Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck hold lavish estate wedding

WASHINGTON, United States - Celebrity couple Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck tied the knot Saturday -- for the second time in just over a month -- in a lavish ceremony at the "Good Will Hunting" star's estate, US media reported.

The A-list lovebirds already wed in Las Vegas in mid-July, but made it official again, this time in front of friends and family at Affleck's 87-acre (35-hectare) waterfront compound in the southeastern US state of Georgia.

Among the Hollywood types in attendance at the three-day affair were longtime Affleck pal Matt Damon and director Kevin Smith, People magazine reported.

Guests wore all-white while Lopez donned a Ralph Lauren dress made in Italy, according to Fox News.

Images posted by celebrity gossip site TMZ ahead of the wedding showed dinner seating being arranged on what appeared to be a large, covered dock, with a substantial barge for pyrotechnics floating nearby.

The pair -- he is 50 and she is 53 -- first met on the set of the widely panned movie "Gigli" in 2002.

They became a media sensation as they dated but postponed their planned 2003 nuptials, then announced their relationship was over in early 2004.

"Bennifer" -- the couple's public nickname from their first highly publicized relationship -- set the internet alight last year when photos of them together again began circulating. 

Lopez and Affleck announced their engagement in April.

Lopez posted a video of herself appearing emotional and admiring a green ring in her newsletter, "On The JLo." US media reported that the ring was an emerald-cut pale green diamond.

This is the fourth marriage for Lopez and the second for Affleck.

Lopez discussed her renewed relationship with Affleck in an interview with People in February.

"It's a beautiful love story that we got a second chance," she said.

Agence France Presse

Affleck embraces Batman role with new perspective

On “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” Ben Affleck takes on a role that has been played by several other actors in the past. But his take on the famous comic book hero comes with a major difference.

“I think characters in general are more interesting when you can exploit their flaws and see how they try to reconcile those flaws, their mistakes and what they do to try to remedy that, and how they try to become better,” he said.

For Affleck, playing Batman “was a lot of rich, fertile ground because he was such a dark, conflicted character.”

Like Batman, Affleck has been through a lot in his Hollywood career.

“It’s been long enough now, and I’ve been able to have a more sober look at my work and I can judge it, I think, pretty fairly from the stuff that I feel satisfied from the stuff that I don’t. But I do have the feeling still of the urgency to work, to make something, that auditioning-actor feeling that ’You gotta work or it’s all going to go away.’ I don’t think that’s ever going to go away,” he said.

The Oscar winner said playing Batman made him realize something.

“Going home was a lot of realizing how not superhero-ic I am because my back hurts, and I forever had some ache and pains. You realize how short those fights would really be,” he said. “I definitely was aware how mortal I really am. But they were great fun and put together really creatively.”

The actor is not only a force on the screen, he’s also a political activist. He shares his thoughts on the current US presidential elections.

“It’s a strange time, I’ve not seen anything like it in my life. It’s a very strange political time. There seems to be a tenor of meanness in the political process right now which is very depressing to watch,” he noted.

Affleck’s real-life hero is someone who was close to him, who taught him what it means to be hero.

“You know my grandfather is probably the guy - he’s passed away now. He meant a lot to me growing up. He was my model of kind of what a man should be. Heroism comes down to courage in the face of fear. Everyone is afraid and it’s what the hero does when he’s afraid that what makes him a hero. Heroes are just as scared as the rest of us but they conquer that,” said Affleck.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

FIFA scandal to get Hollywood movie treatment

Actor-director Ben Affleck is to help produce a feature film about the corruption scandal that has rocked world soccer and its governing body FIFA, the author of an upcoming book said on Friday.

Affleck and his friend since childhood, actor Matt Damon, will be among the producers of the as-yet-untitled movie for Hollywood studio Warner Bros., the author, U.S. reporter Ken Bensinger, told Reuters.

It is expected to focus on the role of American Chuck Blazer, a former FIFA official. Bensinger said that actor John Goodman had been mentioned as a possible option to portray the 70-year-old Blazer, who has a curly white beard and has in the past tipped the scales at more than 400 pounds.

