January 24, 2004 — NOW that “Bennifer” has gone bust, don’t expect Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez to jointly promote their long-shelved upcoming movie, “Jersey Girl.”

Director and longtime Affleck buddy Kevin Smith tells Post film critic Lou Lumenick: “There weren’t plans beforehand for [Lopez] to be there at the March 5 press junket in New York, so the breakup doesn’t affect that. But I expect Ben to get hammered with questions,” and he predicted the premiere will be a full-scale mob scene.

Miramax, which will release the movie on March 19 and has a huge investment in Lopez’s future as a star, has been playing down her participation in the picture.

Lopez barely appears in the trailer, which makes it clear that her character dies during the birth of their child early on, and that Affleck’s character moves on to a relationship with more prominently featured Liv Tyler.

Perhaps mindful of the scorn showered upon Bennifer’s first movie together, “Gigli,” the studio saw to it that Lopez’s image doesn’t even adorn the

“Jersey Girl” poster. Instead it features Affleck with Raquel Castro, who plays their young daughter.

Lopez – who has two more Miramax movies due this year, “Shall We Dance” with Richard Gere and “An Ordinary Life” co-starring Robert Redford – is discreetly billed last in the credits.

“Now that the trailer’s out, people are getting [the idea] that it’s not a Bennifer movie,” Smith said.

“Jennifer has about 12 minutes of footage in the first half hour in which they meet, get married and she dies.”

Smith, who made Affleck a star in “Chasing Amy,” says he doesn’t regret taking up his pal’s suggestion to cast Lopez, even though the “Gigli”-generated publicity surrounding the couple has helped keep “Jersey Girl” on the shelf since it was completed in the fall of 2002.

“I think I got a better performance out of the dude than if he was acting opposite someone else, because of the way he felt about Jen,” Smith says.

“If I had to point a finger about why they broke up, I would blame the media, though maybe there’s some law of physics that says two insanely good looking people cannot be together.”

Smith admits that, “at times, I felt like the third wheel in the relationship. Hopefully, my next flick will have an all-male cast.”

Film-maker Kevin Smith has blamed the media for pal Ben Affleck’s failed romance with superstar Jennifer Lopez. Smith, who directed the pair in the upcoming movie Jersey Girl, believes their love meltdown was a result of the constant attention the pair received from the press – which is what the screen stars blamed for the cancellation of their September wedding. He says, “If I had to point a finger about why they broke up, I would blame the media, though maybe there’s some law of physics that says two insanely good looking people cannot be together.” Smith, who helped make Affleck a star in Chasing Amy, insists he doesn’t regret taking up his pal’s suggestion to cast J.Lo, even though the Gigli-generated publicity surrounding the couple has helped keep Jersey Girl on the shelf since it was completed in the autumn of 2002. He adds, “I think I got a better performance out of the dude than if he was acting opposite someone else, because of the way he felt about Jen. At times, I felt like the third wheel in the relationship. Hopefully, my next flick will have an all-male cast.”