Mark Ruffalo’s Walk of Fame ceremony became a ‘13 Going On 30’ reunion with Jennifer Garner
By Lisa Respers France, CNN
(CNN) — Mark Ruffalo celebrated his new star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday, and had a little help from a certain “13 Going On 30” cast member.
Jennifer Garner was on hand to honor the man of the hour, which felt right since the beloved film in which they costarred celebrates its 20th anniversary this spring.
Garner joked that she “kicked off the Mark Ruffalo rom-com era,” and also rattled off the names of some of the other actresses who have played opposite Ruffalo including Jennifer Aniston, Keira Knightley, Gwyneth Paltrow and Reese Witherspoon.
“I wonder if these esteemed ladies enjoyed Mark’s anxiety as much as I did,” she also said. “I wonder if he tried to drop out of their films, like he did out of ours after the first rehearsal of the ‘Thriller’ dance where Mark went from kind of shocked that we actually had to do this, to antsy, to deathly quiet, to ‘Bro, this is not for me.’”
She also reflected on how “lucky” they were to have performed in a movie that years later has led to young people dressing up as their characters on Halloween.
In the 2004 movie, Garner played a teen who wishes to be older and finds herself in the body of her 30-year-old self. Ruffalo portrayed her adult love interest and the film is now considered an early-aughts classic.
On Thursday, Garner hailed Ruffalo – who this year is nominated for his fourth best supporting actor Oscar, for “Poor Things” – with a comparison to the greats like Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra and Jimmy Stewart. She also complimented him for being “a person of character” and a devout family man.
“To work with you Mark is to love you, I don’t care what anyone says,” she said to laughs from those gathered. “You allow yourself to be fully known by your colleagues, by the audience, by the world.”
Of course, Ruffalo and Garner also made sure to briefly show off their “Thriller” moves during the photo opp at the end.
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