Kevin Smith, who has had several collaborations with Ben Affleck over the years, recently opened up about Affleck’s audition in Mallrats, a role the actor almost missed out on because of his “potty mouth,” as per Smith. Here’s what the producer of Mallrats thought about Affleck and how it almost negatively impacted his career.
Kevin Smith recalls casting Ben Affleck in Mallrats
Kevin Smith and Ben Affleck had quite an acclaimed partnership as the pair managed to deliver some gems like Chasing Amy and Dogma. But before that, the two came across each other in Mallrats, which remains a cult hit even now.
Speaking to PEOPLE in an exclusive interview, the Clerks director recalled how Affleck came to audition for his 1995 film, Mallrats. Producer James Jacks saw the list of actors coming to audition and said, “Oh God, Ben Affleck’s coming,” as per Smith.
Smith asked the producer why he reacted like this. To this, Jacks responded, “Oh, because he’s got a potty mouth.” Jacks continued, “He’s always cursing. We had him in Dazed and Confused. There were only a few uses of the word f**k in Dazed and Confused, but when Affleck got there, he increased it. Every scene he’s throwing f**k around like crazy.”
Jacks further warned, “We don’t want him in this movie. You’ve got enough bad language in the movie.”
Unfortunately, it is not easy to rule out Ben Affleck, who came to audition the day he reportedly sold the script for Good Will Hunting. “So I just read it that morning and then Ben was coming in for the audition that day,” Smith recalled, “So when he came in, I said, ‘Hey, man, congrats. What are you doing here?’ . . . And he’s like, ‘I thought Clerks was pimp.’”
“So he auditioned and much to Jim’s chagrin, he was the guy,” Smith added. Of course, Affleck ended up playing the role, and it built the bridge to his first leading role, Kevin Smith’s Chasing Amy. Smith revealed that he fell in love with Affleck while working on Mallrats, and later wrote Chasing Amy specifically keeping him in mind.
Smith and Affleck went on to collaborate several more times.
