Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas’ erotic thriller Deep Water has been pulled from theatrical release — and the unfriendly exes are breathing a major sigh of relief.
Affleck and de Armas, who hooked up while making the movie, “were supposed to hit the promotional trail, which put them in an awkward situation,” explains an insider.
After the duo called it quits in January 2020 and Affleck, 49, quickly rekindled his romance with Jennifer Lopez, 52, who he was previously engaged to back in the early 2000s.
“It really stuck in Ana’s craw,” the insider adds, who says the actors haven’t spoken to each other since.
For his part, Ben was “dreading” having to make nice with the Knives Out beauty, 33 — who’s been dating Tinder executive Paul Boukadakis, 37, since June — during the press tour, the insider spills.
“They play a married couple, so would probably face questions about their relationship,” says the insider.
The former flames would have likely been expected to sit down for interviews, press junkets, and of course, walk the red carpet together.
But with Deep Water set to go straight to streaming, it may be a blow for the film but a win for its stars. Adds the insider: “They won’t have to hobnob on the red carpet or worry about bringing their current partners with them!”
As OK! previously reported, Disney announced on Thursday, December 9 that the film was being shelved instead of hitting theaters on January 14.
Apparently, staffers in charge of PR for the film had already been "thinking about the tricky situation," they would have been faced with had the movie still gone to theaters. An insider at the time claimed that the chemistry between Affleck and de Armas was "scorching hot" in the film, which could have made things uncomfortable for their significant others to join on the press tour.
Meanwhile, other members on the film's production team weren't as thrilled with the news as Affleck and de Armas, considering it came without any warning.
The people working behind-the-scenes on the film reportedly had "no idea" why the film was pulled from theaters, and therefore were thrown off by the unexpected news.
