Jennifer Lopez to Star in ‘Unstoppable’ for Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Artists Equity
20 years after “Gigli,” Bennifer is gearing up for another collaboration.
Jennifer Lopez is set to star in “Unstoppable,” a new sports drama that her husband Ben Affleck is on board to produce. The film will tell the true story of Anthony Robles, a three-time All-American athlete born with one leg who won a wrestling national championship at Arizona State University. Additional casting has yet to be announced. Deadline first reported the feature.
Affleck’s production company Artists Equity, which he co-founded with Matt Damon, will produce “Unstoppable.” William Goldenberg, who edited “Argo,” “Live by Night,” and “Air” for Affleck, is set to make his directorial debut on the project.
IndieWire has reached out to Artists Equity for comment.
While “Unstoppable” will be Affleck and Lopez’s first official collaboration since their 2022 wedding, Lopez’s impact has already been felt on Affleck’s other projects. Artists Equity’s first feature, the Affleck-directed “Air,” premiered at 2023 SXSW. The true story of Nike’s relationship with Michael Jordan is told onscreen with Viola Davis, Jason Bateman, Chris Tucker, Damon, and Affleck starring. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Affleck explained that the project was a true collaboration that saw many of his closest confidants making contributions to the script.
“I started writing and working with Matt, and Jen [Lopez] gave me some great lines too,” Affleck said. “Oh my God, she’s brilliant. She is incredibly knowledgeable about the way fashion evolves through the culture as a confluence of music, sports, entertainment and dance. She helped me in talking about the way in which a part of the reason why Jordans [the shoes] were so meaningful is because culture and style in America is 90 percent driven by Black culture. Black culture has historically pioneered music, dance, fashion, and it’s then been stolen, appropriated, remarketed as Elvis or whatever. And in this case, [Nike], a white-run corporate entity, was starting to do business with African-American athletes in an identity affiliation sales thing. They were really taking value from what Michael Jordan represents and who he is. I don’t think the meaning can be overstated. They’re going to switch from ‘Hey, guys, we are a nice shoe,’ to ‘If Mike has it, you want it.'”
