Embed from Getty Images
The Daily Beast has an in-depth interview with Kevin Smith, promoting his comedy special on Showtime, Silent But Deadly, which is airing this Friday. As you’ve heard, Kevin suffered a heart attack while performing that show. In his interview he talks about the fact that he didn’t realize he was having a heart attack, which he’s discussed before, and he reveals that a lot of his old friends and coworkers reached out to him after they heard the news. One person who didn’t contact him is Ben Affleck. He hasn’t spoken to Ben in years and he thinks that’s in part because he told an unflattering story about Ben last June. Kevin said that during filming of Chasing Amy, Ben, who was 24 at the time as it was 1996, said on set that “a man kissing another man is the greatest acting challenge an actor can ever face.” Outlets reprinted that like it was a new quote and people understandably took offense, but we were hearing it secondhand 20 years later. You know that Ben held a grudge after that because he’s hyper sensitive about his image and he didn’t even contact Kevin after his heart attack. Here’s that part of the interview, and as a lead-in Kevin said that Linda Fiorentino was really cool to him despite the fact that he’s said unflattering things about her too.
Speaking of Ben Affleck, there’s a pretty harsh dig at his Batman performance in the special. I know you’ve been on not so great terms with him in the past, have you reconnected at all?
I wouldn’t call it not so great terms, but he hasn’t spoken to me in years. No, I didn’t hear from him after the heart attack. Of the Chasing Amy kids, I heard from Jason Lee, but I didn’t hear from Ben. Which is fine. Maybe he didn’t even hear about it. I think he probably plays a more prominent role in my mythology than I play in his mythology anymore. He was in some of my biggest movies, so in my world he’s still a figure. In his world, I haven’t factored in in god knows how f-king long. And he’s gone on to do tremendous, big f-king things. He’s become a massive movie star and a director in his own right. So I don’t think I pop up on his radar nearly as much he pops up on my radar. But I try honestly to—and it probably doesn’t seem that way because I literally make a joke about him in the special—to limit the amount that I do talk about him for that reason. Because I know it always brings him grief or heartache in some way.The last time I talked about him, there was a Chasing Amy 20th anniversary retrospective screening at I think it was Out Fest in Los Angeles. So I went and did a Q&A afterwards and told what I thought was an adorable story about the young Ben Affleck. When I gave him the script, I said, “At one point in the movie you end up kissing Jason Lee.” And I contextualized it as I set up the story, you’ve got to remember this is 1996. And a young Ben Affleck said, “Kissing another man is the hardest acting challenge an actor will ever face” or something like that. And it was a true story about a young f-king kid in a completely different era. So I told that story and someone tweeted a headline that said something like, “Affleck Says Kissing a Man Is Hardest Challenge an Actor Can Face,” [making it seem] like he said it recently. Out of context, it’s a completely different sentiment. It got him into trouble. Evan Rachel Wood went after Ben on Twitter because of something Ben did not say. I told a story about something Ben said 20 years ago. [Wood’s tweet has since been deleted.] So if you’re Ben Affleck, the only time you probably see my name is in relation to how I make your life harder in some way. So I imagine, even if he did hear about the heart attack he was probably like, “Well, I’m glad he’s alive, moving on.” I’m too much trouble. I realize, even now as I’m saying this, I try not to talk about him and we just did for five minutes. He probably didn’t hear about the heart attack, but he’ll hear about this. “Why is this f-king fool still talking about me?”
Kevin Smith just tells it like it is and that’s what makes him a good storyteller and director. He’s open, he’s honest and he’ll dish the dirt. It sounds like he understands why Ben stopped contacting him, but if Ben hasn’t been in touch in years there must be more to it than just that story Kevin told last year. Kevin is making it sound like he’s no longer useful to Ben and that’s the extent of it. You know Ben pays attention to the press about Kevin because it was only after Kevin donated all his Miramax residuals to women’s organizations that Ben claimed he would do the same thing. Ben definitely knows Kevin had a heart attack and he didn’t reach out to him about it or write a tweet or anything. As Kevin mentioned it’s not like Ben wants him to die, he just doesn’t want to reconnect with him. In Ben’s world embarrassing him publicly is the worst thing someone can do and Kevin is a liability.
Oh and Kevin has lost over 32 pounds and is a Weight Watchers ambassador now! That’s due in part to going vegan. He told The Daily Beast “I’m 47, I’ve eaten a f-k-ton of cows in my lifetime.”
photos credit: Getty and Instagram/Kevin Smith
“In Ben’s world embarrassing him publicly is the worst thing someone can do and Kevin is a liability. ”
Affleck might want to become a lone hermit so, since he does a pretty good job of this all on his own on a regular basis.
I was going to say this exact thing! Ben does a fine job being a total embarrassment without assistance from anyone else. He’s his own liability.
I know someone who had to do PR for him when he was in Vancouver for some movie a billion years ago, and she said it was basically the worst nightmare in her entire career.
