Ben Affleck Humbled by Show Biz Venture

By Stephen M. Silverman

Monday August 05, 2002 01:00 AM EDT

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This week's PEOPLE cover boy, Ben Affleck, is getting a lot of press on Monday, and it's not for his relationship with Jennifer Lopez. Both The New York Times and Variety look into his and his business partner (and pal) Matt Damon's Live Planet production company, with The Times painting a less-than-rosy picture of its past and present. The paper says that Live Planet, which sought to combine the Internet with mainstream entertainment programming, had to weather Affleck's drinking and gambling problems last year, as well as disenchantment in the marketplace with most Internet-related businesses and, perhaps the biggest blow of all, ABC's pulling the plug on the company's planned reality series "The Runner." "It's been a collectively humbling experience," Affleck, who turns 30 on Aug. 15, told The Times. Variety, however, is more upbeat in its reportage on Affleck and Live Planet, noting that he, Damon and their business partners have secured a two-year deal at Disney for the production company, with an aim at launching feature films. Damon, 31, and Affleck won't necessarily star in the movies, says Variety, though their business partners, Chris Moore and Sean Bailey, say that they would like to find vehicles for the leading men. Affleck previously starred for Disney in "Pearl Harbor" and "Armageddon."

Check out PEOPLE's cover story on Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez's romance!