Trivia / Jersey Girl

• Box Office Bomb: Budget, $35 million. Box office, $25,268,157 (domestic), $36,098,382 (worldwide). The second film to star Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez flatlined in the wake of their disolved relationship and their disastrous first film from the previous summer. Fans of Kevin Smith were turned off by its mainstream approach.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Jason Lee auditioned for Arthur. He was cast as one of the PR execs.
• Deleted Scene: A scene featuring Ollie and Gertrude's wedding was filmed, but cut from the film after Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez broke off their engagement.
• Distanced from Current Events: A bit of an unusual case. Originally the plan was to advertise the movie as being all about the relationship between Affleck and Lopez's characters, making Lopez's death early on a huge shock. But by the time it was released, the failure of Gigli and the general public being utterly sick of Ben and J.Lo as a couple had killed this plan's viability, so the twist was put right in the trailers, leaving the film with little real identity of its own.
• Playing Against Type: Ben Affleck was at the time best known for being a serious action star. Here he plays a Bumbling Dad.
• Playing with Character Type: George Carlin's Bart is still a cantankerous "old fuck," but one with a gentle soul who loves his family.
• Real-Life Relative: Kevin Smith's wife Jennifer appears as a receptionist, while his daughter Harley is an extra.
• Release Date Change: The film was originally scheduled to be released in December 2003, but pushed back to March 2004, in part to avoid competing with The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (which also starred Liv Tyler), and also to accommodate potential re-shoots that would have added more scenes with Jennifer Lopez, after her and Ben Affleck's relationship made the tabloid headlines. Ultimately, the re-shoots never went ahead, largely due to Kevin Smith pointing out that the volume of footage the studio wanted him to add would have made the film over two and a half hours long.
• Role-Ending Misdemeanor: Jason Mewes was going to play Arthur (Ollie's assistant), but was in rehab after he and Kevin Smith had a serious falling out.
• Troubled Production: Though the film turned out fairly close to how Smith wanted, it wasn't for a lack of attempted Executive Meddling on the part of Miramax, who tried to pressure Smith into filming more scenes involving Jennifer Lopez after her relationship with Ben Affleck hit the tabloid headlines. Fortunately for Smith, the epic critical and commercial failure of the "Bennifer" vehicle Gigli caused the studio to quickly retract these requests. Smith, who wasn't working with his usual Production Posse, also had some trouble dealing with veteran cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond on-set, though later admitted that he was just as much at fault as Zsigmond.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Kevin Smith originally wanted to include some clips from Jaws for a scene where Ollie explains "the birds and the bees" to his daughter, but Steven Spielberg denied Smith permission.
  • While Bart had always been written with George Carlin in mind, Carlin had originally asked Smith to write him his dream role: a clergyman who strangles six children. When Smith sent Carlin the script, Carlin, true to form, called him the next day asking why his character doesn't strangle the little girl.
  • During one take of the scene where Ollie finds out that Gertrude died in childbirth, Ben Affleck became so Lost in Character that the heavy emotion of the scene began to make him physically ill, leading to Ollie vomiting on the floor in anguish. Test audiences laughed at this version and a different take was used.
  • The film was originally going to be set in the late 80s and Ollie would have badmouthed Bruce Willis. When a deal with Willis couldn't be secured, it was changed to Will Smith.
  • Joey Lauren Adams was originally considered for the part of Gertrude Steiney. But Smith thought that pairing her with Ben Affleck again would make the film look too similar to Chasing Amy.
  • Eliza Dushku was the first choice for Maya, but Kevin Smith changed his mind. Upon seeing Eliza at only 5"4', he realised she would look far too young to be Ben Affleck's love interest.
• Write What You Know: The film was based on Kevin Smith's experiences with fatherhood.
• Written for My Kids: Kevin Smith made the film because he'd just had a daughter and wanted to make a movie that wasn't filled with crude humor. Unfortunately, a lot of his fans were angered by their hero "going soft," and he was forced to make a return to form. Watching the movie knowing that it was made for and about Smith's daughter does make the movie much sweeter, though.

---