Kevin Smith Blames Jennifer Garner for Ending Friendship With Ben Affleck
After a quintet of films together, you'd figure comic nerd Kevin Smith would be getting Bat-scoop straight from the Caped Crusader's mouth.
You'd figure wrong. Turns out, despite having collaborated on such films as Mallrats (1995), Chasing Amy (1997), Dogma (1999), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), and Jersey Girl (2004), the newest Batman, Ben Affleck, and his old directing buddy aren't exactly a dynamic duo anymore.
Asked by Yahoo Movies on Friday about a potential Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice surprise at this year's Comic-Con — or if he knew whether or not Affleck was even in town — Smith replied: "Great question. I don’t know, because we're not f---ing tight. I have not been [close with him] in decades."
"That's old Ben," continued Smith, 43. "He's got a wife [Jennifer Garner] that don't [sic] care for me at all [Laughs]. And plus, honestly, he probably don't care for me at all anymore [either]. He's a triple-A-list movie star and s--t like that. If he's Jimmy Carter, I'm Billy Carter, to put it in '70s terms. And I'm not even related and s--t."
This isn't the first time Smith has blamed the demise of his friendship with Affleck, 41, on Garner. Earlier this month, during his a stop on his Silent Bob Speaks tour at Carnegie Hall, Smith detailed his differences with Garner.
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"Jennifer does not share the same sense of humor as me — she did not like my jokes," Smith said, according to the New York Daily News. "I was picking on Ben Affleck making fun of him because I've known him for a really long time — I was talking smack — and Jennifer goes, 'You know, if you keep saying stuff about him, I'm going to kick your a--.' And she could — I've seen Alias. She has a real girly sense of humor and didn't understand that I was kidding.
"I remember talking to Ben and being like, 'I know your lady is not finding me amusing. Ben, I've known you for years, and you are far sicker than I am!' His jokes are way dirtier than mine. He's made jokes to me, and I've been like, 'Ben, you need to go to church.'"
Smith also co-starred with Garner in the 2006 film Catch and Release.
The Garner-Affleck tandem hasn't exactly endeared itself to former pals on either side. In a June appearance on Watch What Happens Live to promote his new film, Begin Again, Mark Ruffalo explained that he's no longer friends with Garner — his co-star in the 2004 film 13 Going on 30.
"We had a great time together, and I think we would (have kept in touch), but then Ben [Affleck] came on the scene and that was the end of that," said The Avengers star.
"I heard he doesn't allow her to have male friends," host Andy Cohen joked, before adding that he made that last part up. Ruffalo then called the end of his friendship with Garner "sad."
Affleck stars next in David Fincher's Gone Girl, out Oct. 3. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, in which Affleck dons the cowl and cape alongside Henry Cavill's Man of Steel, is set for release on May 6, 2016.
Garner will star next in two films due out this fall, Jason Reitman's Men, Women & Children, and the adaptation of the popular children's book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.