The Original Article:

Images of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez have been scrapped from posters of their upcoming movie Jersey Girl - to give it a better chance of box office success. Producers of the film have reportedly advised their advertising and marketing teams not to include either of the stars' faces on any of Jersey Girl's promotional material after seeing the dismal performance of the on-off couple's summer flop Gigli. A source tells American magazine Us Weekly, "After Gigli, (Miramax) doesn't want to take any chances with another laughing stock flop. They're going to promote this as a (director) Kevin Smith movie. It's going to be about Kevin."

Kevin's Reply:

Posted by Kevin on October 09, 2003 at 15:33:47:

Anyone see this story?

Speaking as a guy who's about as close to this movie and the marketing plans as it gets, I can tell you that there's no truth to that story. Market the movie on me? So fucking ridiculous.

Trust me: I've seen the marketing concepts on this movie from as early on as when we were still shooting upto just yesterday. EVERY poster is centered around Affleck. Some show Affleck and Jen, some show Affleck and the kid (which would make the most sense), some show Affleck and Liv Tyler. None show me. And as with every flick I've made, this is not billed as "A Film By Kevin Smith" - the hallmark of any marketing campaign built on the director.

"The Fourth Film by Quentin Tarantino"? THAT'S a director-driven marketing campaign. A standard "Written and Directed by Kevin Smith"? That's hardly what I'd call selling a flick on the director's back.

Smells like some editor at Us Magazine was desperate for a Ben and Jen story. That this bogus tidbit fit the bill shows a surprising amount of creativity on their part, but further solidifies their reputation in the print community as little more than a glossy version of the Enquirer.

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