'Atlas' star reveals Ben Affleck's behind-the-scenes support for JLo

Jennifer Lopez's Atlas costar Sterling K. Brown has revealed an interesting contribution Ben Affleck made during the filming of the action-thriller.

Affleck has been making headlines for his absence at the premiere of his wife's hotly-released film amid relationship rift and his busy schedule filming The Accountant 2.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Brown shared how Affleck would occasionally step in to read Smith's dialogues, an AI companion in the film voiced by Gregory James Cohan, to help Lopez prepare for her character.

"Every once in a while, Ben would read the lines for Smith. And I think the newlyweds, still very much in love, I think she just wanted to hear his voice," Brown told the outlet.

According to a character summary shared by Tudum, Smith is depicted solely as a voice inside Atlas' suit. As the film progresses, Atlas and Smith, initially at odds, learn to cooperate despite Atlas' many reservations.

Director Brad Peyton shared that there's no surprise that Lopez wanted to practice her lines with a familiar voice given the film's theme of trust. "The heart of Atlas is really about trust and how difficult it is to trust people," Peyton elaborated. 

"Atlas is told through the lens of a woman who’s learning to trust after undergoing a trauma that’s upended her life. It’s a reminder of how we have to have deep, meaningful relationships in our lives, in one way, shape, or form."

"That you can’t do everything by yourself; you have to choose to trust people at a certain point and let them in.”

In Atlas, Lopez stars as Atlas Shepherd, a data analyst whose distrust in artificial intelligence is tested during a mission to capture a rogue robot.