Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s marriage may be done, but the duo’s professional relationship is far from over.
The former couple — who previously starred alongside one another in “Gigli” (2003) and “Jersey Girl” (2004) — both worked on an American biographical sports drama film, titled “Unstoppable,” which wrapped earlier this year and is expected to premiere on Sept. 6 at the Toronto International Film Festival, according to TIFF’s official site.
The movie — which tells the story of Anthony Robles, a wrestler born with one leg — was produced by Affleck’s company that he co-founded with Matt Damon, Artists Equity, and stars Lopez as Robles’ mother. Although both stars worked on the film, sources recently told People magazine that only Lopez is expected to appear at the premiere.
JENNIFER LOPEZ, BEN AFFLECK DIVORCE AFTER TWO YEARS OF MARRIAGE
Regardless of whether they’ll both show up for the premiere, Steve Honig, founder of PR and issue management firm The Honig Company, says the former couple has an “obligation” to “rise above” the personal drama surrounding their impending divorce – a concept known all too well for the late Elizabeth Taylor.
“The question they need to each ask themselves when making any decisions is simply what’s best for the film,” Honig told Fox News Digital. “Hundreds of people are involved in the making of a movie, and there’s an obligation on their part to properly promote it. That said, the media needs to respect the fact they are there to promote the film and not try to get bits and pieces of personal information.”
“This is a golden opportunity for both of them to show how they are rising above the gossip and sensational headlines and be the true professionals that they are. If Liz Taylor and Richard Burton could professionally coexist, so can Ben and Jennifer.”
Taylor and Burton fell in love, and later married, while working on the 1965 classic film “Cleopatra.” The two were both married to their respective spouses at the time.
With Lopez filing for divorce on Tuesday, the timing, says PR expert Doug Eldridge (founder of Achilles PR), though not intentional, is “not coincidental.”
“We’re seeing a trend in Hollywood, where controversy — sometimes authentic, sometimes manufactured —surfaces right before a movie premiere,” Eldridge Told Fox News Digital. “Something similar is happening with Blake Lively’s movie as well. Ironically, it never seems to surround would-be blockbusters, just the smaller budget movies or those that are released outside the summer-peak.”
“The purpose is plain, even if it’s a bit played out: create buzz and chatter to drive interest around a film that may otherwise draw mediocre ticket sales,” he continued. Previously, you saw a ‘leaked’ romance between stars on-set (which almost always ended at the conclusion of the media tour), but that has been replaced by tension, derision, and now, divorce.”
“When it comes to Lopez and Affleck, it’s getting increasingly harder to discern the details and driving reasons behind the divorce, but if anyone knows how to leverage a narrative for eyeballs and interest, it’s Lopez,” he continued. “It might not have been intentional, but it’s probably not coincidental or accidental either.”
Representatives for Lopez and Affleck did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The exes also worked on another film together this year called “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” an adaptation of the 1985 Broadway musical. According to Variety, filming for the movie began in April, around the same time Lopez claimed that the couple had secretly split. Production wrapped in June.
During an appearance on “Live with Kelly and Mark” in May, Lopez told co-hosts Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos that she’s in “fighting shape” after wrapping.
In May, a month after the duo secretly split, Lopez opened up the role, telling Kelly Ripa: “I just finished a movie called ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman,’ where it was all singing and dancing, which was equal parts exhilarating and exhausting. Now, I’m ready to go. I’m the thinnest I’ve ever been. I’m in fighting shape right now.”
In March 2023, Affleck told CBS Sunday Mornings about working with his soon-to-be ex-wife on “Unstoppable.”
“What fun, what a joy to do something with her, see her be great, go to work with your wife, go to work with your best friend,” he said. “If you don’t like who you’re working with, and if you have difficulty or trouble at work, I think it’s one of the things that can really cause depression, anxiety and pain for people. And conversely, [if] you love the people at work, you probably have a pretty good life, you know?”
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When asked by Variety earlier this year whether she and Affleck would ever work together again, Lopez said, “Maybe, in the right thing.”
“I mean, we love working together and being together, so maybe,” she added.
Lopez filed for divorce from Affleck on Tuesday in Los Angeles County Court and cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for their split, according to documents obtained by Fox News Digital.
The “Love Don’t Cost a Thing” singer listed their date of separation on April 26. Lopez additionally stated that she did not want herself nor Affleck to be awarded spousal support, according to court documents.
Lopez filed the divorce papers on the two-year anniversary of their Georgia wedding ceremony.
Affleck and Lopez were first engaged in 2002 after meeting on the set of their film “Gigli.” Affleck proposed, and they were set to be married in 2004, but the wedding was called off at the last minute.
Twenty years later, Lopez and Affleck married in Las Vegas during a surprise wedding ceremony.
While rumors of their split began earlier this year after not being spotted together for 47 days, whispers about the state of Affleck and Lopez’s marriage took a drastic turn when Affleck didn’t attend Lopez’s luxurious “Bridgerton”-themed 55th birthday party on July 2.
Earlier this year, in the documentary “The Greatest Love Story Never Told,” Affleck was shown reluctantly dealing with the public scrutiny that followed the couple when they first got together in the early 2000s.
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The doc follows Lopez as she works on not only her new album, “This is Me…Now,” but also the high-concept music film, “This is Me…Now: A Love Story.”
“Jen was really inspired by this experience, which is how artists do their work,” Affleck said. “They get inspired by their personal life, it moves you. I know as a writer and director, I certainly do the same things. But things that are private I had always felt are sacred and special, in part because they’re private. So this was something of an adjustment for me.”
During the documentary, they admitted they “just crumbled under the pressure” of being a tabloid phenomenon, and it put a strain on their relationship, leading them to call off their 2003 wedding three days before it was supposed to happen.
“I had a very firm sense of boundaries initially around the press, while Jen, I don’t think, objected to it the way I did. I very much did object to it,” Affleck said.
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“Getting back together, I said, ‘Listen, one of the things I don’t want is a relationship on social media. And then I realized it’s not a fair thing to ask. It’s sort of like you’re going to marry a boat captain, you want to like the water. We’re just two people with kind of different approaches, trying to learn to compromise.”
Jane Fonda, who has worked with Lopez in the past, even offered her two cents on the publicity of their relationship, claiming Lopez was “trying to prove something.”
“I want you to know that I don’t entirely know why, but I feel invested in you and Ben, and I really want this to work,” Fonda said. “However, this is my concern. Like, it feels too much like you’re trying to prove something instead of just living it. You know, every other photograph is the two of you kissing and the two of you hugging.”
The “Hustlers” star downplayed it with a laugh, saying, “That’s just us living our life.”
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Fox News Digital’s Tracy Wright and Elizabeth Stanton contributed to this post.
