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I don’t usually like cribbing text from other websites, but the IMDB StudioBrief has no permanent
archives. So here are this week’s choice bits of movie news (involving
Jersey
Girl and Gigli, even!):

J.Lo Ends Up on Cutting Room Floor  
The failure of Gigli has enabled director
Kevin Smith to rejigger his upcoming
Jersey Girl into the kind of movie he had
originally conceived — one that features Ben Affleck as a single father raising a
young daughter, the New York Times reported today (Monday). Until
unfavorable reviews of Gigli began to roll in, Smith had been
prevailed upon to expand the role of the girl’s mother, played by Jennifer Lopez, in order to take
advantage of the publicity surrounding the Affleck-Lopez romance. Smith
told the Times that he began trimming Lopez’s scenes after
Jersey Girl tested poorly with preview audiences. But, he said,
Miramax co-chairman Harvey
Weinstein

“was always ‘Let’s leave as much of Jennifer in because we paid her $4
million for the movie.'” Her character now dies in the movie’s first 15
minutes, the Times said.

Extra special bonus!

Mike Newell To Direct Fourth Harry Potter Film  
British director Mike Newell, whose
films include Four Weddings and a Funeral,
Donnie Brasco, and the upcoming Mona Lisa Smile, starring Julia Roberts, has been selected to
helm the fourth Harry Potter movie, The Goblet
of Fire, Warner Bros. announced on Sunday. The first two Potter
films were directed by American director Chris Columbus, while the third film,
The Prisoner of Azkaban, is currently being
filmed by Mexican director Alfonso
Cuar?n. In a statement, Producer David Heyman said that Newell was “the
perfect choice.” He added: “He is great with actors and imbues all his
characters, all his films, with great humanity.”