Ben Affleck Only Made a Cameo in This Movie Because Snoop Dogg Turned the Opportunity Down for a Great Reason

The upcoming Jay and Silent Bob Reboot movie boasts a slew of celebrity cameos, but one in particular has a fairly crazy backstory: Ben Affleck.

According to a recent CinemaBlend interview with writer/director/co-star Kevin Smith, who started the cult classic View Askewniverse series that Jay and Silent Bob is a part of, Affleck’s cameo was only made possible because of Snoop Dogg turning down an appearance.

“We almost had Snoop Dogg, and in order to have him, we needed to give him a private jet, because he don’t fly commercial. We had no money in the budget for that whatsoever, so we made this sponsorship deal where a weed company is referenced in the movie, so they [gave] us money that we were going to use for Snoop Dogg’s private jet.”

According to Smith, Snoop and his people stopped replying to being a part of the film, which meant that Smith had the jet on standby. Affleck, a longtime collaborator with Smith, told Smith that he was happy to be a part of the film, but he didn’t want to fly commercial to location — but luckily for him, preparation for Snoop’s accommodations worked just as well for him.

Smith explains it thusly: “We were talking, and he goes, ‘My only problem is I have a hard time flying commercial. How big is this movie? Can you get a jet?’ And I was like, ‘This movie’s not big at all, but oddly enough you’ve asked a question at the exact right time. I could get you a jet here,'” Smith said. “And I explained [to him] that, ‘We had a jet standing by for Snoop, and now we don’t know where he is, but if you need a ride, I could get you down to New Orleans.’ So Ben flew to New Orleans to shoot that eight page Chasing Amy sequel that takes place right in the middle of that movie.”

In this case, it appears that even though Snoop didn’t end up being in the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, he’s still the film’s fairy Doggfather.

Write to Cady Lang at cady.lang@timemagazine.com.