I’ve ALWAYS loved Kevin Smith…from day 1…remember seeing “Clerks” the first weekend it came out (THAT was a riot!!! There was a party in the line waiting for it…and a party in the theater as it played!!!!) He’s authentic and has been consistent…and LAWD…can he write a DAMN GOOD PART FOR A WOMAN!!! Any cache I had for Ben AND his little buddy…and MY GAWD…DID I HAVE A LOT OF IT…has been used up…it’s ALL gone! Even if you and your boy ain’t close no more…he has an heart attack and ALMOST dies…you have your ASSISTANT send flowers or something to his wife/kid….
We’re gonna need a bigger boat!
I loved Clerks, but my fave will always be Mallrats. When I see Affleck, even after all these years, all I can hear is Jason Lee’s voice saying, “He looks like a date rapist!” 😂
Salsa shark!
Yeah, Enny, but Dogma is the sh$t. If you’ve never watched it, rent it today. 🙂
Oh, and I just wanted to say, Kevin looks amazing. Respect that he had a major health scare and did something about it. Affleck and his moobs of doom have been running around for years, one step away from a heart attack, or liver failure, and he’s too selfish to do anything about it – for his kids, for his mom, for his fans, even for himself. Kevin is brilliant and funny and genuine and way more interesting and likeable than Ben will ever be, and fortunately for us, we should have him around to entertain us now for a long time… 😊
“moobs of doom”, cannot unread that and don’t want to…🤣 HA 😆 HA 😅 HA 😜 HA 🙃
I like Kevin too and wish him well. Ben’s a prick. The only issue I have with Kevin is can he just take a normal picture? He’s always pulling a face in every shot – gets kinda annoying.
ME TOOOOO!
he’s such a nice dude, and so real.
gotta say, I think my favorite of his is Dogma.
“mass genocide is the most exhausting activity one can engage in….
…next to soccer.” STILL makes me laugh.
And Alan Rickman as the Metatron? <3
"Tell a person that you're the Metatron and they stare at you blankly. Mention something out of a Charlton Heston movie and suddenly everybody is a theology scholar."
LOVE Dogma! One of the younger priests at the local parish high school uses it in his religion classes; he says its a good way to get the kids to think about their beliefs. Kevin has a great way of looking at the world and I’m glad he’s better. And Ben, you couldn’t shoot off a tweet (or have your assistant send one) to a guy who gave you some of your best roles?
I’m not shocked by any of this. Reportedly Jennifer Garner couldn’t stand Kevin, and Ben distanced himself from that friendship. And Kevin just doesn’t have much of a filter – as noted above, Ben tries to suppress what he perceives as unflattering material about him. Which is funny, considering how often he mis-steps publicly anyhow. But at least send the guy flowers after a massive heart attack, you know?
If you read Jennifers interviews while they were married, Ben didn’t like her talking about him either. I don’t know if I’d blame her for the reason Ben is a whiney b!tch about people talking about him.
Where did I blame her?
I’ve always found that so strange…because Kevin and Jennifer (along with Timothy “my heart goes boom-boom” Olyphant) starred in that 2006 movie…”Catch & Release”…which I adore…and I always thought if she couldn’t stand Kevin…he probably wouldn’t have been picked to star in that movie…
I think that’s the difference between “fine working relationship” and “this is my husband’s foul mouthed friend who just wants to sit and get baked all the time”. Garner is notoriously straight laced, and Kevin… isn’t.
Didn’t Kevin speak poorly of Jennifer Garner at some point? Or am I imagining that?
I could have sworn I read on this site in the comments section that Kevin told a story about Jennifer doing something sexually to Ben Affleck before they were officially dating. Maybe I’m imagining this too? But I could have sworn I read it HERE.
I know Ben does a lot to embarrass himself, but I think a lot of men probably don’t like you talking publicly about their wives like that no matter what their own embarrassing behaviour is.
I’ve never really thought of Kevin Smith as being “nice” in the sense of keeping things to himself. I think he told/wrote a story about Reese Witherspoon being witchy or something. I don’t necessarily doubt that she can be but Reese and Jennifer are friends, and I think it’s in human nature not to want to be friends with a loose lips, regardless of what our own vices might be.
If a woman celebrity had lips as loose as Kevin Smith, even if she was telling the truth, I’m pretty sure people would admonish her for talking too much. No one would say she’s a great storyteller. They’d say she’s gossipy!
He definitely made some comments. And he and Garner are polar opposites anyhow, in a way that she would really dislike (and would dislike having her husband around).
Yep. Ben is a control freak with an ever-growing pile of skeletons, and Kevin is the kind of guy who could easily stumble into publicising some of those skeletons without even meaning to.
Kevin also isn’t afraid to be honest with his friends, and I don’t think Ben’s wanted anyone around him who’d actually acknowledge his many mistakes and failings, however funny and well-meaning they were about it, for a long long time.
Kevin spoke negatively about Jen in the past so this is not surprising….The chasing Aamy thing is so whatever….who would care about that. Kevin’s style of open conversation and honesty about the business is more groundbreaking then his movies.
