Oh, Batfleck. We were dubious at best when you were announced as Bruce Wayne. You did, for the most part, convince us you worked in THAT version of the Justice League. But oddly enough the thing we wanted to see the most was Ben Affleck DIRECT a film in that universe. Which of course didn’t happen, and is actually how we got to Matt Reeves‘ “The Batman.”
Never one to mix words on his feelings, the Oscar-winning filmmaker has actually answered one of the big questions after the announcement of Warner Bros. Pictures’ new DC Comics based arm, DC Studios.
“I would not direct something for the [James] Gunn DC. Absolutely not,” Affleck said. “I have nothing against James Gunn. Nice guy, sure he’s going to do a great job. I just wouldn’t want to go in and direct in the way they’re doing that. I’m not interested in that.”
He actually went into more detail about his experiences with Zack Snyder‘s “Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice” and the subsequent “Justice League,” calling it “the worst experience I’ve ever seen in a business which is full of some shitty experiences.” Yeah. So.
“That was the worst experience I’ve ever seen in a business which is full of some shitty experiences. It broke my heart,” Affleck said. “There was an idea of someone [Joss Whedon] coming in, like, ‘I’ll rescue you and we’ll do 60 days of shooting and I’ll write a whole thing around what you have. I’ve got the secret.’ And it wasn’t the secret. That was hard. And I started to drink too much. I was back at the hotel in London, it was either that or jump out the window. And I just thought, ‘This isn’t the life I want. My kids aren’t here. I’m miserable.'”
He does go on to say he feels he “finally nailed” how to play Batman in the upcoming highly-troubled “The Flash.” “I nailed it in ‘The Flash.’ For the five minutes I’m there, it’s really great,” he said.
Whatever happens, we look forward to seeing what Affleck does next. “The Flash” hits theaters June 16th 2023. Catch Affleck and best pal Matt Damon in “Air” April 5th, 2023.
