Ben Affleck Is Open to Appear in 'Jay and Silent Bob Reboot' Despite Fractured Friendship With Kevin Smith

In spite of a relationship between the two that has reportedly grown frosty, Kevin Smith's frequent collaborator Ben Affleck said during a recent interview that he would consider taking a part in Jay & Silent Bob Reboot if offered. The pair have not worked together since 2006, and Smith has said in interviews that he attributes it to his own loose lips. The notoriously talkative filmmaker says that sometimes he tells Ben Affleck stories that are both "candid" and "not his to tell," and he suspects that has put him on the outs with the onetime Batman. Affleck, who has never commented on any break with Smith or on Smith's assessment of their relationship, told Collider that he would appear in Smith's upcoming film if they could make it work.

During his first dozen years in Hollywood, filmmaker Kevin Smith directed seven feature films -- six of which took place in the shared "View Askewniverse," a world where the characters of Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, and Dogma could come together in 2001's Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back for an Avengers: Infinity War-style mega-gathering. Of the six View Askewniverse movies, five of them -- Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, and Clerks II -- featured actor Ben Affleck, who during the course of the 11 years from Mallrats (1995) to Clerks II (2006) became one of the biggest movie stars on the planet.

Affleck has played a few characters during his time in the View Askewniverse, although Shannon Hamilton (Mallrats) went to jail at the end and Bartleby (Dogma) died. His most memorable role was that of Holden McNeil in Chasing Amy, which he reprised in Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, creating one of the film's most memorable (and meme-able) moments. It is the part of Holden that interests Affleck the most if he was to write his own rules. "I haven't been asked to make an appearance but you never know, there's still time," said Affleck. "We'll see. I think if it was up to me, I would rather do Holden than Shannon, but I would defer to Kevin."

In addition to playing Shannon Hamilton in Strike Back, Affleck briefly played himself, ostensibly in a scene from Good Will Hunting 2: Hunting Season, along with Matt Damon, Scott Winters (the prep with the ponytail from Good Will Hunting), and director Gus Van Sant. That scene might seem like a far-fetched thing to follow up in a sequel/remake, but it is not exactly beyond the realm of believability given that Jason Biggs and James Van Der Beek will return to reprise their own cameos as themselves.

According to the IMDB plot description, the new film follows Jay and Silent Bob as they "return to Hollywood to stop a reboot of 'Bluntman and Chronic' movie from getting made." Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is expected to be released in the fall.

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