FILM 2195: GIGLI (2003)

TRIVIA: According to longtime best friend Matt Damon, Ben Affleck twitches whenever this film is mentioned.

Received such bad reviews that it was dropped by every UK cinema after only one week.

Kevin Smith likes to tell stories about how, whenever he and Ben Affleck are playfully ribbing one another, all Smith has to say to end the conversation is Gigli.

Jennifer Lopez was paid $12 million for her role, and Ben Affleck was paid $12.5 million for his. Their combined salaries are more than three times the film's worldwide gross of $7,266,209.

Only 73 U.S. theaters were showing the film by its third weekend of release, down from 2,215 during its first weekend, a drop of 97%. It's the largest drop ever in terms of percentage, and at the time it was the largest drop in terms of numbers of theaters shed. Meet Dave (2008) has since surpassed it.

The negative experience making this film caused Martin Brest to retire from directing.

The film started out as a straightforward mob film, until Sony Pictures/Columbia, against Martin Brest's wishes, turned it into a romantic comedy, to cash in on the relationship between Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez.

Became the first film in the history of the Razzie Awards to sweep the top five categories. Including, Worst Picture, Worst Actor (Ben Affleck), Worst Actress (Jennifer Lopez), Worst Director (Martin Brest) and Worst Screenplay. It was the Razzie equivalent of It Happened One Night (1934), the first film to win the "Oscar Grand Slam:" Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director, and Screenplay. It also claimed a sixth Razzie for Worst Screen Couple, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez.

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This is featured on the podcast How Did This Get Made Episode #18