ITW: Ben Affleck is getting flirty with Rebecca Hall, not Blake Lively

This story from In Touch Weekly is pissing me off. First of all, they start out doing the same photo assumption I did on Ben Affleck and his Town costar Rebecca Hall – while in Venice, Affleck and Hall spent most of the photo calls starring lovingly at each other. It would have been a half-decent tabloid story – “Ben gets too close to costar, Jennifer Garner pissed.” But then ITW pisses all over it, saying, “While Ben has been nothing but a faithful husband, in the past, before he was married, he found love on-set with other costars… Ben has gone out of his way to reassure Jen that he is a committed husband.” Um… I guess they’re forgetting about Ben’s hardcore flirtations with his other costar, Blake Likely? Why does the Affleck-Garner marriage get handled with kid gloves? Any other relationship, the tabloids would be all over it. Personally, I think it’s because Garner’s fanbase is so rabidly enchanted with her being mother and wife of the decade, and they don’t want to acknowledge that Ben cons across a bit skeezy. There’s another detail I wanted to point out, but just read this:

Posing for pictures at the Venice premiere of The Town, Ben Affleck looked into the eyes of the beautiful brunette standing next to him, acting as if there was nowhere else he’d rather be. Yet romantic as the scene was, it raised eyebrows. The woman was not his wife, but his costar, Rebecca Hall.

“They were inseparable,” an insider says. “At the premiere events, they were by each other’s side the whole time.”

According to the insider, Ben had his arm around Rebecca, whom he called “beautiful, engaging, smart.” And to those who are close to Jennifer Garner, their coziness may be part of a troubling pattern.

“Ben can’t help but flirt with beautiful women,” says a friend. “It’s just Ben. He’s a charming guy.”

While Ben has been nothing but a faithful husband, in the past he found love on-set with other costars. Although that would naturally worry anyone, Ben has gone out of his way to reassure Jen that he is a committed husband. He personally booked her a ticket to the Toronto premiere of The Town so they could share this special time together.

Though Ben and Rebecca’s on-and off-screen chemistry sizzles, friends are confident it’s probably only a temporary flirtation.

[From In Touch Weekly, print edition]

“He personally booked her a ticket to the Toronto premiere of The Town so they could share this special time together.” Yeah, right. More like Garner saw the photos of Ben staring adoringly at Rebecca and decided to “surprise” him in Toronto, where she knew both Rebecca AND Blake Lively would be. Personally – and this really is just my opinion – I don’t think Rebecca and Ben have anything going on. I think he and Blake probably did, though. And I really, really wish the tabloids had done a story about the behind-the-scenes drama at the Toronto premiere for The Town. Ben very carefully refused to pose with any woman – no Blake, no Rebecca, not even Jennifer. He looked miserable too – like Garner had just bitched him out. We’ll see.