Kevin Smith Says Daughter Got Props from Ben Affleck for Turning Down Lead in Dad's Movie: 'Smart Kid' (Exclusive)

" 'No Kevin Smith movie has ever made any actor's career better,' " Smith jokes to PEOPLE about his longtime friend's response

Ben Affleck knows better than to be associated with Kevin Smith — but it's all in good fun!

In a chat surrounding his new coming-of-age comedy The 4:30 Movie, Smith, 54, tells PEOPLE that he offered his daughter, actress Harley Quinn Smith, the female lead in his new movie, but she turned it down in a way that was "well reasoned out."

As for his longtime friend and colleague Affleck, 52, Smith says that the last time they spoke was right before he made The 4:30 Movie — and Affleck gave props to Harley, 25, while teasing her dad.

"I told [Ben] that Harley passed on the movie and he was like, 'That's a smart kid. No Kevin Smith movie has ever made any actor's career better,' " jokes Smith.

Affleck has appeared in several of Smith's films, including Mallrats (1995), Chasing Amy (1997) and Dogma (1999), the latter of which also starred friend and producing partner Matt Damon.

Harley, whom Smith shares with his wife of 25 years Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, has also appeared in her dad's movies, beginning with 2001's Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

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Related: Kevin Smith and Daughter Harley Quinn Share the Hilarious Reason They Fought While Filming

Harley's roles have included a co-lead with Lily-Rose Depp in Yoga Hosers (2016), plus smaller roles in Jersey Girl (2004), Clerks II (2006), Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019) and Clerks III (2022). Harley does appear in The 4:30 Movie too, though not in the lead female role of Melody Barnegat, played by Siena Agudong opposite Austin Zajur as protagonist Brian David.

Her character? Sister Sugar Walls, the "hooker nun" in a fictional trailer that plays at the movie theater — the real-life Smodcastle Cinemas in New Jersey, known at the time as the Atlantic — that the characters frequent one memorable May afternoon in 1986.

Speaking to PEOPLE about Affleck's reaction to Harley opting for the memorable cameo over the lead role, Smith recalls, "He was saying nice things about her for having integrity and [the ability] to be like, 'I don't want to do that.' "

The 4:30 Movie's extensive cast also includes Nicholas Cirillo, Reed Northrup, Betty Aberlin, Diedrich Bader, Jason Biggs, Rosario Dawson, Rachel Dratch, Ralph Garman, Jason Lee, Logic, Justin Long, Jason Mewes, Kate Micucci, Jenny Mollen, Adam Pally, Sam Richardson, Genesis Rodriguez, Method Man, Ken Jeong and Smith's wife Jennifer, 53.

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Related: Kevin Smith 'Finally Finished' Writing Sequel to 1995's Mallrats During Quarantine

As Smith's 16th feature-film directorial project, The 4:30 Movie is "more personal than the rest," he tells PEOPLE of the semi-autobiographic story, though "they're all pretty personal."

"It definitely is me trying to capture that snapshot of that moment — the moment when I called my high-school girlfriend and said, 'Do you want to go to the movies?' " he says. "The fear, but then the joy when she said yes."

Smith explains that his focus on the emotion was "much more difficult to do" than what he "normally" does with his films, which is namely "capturing dialogue moments and exchange."

The longtime filmmaker also praises the cast and cinematographer Yaron Levy, raving how "it feels like this movie could have come from the '80s rather than a movie that homages the '80s."

"It feels like you could've went to see a John Hughes movie, Savage Steve Holland [movie], and then you could have seen this as well," Smith says.

The 4:30 Movie, distributed by Saban Films, is available on digital now.

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