When director Kevin Smith put Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez into another film as husband and wife he never realised what might happen next. Steve Pratt talks to Smith as he found himself doing publicity without the benefit of 'Bennifer'.

CASTING real life lovebirds Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez in his movie Jersey Girl probably seemed a good idea at the time to writer-director Kevin Smith.

He and Affleck have a successful history of working together - this marks their fifth association following movies including Chasing Amy and Dogma.

So Lopez was cast as Affleck's on-screen wife who dies within 15 minutes of the start of the movie, leaving his character to raise their young daughter on his own.

He'd reckoned without the Bennifer affair in which the couple's on-off romance, coupled with the box office failure of their film Gigli, did little for either performer's reputation.

As if that wasn't enough, Affleck missed the London premiere of Jersey Girl because he was in hospital suffering from bronchitis. Then, a few days later, Lopez wed dancer Marc Anthony.

All of which left Smith and his eight-year-old leading lady Raquel Castro to promote the movie on their own while trying to pretend that Bennifer never happened.

At least Smith retains a sense of humour about the whole affair. When Castro relates asking if her two pet ferrets could be written into the script, he explains that wasn't possible because Affleck had already brought his "pet" to the set.

For Smith, Jersey Girl marks a departure as it's a romantic comedy with none of the four-letter word dialogue that's been a part of his previous movies. God forbid that anyone suggests he's grown up. Wasn't Chasing Amy - about a comic book artist attracted to a lesbian - an adult movie?, he asks.

"But for me, it's my most personal movie although my wife never died, thank God," he says. "I handed her the script and said, 'it's a valentine to you' and she said, 'you kill my character in the first 15 minutes and then end up with Liv Tyler.' It's really my valentine to my kid."

Finding the right young actress to play Affleck's daughter Gertie wasn't easy. The casting director brought some 100 to 200 children for Smith to see. "We chose Gertie because she bears a striking resemblance to Jennifer Lopez and she turned out okay," says Smith.

"Don't work with children and animals is only true to some degree. I would work with this kid again. We worked with a monkey, I would not work with the monkey again."

He believes he knows how to get the best out of Affleck. "His great strength as a screen actor is he never misses a press conference," he says in a reference to Affleck's illness.

"When used correctly, he's kind of charming. The problem is they tend to put a gun in his hand and tell him to save the world. I think he's best when he's closer to himself. When I'm writing, I write as Ben. I know I'm writing to him and his character. He plays better than when he's running from a space rock."

Smith is keen to remain faithful to his independent movie roots. He doesn't think Hollywood has much use for him, just as he doesn't have much use for them. "They seem overly concerned with making the most amount of money in the least amount of time. I usually make movies set around talking. I don't have a popcorn movie in me. I am kind of comfortable in my career. People are not counting on me making a movie that make $100m."

He'd like to make something "small and grungy" next, saying: "I didn't get into movies to make big movies. Jersey Girl was done for $35m, Chasing Amy for $250,000. I'd like to rein back in and do something small and low budget."

* Jersey Girl (12A) is showing in cinemas from tomorrow.

Published: 17/06/2004