Here’s an article filled with lots of obvious statements: Ben Affleck now admits that dating J-Lo probably hurt his career. You know what else probably hurt his career? “Gigli.” Yeah, it’s been a while since you heard a “Gigli” joke, huh? I’m right on it. I’ve heard Ben Affleck referred to as the poor man’s Matt Damon, though I think Ben is a lot nicer to look at. But Matt Damon’s got the smarts, and a lot of people (including the writers at “Family Guy” – in whom I place a lot of trust) think that the bulk of “Good Will Hunting” is really attributable to Damon, not Affleck. But Affleck had a few years there when he got a lot more attention – though not necessarily for good things. The worst one, of course, being J-Lo. I kid, I love J-Lo with a ferocity I can’t explain. Really, I have no idea why, but I think she rocks the monkey. But there’s no denying that dating her really didn’t help Affleck’s career, and made him come across more as a playboy and a dilettante than a legitimate actor and writer. Ben gave an interview with this month’s “Details” where he talks about some of his mistakes. The best part of the interview? Affleck was late. Why? His German Shepard got into a container of Metamucil and got sick all over the house. I’ve been there, my friend. I’ve been there.

On dating Jennifer Lopez:
“It was probably bad for my career. What happens is this sort of bleed-over from the tabloids across your movie work. You go to a movie, you only go once. But the tabloids and Internet are everywhere. You can really subsume the public image of somebody. I ended up in an unfortunate crosshair position where I was in a relationship and [the media] mostly lied and inflated a bunch of salacious stuff for the sake of selling magazines. And I paid a certain price for that. Then, in concert with some movies that didn’t work…”

On Gone Baby Gone:
“I feel like (Gone Baby Gone) is the linchpin for my life. My career. I have a lot riding on it. I want [the film] to work. Badly. I mean, a shitty movie comes out on 2,800 screens? I’ve been there and it’s embarrassing.”

On why he likes directing:
“That’s why there’s something really great about directing-about having authorship over something. If you don’t like this movie, I’m the guy to see. I’m the guy to criticize. I take some measure of comfort in that. It’s fair, at least.”

On his directorial debut:
“Listen, I’ve gone out and directed a movie and made it really f—king good. If the movie’s good, people will like it and go see it. All the rest of it is bullshit.”

On what’s at stake with his new film:
“It’s pretty simple. If people don’t go see it – I’m f—ked.”

On his decision to direct:
“I guess I just thought, I’ve seen it done enough. I’ve been on the sets enough. I’m a writer. An amateur photographer. An actor. I guess I just thought the sum of these parts would come together and I’d be able to do it.”

On living in L.A.:
“I’d be surprised if I’m still living here in a couple of years. Professionally it would be difficult. But that’s not as important as that other thing.”

[From Us Weekly]

Oh Ben. You’re sort of a hack, but I still love you. And I’ve been told by many of our readers that I have to love your wife or they’ll kick me, so I love her too. Whatever happened to all those rumors that he was going to run for the senate? Those were clearly post J-Lo rumors, during the current Jennifer Garner administration. I was wondering how those would gel with all those “I’ve spent too much time at the Playboy Mansion” rumors. I’m guessing that having dated J-Lo is about the same as having killed a hooker, in terms of political weight. Maybe he’s coming forward and admitting his mistakes so he can move on. And clean up that Metamucil.

Picture Note by Jaybird: Here’s Ben looking surprisingly thin at the Annual Deauville American Film Festival on September 9th. Images thanks to PR Photos.

Everyone loves Jennifer Garner, or so it seems. She does seem cute and nice, though I once saw her on the Tonight Show and she came across as pretty ditzy. Maybe she was having an off night. Or maybe Ben Affleck doesn’t check his potential spouse’s IQ scores. I’m guess the former… or not. Alright I know I’m going to get yelled at, so I think she’s lovely, and if nothing else very down to earth and not too Hollywood. Garner recently gave an interview to “Marie Claire” in which she talked about how much she loves motherhood, despite her boobs sending her to the hospital as a direct result of her baby daughter Violet. That’s right, the kid is clearly out to get her.

“Garner nursed Violet during the filming of ‘The Kingdom,’ co-starring Jamie Foxx, which opens in theaters Friday. Garner says she found herself staggered by the heat on the Arizona set.

“‘I checked with a pediatrician, I checked with my gynecologist,’ she recalls, ‘and they said, “Breast-feeding? You’ll be fine. Just drink plenty of water.” But the rules when it’s 138 degrees are different. … It sent me to the hospital a couple of times.’

