Kevin Smith talks getting to be companions with Ben Affleck again thanks to Jay and Silent Bob Reboot

Much the same as Jay and Silent Bob, old companions Kevin Smith and Ben Affleck are back together again — both onscreen and off.

While stopping by EW’s video suite at Comic-Con, the movie producer enjoyed a break from advancing his forthcoming new film with Jason Mewes, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, to tell to the emotional story of how he and the Justice League star moved toward becoming companions again after years of estrangement.

“We haven’t worked with him since Clerks II, professionally haven’t worked with him but personally he hasn’t been in my life in like eight years,” Smith says. “We worked together quite a bit, all of us, in the beginning so for years people would be like, ‘How’s Ben?’ and sooner or later I just started putting stuff on front street and be like, ‘I haven’t spoken to Ben in years. I don’t think we’re really friends anymore.’ He was out of my life completely.”

That is the reason when development on Jay and Silent Bob Reboot started, Smith didn’t considerably consider composing Affleck a part regardless of the actor’s involvement in Jay and Silent Bob’s creation.

“There was a sadness to that,” Smith says. In any case, thanks to a random line of questioning and entertainment journalism, everything changed and Smith got the inspiration he expected to reach out to Affleck, prompting his return for Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.