I do hope the weight loss sticks around this time. I know keeping weight off can be really hard but for Kevin’s sake, his mortality is at stake. It’s great he’s been really proactive about it, I hope he can stick to it. As someone trying to lose a few pounds (nothing drastic), I commend him!
And Ben definitely heard about his heart attack, it was a huge story. There’s no way he can pretend to not know about it. He just chose not to reach out. I think it’s more than Kevin telling an embarrassing story from 1996. Though Ben can get all worked up about the most petty/weirdest things–I remember how he worked up a fuss because he didn’t want people to know he had slave owning ancestors from the TV show he was supposed to do. But we won’t know unless Ben chooses to dish. Now I’m wondering what the heck Kevin could have done to offend him so much.
At least Kevin is self-aware enough to realize that it does seem like he is ALWAYS talking about Ben Affleck. It just seems excessive to me, like he’s pining after an ex or something.
That’s too bad. They seemed so close back in the day, which I guess they were before Ben’s career really took off (which he kinda sorta owes to Kevin…at least a little bit). I get old friends drifting apart, lives going in different directions, even having a falling out that goes on for years, but not reaching out to them in any way when they almost die? Seems pretty cold & heartless, but then again, we don’t truly know the circumstances behind their friendship ending.
Kevin has no filter and I’m sure this latest interview will also piss off Ben. But really, who cares? It’s a mark of your character how you act when someone gets sick or a loved one passes. Ben seems to mostly care about himself.
Glad Kevin has lost so much weight and has gotten healthier!
I feel like it’s a mark of your character how you behave on a regular basis. Kevin was constantly talking about Ben Affleck, and it was constantly making headlines. If he knows Ben that well, he’d know that control freak Ben would hate that. I agree that people should put aside their grievances in times of tragedy or near tragedy, but we are only hearing one side of the story.
If I had a heart attack or major illness, I wouldn’t expect every last one of my phone contacts to stop by and hold my hand. that seems a bit over the top.
Yeaaa…I mean it would suck, but I’m not sure why it would be expected. It’s not like they were best friends, then all of a sudden he had a heart attack, and was ghosted by a friend. There hasn’t been any contact between them for a while. I’m not sure that I would like a former friend calling/sending a card or flowers, etc if we weren’t going to try and reconnect. Then it just feels like you don’t care and why bother? Like would Kevin be talking about this if it WASN’T Ben Affleck?
When my sister passed away, my mom didn’t want her estranged family members contacting her, but I thought it was a time to heal. People definitely react to that kind of thing differently. Kevin is obviously someone like me, who appreciates the gesture. But we are only hearing his side of the story, so I’m not going to judge Affleck.
I’m the same. It’s nice when people think of you but it’s kind of an unreasonable expectation.
When everyone else in your life is reaching out, the people that don’t stand in start relief. And call me crazy, but there’s a pretty big range between ‘dropping everything to rush by their side’ and ‘not even sending a “it’s great you didn’t die” text’.
I’m not a fan of Ben, honestly I don’t see anything with Affleck..little talent, a history of drinking gambling, cheating, etc. I remember the JLo/Bennifer days and he was an ass even then. That stupid and very badly done back tattoo, No! Oh all right, I will give Ben 2 points for being tall but that’s all he’s got. And his brother Casey is scuzzy too.
Kevin looks good after dropping the weight, he can write some decent comedy, Clerks was great and original. Original is not easy these days in Hollywood. Naming his kid Harley Quinn minus 2 points, IMO.
Hope Kevin continues to be healthy.
I love Kevin Smith. And too be fair, Chasing Amy is so deeply, painfully of its time (and rubbed me wrong, even then) in regards to LGBTQ subject matter. I think the difference is that Kevin seems to really have grown and clearly has a capacity for empathy (evidenced in this interview), whereas Ben has over the years revealed himself to be more and more of a creep.
I thought they lost touch after Ben married Jennifer? Because she didn’t like Kevin and his crude sense of humor? Or maybe that was just an excuse because Ben had no use for him anymore. It’s a shame because Kevin’s core group were sort of the “brat pack” of the 90’s. Mallrats, Dogma, Chasing Amy…love those movies. Can’t say that Kevin has missed out on much tho. Ben was always the worst actor out of that group. Even Mewes and Lee were better than him and they had little experience at the time.
I can understand them not having a friendship anymore, but they worked together quite a bit – if I were Ben, I would have asked my assistant to send a card or something.
Not only did they work together a lot, Smith really helped give him his start, or at least raise his profile. I knew Ben as the Fashionable Male before I knew him as anything else.
I think he’s lost more than 32 pounds!
In the two side by side pictures he lost way more than 32. I would say at least 50-60.
It could be that recently he lost a 32# in one go
Kevin Smith has aged SO well. It’s kind of a surprise since he was a smoker for many years. As for Ben…I don’t think Kevin is missing out on much in that area, but I think Ben could at least of sent some flowers or something as an ode to an old friendship and business relationship.
Silent Bob is the best!