Kevin Smith Praises Friend Ben Affleck as a ‘Sweetheart’ and ‘Great Father’: ‘One of My Favorite People’ (Exclusive)

Kevin Smith is heaping praise onto his longtime friend Ben Affleck.

Despite the past ups and downs in their relationships, The 4:30 Movie writer-director, 54, tells PEOPLE that Affleck is “absolutely one of my favorite people on the planet.”

“I’ve always adored him,” says Smith, who has directed Affleck, 52, on several films including Mallrats (1995), Chasing Amy (1997) and Dogma (1999).

Smith says that the two-time Oscar winner is “just the goods,” adding, “I know everyone is aware of his private life from the outside, but I just wish people could hang out with him for a day and know him the way I know him, the way [friend and collaborator] Jason Mewes knows him.”

“He’s just a really funny sweetheart of a guy who’s a great father — just like Jason Mewes, another great father,” says the Clerks auteur.

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Smith previously touched on what happened between himself and Affleck in November 2018, after a user on Twitter (formerly X) wrote, “Sometimes I wonder what really happened between Ben Affleck and Kevin Smith that made them not talk to each other,” tagging both stars’ accounts.

Smith responded at the time, “If I had to guess? It’s because one of us has a big mouth and told too many candid stories that sometimes weren’t his to tell, and the other one is Ben.”

But Smith and Affleck have since repaired their friendship. Following their fallout, Smith and Mewes, 50, a.k.a. the Jay to the filmmaker’s Silent Bob, had their handprints and footprints cemented at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California.

And not only was Affleck in attendance during the 2019 event, but he spoke during the ceremony, as did Smith’s daughter Harley Quinn Smith.

Affleck also appeared in that year’s Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, which marked his and Smith’s first actor-director collaboration since 2006’s Clerks II. (Affleck also appeared in 2022’s Clerks III.)

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And while he hasn’t seen Affleck since last year, “I’m sure I’ll run into him again; it’s a very small town,” Smith tells PEOPLE. “Of course, there’s always something that I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I need a movie star. Let’s call Ben.’ “

He also briefly touches on Affleck’s divorce from Jennifer Lopez, telling PEOPLE that he believes they are both “wonderful” people.

Lopez, 55, filed for divorce on Aug. 20, which marked the second anniversary of their traditional wedding ceremony in Georgia, at which Smith was in attendance. She and Affleck initially married in Las Vegas on July 17, 2022.

“If they’re not going forward, that breaks my heart and stuff, but I’ve always adored him,” says Smith of Affleck.

Aside from a love of filmmaking, the two share fatherhood in common. Smith is a dad to actress daughter Harley, 25, while Affleck shares three kids with ex-wife Jennifer Garner: Violet, 18, Seraphina, 15, and Samuel, 12.

The Air director bestowed quite the hilarious compliment onto Harley after she gave her dad a “well-reasoned-out” explanation about why she didn’t want to star in the lead female role in Smith’s new coming-of-age, semi-autobiographic comedy The 4:30 Movie.

“I told [Ben] that Harley passed on the movie and he was like, ‘That’s a smart kid. No Kevin Smith movie has ever made any actor’s career better,’ ” joked Smith.

The 4:30 Movie, distributed by Saban Films, is available on digital now.

Source people.com