A spokeswoman for Goodman said she was not aware of any discussions about the part.

The deal was first reported on Friday by trade paper The Hollywood Reporter.

Blazer, the former general secretary of CONCACAF, soccer's governing body in North and Central America and the Caribbean, has secretly provided U.S. prosecutors with information about alleged bribery and kickbacks in connection with bidding to host the 1998 and 2010 soccer World Cups.

Blazer pleaded guilty in 2013 to 10 criminal counts, according to a plea deal unsealed by U.S. prosecutors earlier this month,

Seven current or former soccer officials were arrested on U.S. corruption charges in a raid on a Swiss hotel in late May as part of a wide-ranging investigation. The following week, FIFA President Sepp Blatter - just days after being reelected - said he would be stepping down.

The movie is to be based on Bensinger's proposed book "Houses of Deceit", which went to a bidding war between Hollywood studios after the FIFA scandal broke in May.

Bensinger, an investigative reporter for U.S. news website Buzzfeed.com, said the book was still in its early stages and was unlikely to be published before 2017.

DIFFERENT PASSIONS

"I'm excited about the challenge of putting together this book and the prospects for a movie. I think this story has amazing potential to capture the interest of a wide range of people and not just soccer fans, because it touches on fundamental human themes of power, greed, corruption and justice," Bensinger added in a statement.

That will make it very different from a FIFA-funded movie, "United Passions," which explores the 111-year history of the organization and attempts to show it as a force for good. The 2014 French movie, which was first screened in the U.S. this month, has been widely panned by critics and has been a massive box office flop.

Bensinger said that director Gavin O'Connor may be involved in his movie.

Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc., declined to comment on Friday, saying the studio did not comment about projects that may be in development.

Blazer is now in hospital with cancer and unable to speak. But in his pomp he chronicled his globe-trotting activities to spread the good word for FIFA on his blog. He is pictured with Nelson Mandela and soccer legends George Best and Pele. He can also be seen with an exotic dancer, his parrot, and dressed up like a pirate.

The New York Daily News reported last year that he kept an apartment in the city mainly for his cats and needed a fleet of mobility scooters to get about.

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant and Mark Hosenball; Editing by Martin Howell)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Ben Affleck to play Batman in 'Man of Steel' sequel

LOS ANGELES - Actor Ben Affleck will play Batman in an upcoming Superman sequel that will see the two caped crusaders face off against each other, film studio Warner Bros Pictures said on Thursday.

Affleck, 41, will take on the role of reclusive billionaire Bruce Wayne, Batman's alter-ego, in director Zack Snyder's 2015 sequel to this year's Superman reboot "Man of Steel," starring 30-year-old British actor Henry Cavill.

"We knew we needed an extraordinary actor to take on one of DC Comics' most enduringly popular super heroes, and Ben Affleck certainly fits that bill, and then some. His outstanding career is a testament to his talent and we know he and Zack will bring new dimension to the duality of this character," Greg Silverman, president of creative development at Warner Bros Pictures said.

The announcement that two iconic comic book heroes will face off against each other was made by Snyder earlier this year at San Diego's annual Comic-Con, a convention celebrating comic-book and pop culture.

"It's beyond mythological to have Superman and our new Batman facing off, since they are the greatest super heroes in the world," Snyder said.

The director's "Man of Steel" has been a successful reboot of the Superman franchise this year, making $650 million at the global box office. The yet-to-be titled sequel, slated for release on July 17, 2015, will reunite "Man of Steel" stars Cavill, Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne and Diane Lane.

Affleck joins a list of actors who have donned Batman's black mask and cape, including Michael Keaton, George Clooney and most recently Christian Bale in Christopher Nolan's "Dark Knight" trilogy. Both Batman and Superman are part of the DC Comics universe, which is part of the Warner Bros Entertainment division, a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc.

Nolan's "Dark Knight" films, which explored a darker and more complex portrayal of Batman, made more than $2 billion at the worldwide box office between 2005 and 2012, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.

Affleck, who directed and starred in this year's Best Picture Oscar winner "Argo," will also be in upcoming gambling drama "Runner Runner," opposite Justin Timberlake.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com