- Ben has signed on for Pearl Harbor, the latest brainchild from Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay [those Armageddon guys].

- Dogma has been given a video release date of May 2.

- Word from the man himself: Ben recently broke his ankle during a friendly game of basketball.

- The hottest party ticket at Sundance turned out to be Andrew Lazar's Deer Valley condo party, where such actors as Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Neve Campbell, Heather Graham and boyfriend Ed Burns, and Emilio Estevez mingled past 3:00 a.m., fighting for breathing space and anything to drink.

- Attendees of this year's Sundance Film Festival were treated to the debut of Boiler Room; a thriller about yuppie stockbrokers. First-timer Ben Younger directs the Long Island-set film.

- Bounce has been given a release date of July 28, 2000.

- Some sort of truth is emerging at Warner Brothers and Disney, and it may be The Ugly Truth, a project getting serious consideration from director Barry Sonnenfeld, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck. Written by Nicole Eastman, Truth tells the story of a romantically challenged woman who receives lessons in love from a sloppily dressed, sexist television personality.

- Ben is currently developing Peter Lefcourt's "The Dreyfus Affair", with director Betty Thomas. Affleck would play a happily married shortstop with kids and a dalmatian, who falls in love with his black second baseman. [Wesley Snipes has long been suggested for the latter role].

- Ben has denied published reports that he is likely to become the screen's next Batman and that he wants his friend, Gwyneth Paltrow, to play Catwoman. In a note posted at affleck.com, Affleck said: "As I'm sure most of you might infer, this story is absurd. There is no Batman script, no movie being planned, they have not called me or my agent and Gwyneth is much more the Electra another comic-book character type. I really have no idea where they get this stuff. It is as if someone sits in a room and quite literally invents it."

- Ben Affleck has been fined for driving with his license suspended in Massachusetts. The 27-year-old Academy Award-winning actor was accompanied by onetime companion Gwyneth Paltrow on Thursday, December 23, as he slipped quietly into court to pay the $135 fine. Court personnel say Affleck was stopped for speeding in Lee on August 11. Affleck was reportedly en route to visit Paltrow, who was acting in a play at the nearby Williamstown Theater Festival. Affleck's lawyer David Hoose said Monday that the actor actually had a valid California license and was unaware his license was suspended in Massachusetts.

- The official Boiler Room site is up, at http://www.boilermovie.com.

- The name of Ben's upcoming film Deception, formerly called Reindeer Games, has now been changed back to Reindeer Games. Whew!

- Warner Bros is considering Ben to play the role of the Caped Crusader in a revival of the Batman franchise, syndicated gossip columnist Liz Smith reported Tuesday, December 21, without naming sources.

- The Score scorecard has a last minute scratch: Ben Affleck has abruptly dropped out of the film he was scheduled to costar in with Robert De Niro for director Frank Oz. Sources said an offer was quickly put out to Brad Pitt, who is available and looking to work in a commercial picture. Affleck had no definitive replacement project, but several strong possibilities. One is Cinderella Man, about a depression-era boxer, is taking shape as a co-production between Universal and Miramax with Billy Bob Thornton a possible director.

- The release date for Daddy and Them has been pushed back to the Summer of 2000.

- Ben will star opposite Robert De Niro in The Score. The script tells the story of an older thief who hopes to retire and live off his riches, when a young kid blackmails him into doing one last heist.

- "Touched by an Angel" triumphed over Dogma as ads for the satirical movie were pulled from newspapers and radio because of CBS' complaint that its family series was being exploited.

"Get Touched by an Angel" was the slogan used to tout the Kevin Smith movie, which has drawn fire for its depiction of the Roman Catholic church.

In a November 12 letter to Lions Gate Films, CBS said it received calls from people confused about whether a link exists to "our family oriented television series and your irreverent movie that apparently belittles every religious tenet embraced by our show".

CBS said the promotion exploits the show's name and demadned the ad campaign stop. Lions Gate made the letter public Tuesday; a CBS spokesman said the company had no further comment.

"We've instantly changed our ads", said Mark Urman, co-president of Lions Gate Films. "Sometimes capitulation is the most sensible thing to do. It's not a very big deal. We think it's kind of hilarious, in fact".

The slogan has been featured for several months on Dogma publicity posters, Urman said Tuesday. "We never meant to harm or infringe upon them", he said.

Dogma has been the focus of controversy since before its release. An outcry by the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights over the script prompted Disney subsidiary Miramax Films to withdraw as distributor.

Smith, whose previous films include Clerks and Chasing Amy, has said the film is aimed at open-minded Catholics, using two gun-toting, sinner-slaying angels [Ben Affleck, Matt Damon] to satirize zealots who see violence as a path to heaven.

"Touched by an Angel", CBS' top-rated series, stars Roma Downey, Della Reese and John Dye as benevolent angels dispatched from heaven to help troubled people.

- In its' opening weekend, Dogma sat pretty at Number 3, bringing in $8.8 million. Its' solid per screen average of $6,935 was the second highest in the top 10, behind Pokemon's. [Pretty scary, huh?]

