Ben Affleck on Gigli: 'But if the reaction to ‘Gigli’ hadn’t happened, I probably wouldn’t have ultimately decided, ‘I don’t really have any other avenue but to direct movies,’ which has turned out to be the real love of my professional life.'
Ben Affleck is reflecting on his film, Gigli, and explaining why he now actually considers the 2003 box office bomb to be a gift. The actor, who established himself as a leading man in major studio films through earlier projects such as Armageddon and Pearl Harbor, would go on to direct and star in a number of commercially successful features.
Directed by Martin Brest, Gigli initially received a lot attention and generated interest among popular media due to the casting of Affleck and Lopez in the lead roles, two stars who were romantically involved at the time, and whose relationship was heavily publicized. However, the film's release was followed by overwhelmingly negative reactions from audiences and critics alike, infamously becoming considered one of the worst movies of all time and the worst of Affleck's filmography.
"It engendered a lot of negative feelings in people about me. There’s that aspect of people that I got to see that was sad and hard, it was depressing and really made me question things and feel disappointed and have a lot of self-doubt. But if the reaction to ‘Gigli’ hadn’t happened, I probably wouldn’t have ultimately decided, ‘I don’t really have any other avenue but to direct movies,’ which has turned out to be the real love of my professional life. So in those ways, it’s a gift.
Affleck's latest box office bomb, The Last Duel, had him making news once again, this time defending the Ridley Scott-directed film against its performance. While The Last Duel earned critical acclaim, its October release during an ongoing period of lower box office expectations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, only brought in about $31 million against a production budget of $100 million.
It does seem like Affleck has a clear sense of what he wants to do now, whether that be in directing or acting, and it is interesting to think about how much the outcome of Gigli and his perspective on it affected him. No stranger to scrutiny over the roles he has taken, the largely celebrated actor even faced initial backlash to his Batman casting, which he later revealed hurt him.