“‘I guess I was getting heatstroke,’ she says. ‘All my electrolytes were going to the baby - I wasn’t keeping any of the potassium in my body.’

“‘I made it through, though,’ says Garner, who nursed Violet for 14 months. ‘I really didn’t want to give up, and I didn’t.’”

[From the Washington Post]

So Jennifer Garner goes to the hospital with “heatstroke” and no one reports on it, but all those other celeb tartlets have to go to the ER for “exhaustion” and it’s all over the tabloids? So not fair, you know it wasn’t heatstroke, she was soused. I kid, I kid, she’s clearly a super devoted mother. Garner also says her job is great because it lets her be a devoted mother, while working in relatively short, concentrated bursts.

“Jennifer Garner, who stars in the upcoming film, ‘The Kingdom,’ says she’s grateful that she can balance her career with motherhood.

“‘My job is great to have as a mom,’ she tells Marie Claire magazine in its October issue. ‘I get to take long breaks and then work hard in a really concentrated way.’

“Garner wed Ben Affleck in June 2005. Their daughter, Violet, will be 2 on Dec. 1.

“‘She’s pretty awesome. We’re in that sweet spot before the `terrible twos,’” the 35-year-old actress says. ‘We definitely wonder what it would be like to have another - hopefully, knock on wood, someday.’”

[From the Washington Post]

Aww, how sweet. Violet is an extra cute baby. Which is kind of hard to do, it’s like being an extra-fluffy cloud or something. Although with jeans like that, what can you expect. Of all the celebrity babies born in the last few years, I’m putting my money on Violet Affleck as the most likely to come out relatively normal. I know Ben has some issues, but they don’t seem that big and Jennifer seems like a normalizing force in Ben’s life, and likely Violet’s too.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Jennifer Garner and Violet are shown in Brentwood, CA on 8/20 thanks to Splash News.

Ben Affleck is a talented poker player who has won multiple tournaments, including the California State Poker Championship in 2004, in which he took home $356,000 to add to his immense wealth from appearing in crappy action movies.

He’s curbed his trips to Vegas after marrying the lovely Jennifer Garner, and now makes due playing online poker. He’s getting addicted to it, though, and is said to be spending four nights a week playing the game, and wasting up to $20,000 a night. His wife is pissed and wants him to quit.

Ben Affleck loves poker, but he could be about to take his biggest gamble yet - with his marriage to Jennifer Garner! “She frowns on the game, so he swore off poker completely,” says a source. “Ben didn’t want to miss out on any family time with Jen or their daughter, Violet.” But two years after they wed, the couple is settled into married life, and the routine seems to be getting a little boring. “Ben decided to reopen some old online accounts and is back to playing the game on his computer about four nights a week,” says the source. “He wants to really master it.” Unfortunately, mastering poker likely means lot family time - and money. He sometimes drops up to $20,00 a night! “Their marriage is going strong, but she wants him to stop before it could cause a problem between them.”

[From Star Magazine, print edition, September 24, 2007]

Affleck blowing $80g a week is like my husband gambling away a couple of hundred bucks a month. It would annoy me if I found out about it, but it’s not like it would break the bank.

It’s telling that the most scandalous story about these two after two years of marriage is the fact that Affleck likes to play poker online. That’s a pretty tame hobby if he can afford it, and it’s not like he’s hurting anyone. He was once known for enjoying the company of strippers and hookers and partying too hard. Now he’s sitting at home betting online.

Garner might be a little miffed but she’s probably not that bothered by it. It’s not like he’s going out drinking or headed to Vegas where you know the cocktail waitresses would be all over him, especially considering how good a tipper he’s said to be. These two will work it out. I would say they’re the most well respected celebrity couple, and that’s because they’re refreshingly normal and seem down to earth. It kind of makes me like Affleck more to hear that he’s jonesing to gamble online. I know it can be a serious problem, but I can relate to computer addiction.

Affleck is shown in the header image on the set of “He’s Just Not That Into You” today. I love his expression. Thanks to Splash News for this picture.

Just days after the release of Ben Afflecks latest venture, a movie he directed about a child who goes missing, was postponed because of similarities to the Madeleine McCann case, suddenly we have talk about who will be playing her parents in a movie.

Australian actors Cate Blanchett and Russell Crowe have been tipped to star in a movie about missing English toddler Madeleine McCann.

At least two movie studios are believed to be planning dramatisations of the saga surrounding the four-year-old’s disappearance from her family’s holiday apartment in Portugal in May.