- Here are some highlights from Ben's Playboy Interview, courtesy of Playboy Enterprises: "Actor Ben Affleck is experiencing the kind of meteoric rise to fame that young actors dream about. In the December Playboy Interview, he shares his thoughts and feelings on what is often a startling reality. As part of his dating adventures, Affleck was offered and tried the much-talked-about drug Viagra: 'One of my biggest disappointments was Viagra. I figured it's this old-guy drug, if you can't get a hard-on you take Viagra. But then these guys start telling me, 'No, no, no, you can take it too, and it's like you were 14 and jerking off six times a day'. So, somebody gave it to me. I took half and felt like I almost had a heart attack. I had to sit down and all it did was make me sweat and feel dizzy. And really unnerved. I felt no sexual effects whatsoever. So maybe I'm immune to Viagra. That was a huge disappointment for me. I thought I'd be able to recapture those days when I was 15'."

- The title of Ben's upcoming film, Reindeer Games, has been changed to Deception. Kinda generic, huh? At any rate, further down these News & Notes, when you see the title Reindeer Games, go ahead and substitute Deception for it. They are one in the same.

- On October 4, hundreds of Catholic protesters staged a rally at a venerable arts institution, where a controversial film about fallen angels premiered. Singing, praying and holding aloft placards that read "Stop blasphemy", the demonstrators gathered outside the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, where the movie Dogma was shown as part of the prestigious New York Film Festival. In Dogma, Academy Award-winning actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck play two fallen angels who are scheming to get back into heaven. The film, directed by Chasing Amy director Kevin Smith, also stars Linda Fiorentino and Salma Hayek, as well as comedian Chris Rock as a hitherto unknown 13th apostle. "We are here to tell people that we're looking for more respect and love, and less criticizing of each other's faith", said Bev Santini of Garden City, New York. "We're praying for Michael Eisner and Disney and Miramax so that they stop ridiculing Christians and Catholics in the world", she said. Disney is Miramax's parent company, but the film is being released by Lion's Gate which distributed last year's Oscar-winning film Gods and Monsters. Miramax Films' Bob and Harvey Weinstein bought Dogma from Miramax, which backed the film's production, and Lion's Gate agreed to distribute it. Officials at Disney, Miramax, Lion's Gate and the film festival could not be reached for comment. The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, which joined the Catholic League and others at Monday's rally, said in fliers that Dogma, "mocks everything we hold sacred -- God, the Church, the Mass and Mary's virginity. It condones what we condemn -- murder, obscenity, violence, profanity, drugs, drunkenness and rebellion!"

- Ben served as co-host for "The Concert of the Century for VH1 Save the Music", which was broadcast live October 23. VH1's Save the Music program raises funds to re-establish music programs at schools across America.

- Actor-director Tony Goldwyn and thesp David Paymer have signed on to Miramax's Bounce. Goldwyn will play a stranded traveler who swaps plane tickets with another passenger (Ben) in order to get home to his wife (Gwyneth Paltrow), unknowingly booking himself on a doomed flight.

- Ben spent one night in Vancouver General Hospital, and suffered a mild concussion after falling and hitting his head while filming a fight scene for the upcoming Reindeer Games.

- Miramax Films is near a deal to bring Ben and Gwyneth aboard Bounce, a drama with romantic overtones to be shot this fall by writer/director Don Roos (The Opposite of Sex). Ben would play a womanizer who gives up his seat on an airplane to a guy who wants badly to get home to his wife. After the plane crashes, Aflleck's character develops guilt over the other man's death and becomes an alcoholic. One year later, he resolves to check up on the dead man's widow (Paltrow). As they slowly fall in love with each other, she unaware that he played a role in her husband's death.

- Dogma has been deemed "inappropriate" by the Walt Disney Company, and Disney officials say Dogma shouldn't be released under a Disney label. So, Bob and Harvey Weinstein, co-chairmen of Miramax, say they will acquire all rights to the film and sell it to another distributor. The movie is described as a satire which deals with religious issues. Harvey Weinstein says Disney didn't directly ask him to shelve the film, but indicated there was a problem. The film is said to include such hot-button material as a foul-mouthed apostle, a discussion of whether Joseph and Mary had sex and a descendent of Jesus who happens to work in an abortion clinic. For his part, Smith, a devout Catholic, said he felt Dogma was not in the least bit offensive. "I wrote the film, I directed the film, I have seen the film many times -- in my opinion, Dogma is in no way blasphemous or worthy of the mild controversy that seems to be brewing around it", he said in a statement.

- Ben and Matt Damon have signed on for supporting roles in The Third Wheel, a comedy-romance about a guy, his friend, his dream girl and the con artist who messes up a big night. Ben will play the role of the friend, while relative unknown Jay Lacopo, who also wrote the script, is set to star as the con artist. (Lacopo's wrote I Killed My Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meat Hook, and Now I Have a Three-Picture Deal at Disney, which Ben directed). Damon's onscreen involvement will be limited to a cameo. Behind the scenes, Matt and Ben will serve as executive producers for the $10 million indie flick.

- In between his hectic schedule, Ben and buddy Matt Damon are working on their Castle Rock feature Half Way House, a drama in which Matt will reportedly play a patient, and Ben a counselor, in a facility for the mentally impaired. The writing duo are also said to be working on the romantic comedy Like a Rock, in which Ben will take the lead role; payback for Matt getting the bigger role in Good Will Hunting.

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