- Ben Affleck appears in Jennifer Lopez's new documentary "The Greatest Love Story Never Told."
- It follows the making of her musical film, "This Is Me...Now," which Affleck had some doubts about.
When the trailer for "This Is Me…Now," Jennifer Lopez's self-funded, loosely biographical steampunk fantasia was unveiled back in January, the internet was both enthralled and perplexed. What is this movie about? Does it involve space travel? Why is Neil DeGrasse Tyson involved? What role does Ben Affleck play? Is all of this really necessary?
Little did we know, Affleck was behind the scenes asking the same questions.
He wasn't the only Cassandra in the room cautioning Lopez as she opened her heart and her wallet to get the project off the ground to the tune of $20 million, either. "The Greatest Love Story Never Told" follows Lopez as she writes, produces, self-funds, and stars in "This Is Me…Now," all while dismissing concerns from her own team, her friends, and, yes, her husband, who doesn't mince words.
"Making a movie with your own money is the most famous cardinal sin in Hollywood," Affleck says in an off-camera moment in the doc.
Lopez admits in the documentary that she doesn't think Affleck is "comfortable being the muse." But he is very much the inspiration for "This Is Me…Now," the name of Lopez's film and first solo album in 10 years, which she's framed as a sequel to the album she made when they originally fell in love, 2002's "This Is Me…Then." (Lopez and Affleck famously dated and got engaged in the early aughts, but broke up three days before their wedding. Two decades later, in a fairytale twist, the couple rekindled their romance and got hitched in Las Vegas.)
When Affleck pops up in the doc, it's often to express concern that his private love story is becoming fodder for multimillion-dollar dance sequences and metaphorical heart factories.
He's not wrong, after all. The doc is named after a scrapbook that Affleck gifted Lopez for Christmas in 2021, stacked with every letter and email they'd written to each other over the last 20 years.
Lopez showed the book to her producers and songwriters on the first day of making her new album, passing it around like a hot, juicy potato. "It became like our Bible," she says in the doc. "We just left it there in the studio."
This revelation comes within the first five minutes, and right out of the gate, Affleck isn't shy about his discomfort. He's shocked that Lopez would share something so personal with her collaborators — and now, of course, with the world.
"I was like, 'You've been showing all the musicians all the letters?' And they were like, 'Yeah, we call you Pen Affleck,'" he tells the camera. "I was like, 'Oh my god.'"
Affleck generously describes the process as "something of an adjustment."
"I did really find the beauty and the poetry and the irony in the fact that it's the greatest love story never told," Affleck says. "If you're making a record about it, that seems kind of like telling it."
But like a true wife guy, he muscles through his misgivings, repeatedly applauding Lopez's ambition and even acting as the cameraman and interviewer for her direct-to-camera confessionals.
Although Affleck blames the "massive amount of scrutiny" for their broken engagement in 2003, he explains that he's found a more zen approach these days.
"Getting back together, I said, 'Listen, one of the things I don't want is a relationship on social media.' And then I sort of realized it's not a fair thing to ask," he says. "It's sort of like you're gonna marry a boat captain and you go, 'Well I don't like the water,' you know? We're just two people with kind of different approaches, trying to learn to compromise."
While it's tempting to view Affleck's comments cynically — to surmise that he and Lopez are fundamentally incompatible or speculate wildly about Affleck's self-described "beleaguered man" persona — there's something romantic about Affleck appearing as a stoic, introspective, and unshakably doting husband. It's clear that he was there by Lopez's side every step of the way — while she spent every dollar and gave every one of their love letters to a stranger.
In the end, Affleck realizes his concerns were unfounded. He didn't want his dirty laundry aired — though that's perfectly reasonable! — but he's not the star of the movie. Lopez is.
"I don't really love being in the 'making of' documentary about my personal life, which is why I'm so relieved that it's not really — it seems like I might be in this, but I'm not really," he says.
"I was worrying for no reason. The movie wasn't about me," Affleck adds. "It was about the ability to love yourself. And that love story is a lot fucking harder to find than Prince Charming."