The PDA-loving duo first met as costars last winter on ''Gigli'' (pronounced ''Jeely''), a Mob comedy directed by ''Scent of a Woman'''s Martin Brest that's not scheduled to reach theaters until August. After ''Daredevil'' wrapped, the couple played husband and wife in ''Jersey Girl,'' a portrait of parenthood written and directed by Kevin Smith that contractually cannot debut before ''Gigli'' (it's slotted for fall 2003). Meanwhile, myriad details of the pair's offscreen courtship -- the divorce petition that Lopez, 32, filed against second husband Cris Judd, the official announcement by Lopez of her engagement to Affleck, the ring, the lavish family gifts, the creepily voyeuristic ''Jenny From the Block'' music video in which Affleck caresses J. Lo's celebrated rump -- have played out like a whole new brand of reality entertainment. Call him ''The Ben-chelor.''
''No one can say I'm living an unexamined life,'' says Affleck, congenitally quick to deprecate himself. ''Of course, it may remain unexamined by me. But the tabloids have certainly examined it thoroughly.'' That they have, with headlines on the order of ''Ben & Jen Get Married!'' (They didn't -- it was just make-believe for ''Jersey Girl.'') And in December, People magazine, which had put Affleck's stint in alcohol-abuse rehab on its cover in August 2001, elected Affleck the ''Sexiest Man Alive.''
Will all this attention translate into ticket sales for ''Daredevil''? Affleck sees no connection, positing that the coverage ''has a lot to do with selling magazines and not with who goes to what movie.'' But director Johnson says ''there's no such thing as bad publicity. One of my Hispanic friends said to me recently that nobody really knew who [Ben] was in [his] community. Now, because of J. Lo, they all know him.''
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