The Daily Express said studio executives were “beginning to whisper” about possible A-list names to play Madeleine’s parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, who have been named as suspects in the case by Portuguese police.

“Obviously, it’s not something that people are going to be making a lot of noise about yet as the investigation is still continuing - anyone who spoke publicly about such a project would come in for a great deal of criticism,” an unnamed movie insider told the newspaper.

Sydney Morning Herald

Interestingly, the two actors considered for the role are Australian, which is the country where the Lindy ‘a dingo ate my baby’ Chamberlain case was tried in the 1980’s. Lindy was found innocent of killing her daughter after six years in jail when it was found evidence in the car was false. There are articles circulating about the similarities between the two cases. There have been multiple movies made about Azaria Chamberlain, so I wonder if the rumour has come about because the cases are similar?

Apart from being considered for a movie or two, Russell Crowe has been a busy man this week – going and supporting an American football team with a pep talk.

He also made a big impression on the University of Michigan football players, who were treated to a pregame speech last Saturday by Crowe, a friend of coach Lloyd Carr.

“I didn’t really know what to expect,” Michigan tailback Mike Hart said. “He was a cool guy. He was funny. Those kinds of guys you think they’d be more uptight, more serious all the time. He was kind of laid back. He looked like he had a good time.”

Added linebacker Shawn Crable: “You see him in ‘Gladiator,’ then he comes in and he has this Australian accent. It’s like, where did that come from? It’s different, calling people blokes and stuff.”

Crable said that Crowe delivered a message - in the Australian accent, of course - about playing as one.

“His speech was nice,” Crable said. “It got us fired up.”

After watching Michigan’s 38-0 win over Notre Dame, Crowe participated in the postgame news conference, then went out to dinner that night with Carr, the coach said.

mlive.com

For those of you wanting to know why he’s there, it’s probably because he owns an Aussie rugby league team. They’re called the Rabbitohs, and I’m not entirely sure what role he plays as their owner, but I can tell you he’s trying to eliminate the gambling machines from the club bar and made it a more traditional bar with bands and beer. Maybe to improve the venue, maybe just to get a venue for his lame band to play in.

Matt Damon was flanked by the two women in his life, his mother and his wife, at the premiere of The Bourne Ultimatum in Hollywood last night. It will be the third installment in the excellent Bourne series, and will be the last starring Damon. He has ruled out appearing in another sequel:

Amidst telling the press that he feels “a bit like a prostitute for putting out two number threes in one year” (to which George Clooney added, “That’s better than three number twos”), Damon said (regarding the Bourne franchise): “I’m definitely done with that. I think we’ve ridden that horse as far as we can. The character lives on in the books and if someone else wanted to play it, I guess they could.”

[Cinematical.com]

To me the Bourne series is so excellent that I don’t think it would hurt Damon’s career to continue playing the character. You can see why he’d want to move on, though.

Damon credits the first Bourne movie, The Bourne Identity, with saving his career. He says he was working in theater, hadn’t done a film in six months before it came out and that his last two movies had tanked. After the film came out to box office and critical acclaim he started getting offers again.

He also says it was harder to play action hero this time around. He said when the first movie came out he was 29, and that at 36 he “felt his age” when working on some of the fight scenes for Ultimatum.

He said: “There was a huge difference in the fighting stuff. The first movie, ‘The Bourne Identity’, came out when I was 29. For the third one I was 36 and I definitely felt my age.

“In one big fight scene in Tangiers, Joey Ansah, the guy I’m fighting, is only 23. He would have been in high school when the first film came out!”

[From Monsters and Critics]

The Bourne Ultimatum is out in theaters on August 3.

Here are pictures from the premiere including Julia Stiles, Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck. Thanks to Splash News and PRPhotos.

Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Jennifer Garner, Jason Biggs and Sarah Silverman are amond the celebrities that appear in a series of new videos promoting the use of cleaner-burning fuels. There are three ads out produced by the Center for American Progress Action Fund that feature a dorky guy named Phin, a “lone citizen for change” who gets awkward help from the celebrities in his quest. Affleck is featured in the first ad, while Jason Biggs is in the third. Silverman, Damon and Garner will appear in the upcoming segments. The ads are kind of goofy, but if you watch them you get the point and they are entertaining. If you want to learn more about exactly what they’re proposing, it’s in the second video below and/or you can visit their website, CleanMyRide.org.

They want to increase mileage requirements for automobiles in the US and make ethanol and “flex fuel” available at more gas stations.

