By Richard Johnson

KEVIN Smith is furious that his upcoming movie, “Jersey Girl,” starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, is being confused with the couple’s first collaboration, “Gigli.” On his Web site, the director refutes false reports that he’s spent $3 million reshooting the ending to his movie. A new ending was shot for “Gigli,” which was briefly retitled “Tough Love.” Affleck plays a thug named Gigli who falls for a gorgeous lesbian gangster played by Lopez. Test audiences didn’t like the downbeat denouement, which had Affleck getting killed, but didn’t like the happy Hollywood ending, either. “I assumed (wrongly, I guess) that anyone who really gave a [bleep] knew that it was ‘Gigli’ that had done re-shoots, not ‘Jersey Girl.’ Now I’m seeing this isn’t the case,” Smith wrote. “Jersey Girl” is a romantic comedy in which Affleck copes with a wife and their 6-year-old daughter. Addressing the media, Smith pleaded: “Next time you’re writing a story . . . how about simply picking up a phone and doing a little research?”