Just like Jay and Silent Bob, old friends Kevin Smith and Ben Affleck are back together again — both onscreen and off.
While stopping by EW’s video suite at Comic-Con, the filmmaker took a break from promoting his upcoming new film with Jason Mewes, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, to tell the emotional story of how he and the Justice League star became friends again after years of estrangement.
“We haven’t worked with him since Clerks II, professionally haven’t worked with him but personally he hasn’t been in my life in like eight years,” Smith says. “We worked together quite a bit, all of us, in the beginning so for years people would be like, ‘How’s Ben?’ and sooner or later I just started putting stuff on front street and be like, ‘I haven’t spoken to Ben in years. I don’t think we’re really friends anymore.’ He was out of my life completely.”
That’s why when development on Jay and Silent Bob Reboot began, Smith didn’t even consider writing Affleck a part despite the actor’s involvement in Jay and Silent Bob’s creation.
“There was a sadness to that,” Smith says. But thanks to a random line of questioning and entertainment journalism, everything changed and Smith got the inspiration he needed to reach out to Affleck, leading to his return for Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.
Check out Smith’s full interview below (his story about Affleck’s return begins around the 8-minute mark).
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