This seems completely reasonable and attainable, but it will take work and advocacy. In Europe you can get biodiesel gas all over the place. Biodiesel is usually a little less expensive at the pump than regular diesel in Germany. It’s made from vegetable oil such as rapeseed oil, and it has 60% less CO2 emissions than standard diesel, as well as a lot of other environmental benefits. We have more deisel cars here, and there’s a real push to use alternative fuels and cars that get better MPG because gas is so much more expensive. Maybe if Americans started to feel the pinch too they would be more supportive of measures to fund and use alternative fuels.

To learn more and see the new video spots when they’re out you can visit the website CleanMyRide.org

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner look like everything is fine in their marriage as they reunite in Vancouver and take their daughter Violet, 15 months, out for a walk. Affleck looks happy and doesn’t seem to be bothered by the paparazzi taking pictures of him in the wake of his mini-scandal involving the crappy tell all book (link not for under 18) by the celebrity madam who claims he was a client nearly ten years ago. The news hit last Wednesday and seems to have died down over the weekend.

Garner is currently filming the movie Juno in Vancouver, about an teen’s unplanned pregnancy. It stars Ellen Page.

Pictures thanks to FlyNetOnline.

Jennifer Garner posed with everyone except her husband, Ben Affleck, at the LA premiere of her new movie, Catch and Release, last night. She was seen with co-starts wacky Juliette Lewis, Timothy Olyphant, producer JJ Abrams, and Victor Garber.

People diss Garner for supposedly not being drop dead gorgeous, and some say she has a “man face” and call her mean names, but she’s easily my favorite celebrity. She’s nice without being fake or cloying, and she seems like a genuinely kind, happy person. I also think she’s quite pretty and doesn’t look like she had a lot of work done. Her Golden Globes dress didn’t fit her thin frame perfectly, but it wasn’t fugly or anything. This dress isn’t doing her any favors, either, and in one of these pics with Victor Garber she seems to notice that it’s falling down.

I don’t know why people have a problem with her. The most scandalous thing about her is that she was divorced from her first husband, I guess, and some find that boring. Give me boring mom Garner over the teenage-acting trainwrecks any day.

Catch and Release is the story of woman rebuilding her life after her husband dies and finding herself with the help of her friends. It is out in theaters on January 26.

Here’s the trailer. It looks cheesy but I think I would like it.

Pictures from GossipRocks.

Smoking Aces had its premier last night in Hollywood at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. Stars in attendance included Ben Affleck, Ryan Reynolds, whiny Kanye West, Elizabeth Banks, Jenna Dewan, Alicia Keys, Amanda Peet, Chris Pine, and Andy Garcia.

I’ve never heard of this guy Chris Pine before, but he is fine. Also, isn’t Amanda Peet pregnant? I would have liked to see some bump pictures. She is so cute on Studio 60.

Here’s the plot summary from IMDB:

An FBI agent (Reynolds) hunts for a Las Vegas stand up comedian (Piven) who has decided to squeal on the mob but, before he heads off for protective custody, decides to go to the casinos at Lake Tahoe for one last good time, drawing a crowd of assassins (including Affleck and Keys).

I wonder why Jeremy Piven wasn’t photographed at the premiere?

And here’s a teaser trailer:

Advance buzz is not good for this film, which is said to be overly violent and unoriginal. Smoking Aces is out in theaters on 1/26.

Update: pictures removed due to end of subscription agreement with photo agency.

Hot mom Jennifer Garner looks great in a tight purple dress at the GQ Magazine Men of the Year celebration last night.

Her husband Ben Affleck recently told Ellen Degeneres that he wants more kids when she asked about it, but he didn’t set a number. Ellen tried to get him to say five or six kids, but he said “I should probably talk to my wife before I talk to you.”

Here’s the video of Ben telling Ellen he wants more kids.

Ben also spoke candidly about taking a break after his PR debacle (link lead to video) with J.Lo and Gigli, and said “I took about a couple of years off. I mean, definitely a full year where I didn’t do anything, and I did this [Hollywoodland], and then the rest of the time I spent directing a movie, but it was… I got a little bit sort of exhausted of uh - myself, and you know, and my life, and so I wanted to try to control it or manage it or look at it differently or try to figure out like what do I really want to do, and who am I really and not looking through a reflection of a magazine or being defined by someone else. So it was good for me and good things happened for me.”

Affleck certainly changed his public image during his hiatus. He seems a lot happier and down to earth now and his career is sure to take off.

Here’s Garner last night. Thanks to Hollywood’s Best for these pictures.