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Ben
Affleck became an instant celebrity and media darling when he and his
childhood buddy, Matt Damon, won an Academy award for Best Screenplay for Good Will Hunting
in 1997. Ben went on to star in
several big budget films, such as Armageddon (1998), Pearl Harbor
(2001), The Sum of All Fears (2002), and Daredevil (2003). In
2008. he was was named People's 2008 Sexiest Man Alive. Michael Clark
Duncan, his co-star in Armageddon, apparently didn't agree when he
said, "Don't get me wrong, ladies, Ben is cool, but I've seen the guy naked
... and c'mon, man! I was not impressed at all."
Ben almost had his leading man status crushed
during his relationship with actress/singer Jennifer Lopez. The couple
dubbed as "Bennifer." attracted daily worldwide media attention for nearly a
year during which they made the disastrous film Gigli (2003) which threatened both stars' future box office
appeal. Gigli
received a rating of below 0 stars from Time—the
only movie in history to receive this rating. Critics called Gigli
“the ultimate turkey of all time,”
When his "Bennifer" breakup was a daily high-profile media story. the couple
blamed it on all of the media attention. Hollywood insiders
credited the "Bennifer" dissolution to the universal bad and often vicious
reviews of Gigli . After the dissolution of
the "Bennifer" fiasco in 2004, he began dating Jennifer Garner, his
Daredevil
(2003) costar. The two married in
June 2005. Ben and
Jennifer have three children. When questioned by Ellen DeGeneres on her September 27, 2012
talk show on whether they planned they
planned to have more children, Jennifer replied, "I plan to be done. But
my husband is kind of a wonder sperm kind of guy."
A few days later on the Tonight Show,
Ben, possibly still hurt by Michael Clark Duncan's comment, told
Jay Leno that "What she meant was 'wonder member. I have a 'wonder
piece' -- a 'wonder johnson' ... I'm trying to do it on TV. You know what I
mean? It's a PG [show]."
After
the Gigli
debacle,
It took Ben three years to
make a film comeback in the George Reeves biopic Hollywoodland (2006),for which he won
the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film
Festival and won the Supporting Actor of the Year award at the Hollywood
Film Festival, Ben made his directorial debut, which starred his brother
Casey, with Gone, Baby, Gone, for which he also co-wrote the
screenplay. More directorial successes followed.
Although we recommend Argo
(2012) as Ben's must-see film, for Ben's birthday it could
still be a hoot to watch Gigli in remembrance of things past while
enjoying a plate of the eponymous Gigli with
Tomato.
Gigli are lily-shaped pasta (gigli means lilies in Italian).
is a popular pasta in Florence and where it is manufactured in part because the lily
is the symbol of Florence. In
the United States,
can be ordered from Dean & Deluca in New York (deandeluca.com). The
Gina and Sofia (after Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren) Pasta Company in
Puglia makes a fantastic barley flour gigli which is available from
Amazon.com.
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Gigli with
Tomato |
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Ingredients
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1 lb gigli, cooked al dente
2 TB olive oil oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves,
1 TB vegetable oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
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3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 28 oz can chopped tomatoes, with liquid
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp oregano
2 TB parsley, finely chopped
freshly grated Parmesan cheese-
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Instructions
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1. In large non-stick skillet, heat oil
over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft
(5-10 minutes) .
2. Add the garlic, tomatoes, pepper flakes, oregano, and parsley;
simmer, stirring occasionally, until the flavors
have blended (about 30 minutes).
3. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Toss pasta
with the hot sauce to rewarm and serve immediately in a
heated bowl. Pass cheese separately.
© 2011 Gordon Nary and Tyler Stokes
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