August 14, 2001
"X-Men" star Halle Berry will join Ben Affleck in writer-director Martin Brest's "Gigli," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The project, which was first announced months ago by Brest, casts Affleck as a hit man hired to kidnap a mentally handicapped brother of a district attorney.

Berry will play a woman who joins the plot, but is mistaken by Affleck to be a hit woman.

Novice actor Justin Bartha -- a recent graduate of New York's Tisch School Of The Arts and co-host of a recent MTV pilot show entitled "The Dustin And Justin Show" -- has been cast as the district attorney's brother.

Affleck's recent spell in alcohol rehab won't effect the production, the report said.