What goes around, comes around...Just ask Ben Affleck.
First Affleck stood up Jennifer Lopez days before their wedding. Now he's being left at the altar by Mickey Mouse.
The Walt Disney Company is shelving what was supposed to be Affleck's next starring vehicle, the wedding comedy Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.
The official spin from Disney was that the movie was put on hold due to "production items." But the Hollywood Reporter says the Mouse House got cold feet due to a ballooning budget and negative publicity stemming from Affleck's high-profile fling with J.Lo and their disastrous Gigli.
Described as a cross between A Christmas Carol and High Fidelity, the film would've featured Affleck as a bachelor who attends his younger brother's wedding, only to find himself haunted by the ghosts of his exes. Producers had already locked in helmer Betty Thomas (Dr. Doolittle, Private Parts) to direct the project and were close to casting the rest of the ensemble before deciding to 86 the project.
According to the Reporter, Affleck's deal with Disney is "pay or play," meaning that whether or not the film gets made, Ben gets paid, so the company is more than willing to see another studio step in and take over the project.
Reps for Affleck were not available for comment. A Disney studio spokesperson called the Reporter's account "innacurate."
Otherwise known as Bennifer, Affleck and Lopez have been the It Couple du jour. Their made-for-the-tabloids romance, however, took a turn when they unexpectedly scuttled their California nuptials last month due to "excessive media attention."
But Ben and Jen were far from history. They were spotted a few weeks ago near their island home in Savannah, Georgia, buying a new Range Rover and applying for a gun permit for Affleck at a local courthouse. Last week, the Bronx-born beauty and her Boston-bred beau turned up at Yankee stadium during the American League Championship series to watch Lopez' home team defeat Affleck's beloved Red Sox.
Affleck garnered even more headlines when a warrant was briefly issued for his arrest after a North Carolina woman accused him of threatening to kill her following a fling gone sour. The charges later turned out to be bogus.
All the pub hasn't done much for either Affleck or Lopez' career, though. Their heavily hyped Gigli, not only bombed at the box office but was excoriated by critics and is still the butt of late-night comics' jokes.
Now, Us Weekly, citing sources close to the Sum of All Fears star, reports that on-again couple are now looking to swap vows in a more private setting surrounded by family and close friends, possibly down at Affleck's Georgia retreat.
" They are in love and want to get married sooner rather than later. They will slip off and do something quite discreet," the unnamed source tells Us.
Meanwhile, Lopez was also reportedly spotted visiting a Las Vegas jeweler over the weekend and plunking down $1 million to buy matching his-and-her diamond bracelets.
Still, reps for the couple have denied any pending matrimony.
While he figures out what to do with his Wedding Planner and awaits the fate of Ghosts, Affleck won't be lacking for work.
He and Lopez have already wrapped Kevin Smith's Jersey Girl, which, because of the bad buzz from Gigli, has been delayed until March. He's also got the John Woo-helmed sci-fi thriller Paycheck in the pipeline, as well as the the holiday comedy, Surviving Christmas.