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Mark Ruffalo<\/a>\u00a0has nothing but incredible things to say about his <\/span>13 Going on 30<\/span><\/em> co-star,\u00a0<\/span>Jennifer Garner<\/a>, nearly 20 years after the film was first released.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Talking with ET’s Rachel Smith at the 2024 National Board Of Review Awards Gala in New York City on Thursday, the <\/span>Poor Things<\/span><\/em> actor, 56, explained what initially brought him to the project and why it was the “wonderful chemistry” he had with Garner, 51, that hooked him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “It was my first kind of studio film and, you know, I’d been doing pretty small indies up to that point and Gary Winnick, our director, said ‘I want to — I want to do a small indie but in a rom-com studio film,'” he said, adding that the Winnick told him he would be opposite the <\/span>Alias <\/span><\/em>actress.<\/span><\/p>\n “It was Jen Garner, who is just magical, and we had just a wonderful chemistry together,” the <\/span>Avengers <\/span><\/em>star said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The film released in April 2004 and became an instant classic, boosting Ruffalo and Garner’s own careers astronomically. Garner went on to star in <\/span>Elektra, Juno, and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past <\/span><\/em>while Ruffalo took on roles in <\/span>Collateral<\/span><\/em>, <\/span>Zodiac <\/span><\/em>and <\/span>Shutter Island<\/span><\/em>. He credits <\/span>13 Going on 30<\/span><\/em> with helping him to reach the next stage in his career and being cast in “elevated roles.”<\/span><\/p>\n “I think people started to see me in a lot more different kinds of elevated roles than what I’d been playing up to that time,” Ruffalo said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As for what he would consider his favorite scene from the movie, Ruffalo said it’s the tender moment between his character and Garner’s on a swing set outside of New York City that comes to mind.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “Probably the Razzle scene on the, out on the swings in the park,” Ruffalo said. “Yeah, beautiful, sweet scene.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In 2022, while promoting their movie, <\/span>The Adam Project<\/span><\/em>, Garner shared a photo of her and Ruffalo recreating a scene from the romcom. “<\/span>13 Going on 30<\/span><\/em>\u00a0Reunion, aka #TheAdamProject, is out Friday on @netflix. \u2665\ufe0f,” she captioned the post.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In\u00a0<\/span>The Adam Project<\/span><\/em>, the pair play a husband and wife, whose son, Adam, played by Ryan Reynolds, travels back in time to team up with his 12-year-old self (Walker Scobell) for a mission to save the future.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Talking with ET at the time, the actors both said the reunion was much needed for them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “We\u00a0did\u00a0<\/span>13 Going on 30,<\/span><\/em>\u00a0went on and had lives, families, and kids and all kinds of other stuff, and came back and it’s like, ‘Wow. what a journey we\u2019ve taken,’ and here we are,” Ruffalo said of acting alongside Garner again.<\/span><\/p>\n “It was so lovely,” Garner gushed.\u00a0“It was really comforting to be together again, and I don\u2019t think either of us realized how much we needed it and how great we feel.”<\/span><\/p>\n