Ben Affleck Quoted His Movie ‘Live by Night’ in Wedding Speech to Jennifer Lopez: ‘I Thought…How Perfect’

Being an actor sure comes in handy when it comes time to make a wedding speech. Jennifer Lopez revealed in her “On the JLo” newsletter that Ben Affleck slipped a line of dialogue he wrote for his 2016 directorial effort “Live By Night” into his wedding speech to her. Fortunately, the line was one of Lopez’s favorites from Affleck’s career as a writer-director. The line of dialogue reads: “This is heaven. Right Here. We’re in it now.”

“That is one of my favorite lines that Ben wrote from a movie he directed called ‘Live By Night,” Lopez wrote in a newsletter post titled “Wedding Weekend. “He also said it the night of our wedding reception in his speech, and I thought…how perfect.”

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Lopez elaborated more on her wedding weekend to Affleck, writing about several hiccups the couple encountered in the days leading up to the event. “It had rained at sunset every day that week,” she wrote. “Everyone was worried about the heat, the aptly named ‘love bugs,’ the details, would the guests all arrive on time, etc. — not to mention the thunder and lightning that arrived almost on cue each day at the exact time the ceremony was supposed to start that Saturday. Oh, and all of us caught a stomach bug and were recuperating ‘til late in the week, that, and along with a few other unexpected setbacks, had all the makings of a doozie of a wedding weekend.”

While Lopez and Affleck starred together in films such as “Gigli” and “Jersey Girl,” he opted instead to quote his own directorial effort “Live By Night” during his wedding speech instead. The Warner Bros.-backed gangster drama was also written by Affleck, who starred in the movie as a bootlegger turned gangster in 1926 Boston. Affleck’s character falls in love with the mistress of a powerful mob boss.

Affleck wrote the screenplay for “Live By Night” based on Dennis Lehane’s 2012 novel of the same name. Expectations for the film were high at the time as Affleck had last adapted Lehane for his acclaimed feature directorial debut “Gone Baby Gone.” The film also served as Affleck’s directorial follow-up to “Argo,” which won the Oscar for best picture. Alas, audiences ignored “Live by Night” and the movie bombed at the box office with just $22 million worldwide. The drama earned just $10 million at the domestic box office.

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