Affleck, Paltrow May Bounce Back

April 9, 1999
http://mrshowbiz.go.com/news/Todays_Stories/990409/paltrowaffleck040999.html


Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck are just friends.

Really. Just ask Paltrow, who seems to thank "my good friend Ben
Affleck" almost every time someone sticks a microphone in front of
her face these days. The onetime couple called it quits in January
after dating for more than a year.

But that doesn't mean they can't play lovers onscreen — hey,
they're actors, right? No one has signed on the dotted line, but
Variety says the pretty pair are zeroing in on Bounce, a romantic
drama in which they would appear as star-crossed sweeties brought
together by several fateful coincidences.

The matchmaker in this instance is Miramax, which recently brought
Paltrow and Affleck into the same cinematic orbit by casting them
in 1998 Best Picture Oscar winner Shakespeare in Love. Gwynnie had
a much more substantial role than Ben in that film, but both would
have leading roles in Bounce.

The movie is the latest project for veteran screenwriter Don Roos,
who made his directorial debut last year with the critically praised
The Opposite of Sex, which he also wrote. Bounce, which was
originally in development at Polygram, would mark his second effort
as both writer and director.

The plot reportedly concerns a hunky Lothario (Affleck) who good-
naturedly surrenders his seat on a crowded airplane to a married man
anxious to get home to his loving wife. After the flight crashes and
the married man dies, the fortunate survivor is beset by guilt and
sinks into a boozy malaise.

That's where we get to Paltrow, who plays the devoted (and now
bereft) wife the luckless dead guy was rushing home to see. One year
following the tragic incident, the survivor vows to check up on the
dead guy's widow and gradually falls in love with her after he does
so — the feeling becomes mutual, but the widow remains ignorant of
her newfound lover's connection to her dead hubby.

Whew!

There's no word as to when production would begin on the movie —
assuming both Paltrow and Affleck agree to make it. Affleck is
currently at work on the thriller Reindeer Games with Gary Sinise
and Charlize Theron, while Paltrow recently wrapped Duets with
Felicity hunk Scott Speedman.