress, but good for her, I wish her well, she’ll need a semblance of a career when Ben Affleck leaves her in the dust for someone new. Everyone knows he cheats, he just hasn’t been caught yet, but he will. The silver lining would be his career crashing from scandal and her career rising from public sympathy and maybe some decent roles finally.

  10. Rhiley says:

    She does have really good luck with costars which has really helped her in the long run. The fact that Victor Garber thinks of her as a daughter really says a lot about her, I think. She is a little boring, but it is is rather refreshing, and I like to think that she is probably, genuinely a very nice, down to earth person.

  11. frivolity says:

    Cue the Diana Ross music …

  12. kate2 says:

    She makes it seem as though she hasn’t worked in years. She’s made multiple films and done endorsement work, made appearances, etc. since she had her last child.

    • KellyBee says:

      Your right her comment “it my time to wotk now” makes no sense. She filmed 5 movies since her son was born 3 years ago. I agree I don’t know why she trying to make it sound like she hasn’t work in years.

    • Bridget says:

      Ben’s worked back to back to back projects and they’re supposed to alternate.

  13. DarkSparkle says:

    I LOVED her in Butter, she sustains the best Michelle Bachman Turner Overdrive in that odd little movie.

  14. Catelina says:

    I don’t know much about her career, but is there a reason everyone on this site thinks that Ben is being selfish about this arrangement? Nobody accuses Brad or Angie of being ‘selfish’ when one of them is working while the other is “stuck” at home with the kids. Jennifer has made several movies since having a child. Is it Ben’s fault that his projects tend to get much more attention and coverage and that his work is generally better recieved? I’m not a Ben fan in particular but some of the vitriol towards him seems a little uncalled for. Or am I missing something?

  15. Mar says:

    That kind of bangs does not favour her at all!!!

  16. Kelly says:

    But she has been working and has had at least 2 films released over the past year. I thought that she had said having kids for a woman means they are completely fulfilled? Why doesn’t she spare us her bad acting then and stay home and be fulfilled.

    • Jane says:

      She is working but really small projects to keep her name out there and nothing fantastic because she tried not to stay away too long from the kids. For you to say, bad acting is unfair. She takes what she can get that will fit her lifestyle and therefore, the roles are not challenging enough. She chose to take a back seat for Affleck. I think she is miscast for most of the projects like Draft Day and Dallas Buyers Club. Have you seen Selena on Wigs? You could find it in YouTube. She was great!

      • rosalie says:

        For you to say, bad acting is unfair. She takes what she can get that will fit her lifestyle and therefore, the roles are not challenging enough.
        ——————————————————————————–

        Huh?? How do you explain highly regarded actresses like Nicole Kidman & Naomi Watts saying they are very selective about projects they take on due to family obligations and yet they consistently produce quality work?? Most of the films Garner is in are dogs and those that have done well have succeeded in spite of her.

  17. M.J. says:

    I enjoy her in movies, she has a warmth to her and is very likeable.

  18. Sirsnarksalot says:

    I am pretty sure she made sure not to work when Ben was so that she could keep an eye on him and his wandering dong. I think she has given up on him being faithful and recognizes that she can’t make him stop. So she’s going back to work to try to get her career restarted so she has some money coming in that’s hers and is planning an exit strategy. I predict a divorce announcement withint the next year….

    • Tiffany says:

      I don’t think so. She worked too hard to become Mrs. Affleck and come hell or high water she will hang on until the very end, and by that when Ben leaves her.

  19. irm says:

    13 going on 30 is one of the best rom com/family movies! love her for that…(: