In a recent Hollywood Reporter cover story, Ben Affleck revealed that he had decided to retire from playing Batman until he got the chance to play the role in “The Flash.” The forthcoming DC movie gave him the opportunity to play the role in his own way and allowed him to discover what it truly means to be a Batman, according to the Oscar-winning actor.
“Yeah, I did finally figure out how to play that character [Batman], and I nailed it in ‘The Flash,’” Ben said. “For the five minutes I’m there, it’s really great. A lot of it’s just tone. You’ve got to figure out, what’s your version of the person? Who is the guy that fits what you can do? I tried to fit myself into a Batman.”
Affleck continued, “The ‘Justice League’ experience, the fact that those stories became somewhat repetitive to me and less interesting. ‘Justice League,’ you could teach a seminar on all the reasons why this is how not to do it. Ranging from production to bad decisions to horrible personal tragedy, and just ending with the most monstrous taste in my mouth.”
Zack Snyder, the original director of “Justice League,” had to leave the project after his daughter passed away during the movie’s production. Joss Whedon took over as director and reportedly disregarded 90% of Snyder’s work. Whedon’s version of the film received negative feedback, and the cast, including Gal Gadot and Ray Fisher, accused Whedon of abusive behavior on set, as well as threatening their professional careers.
“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,’” Ben recalled. “And it wasn’t the secret. That was hard.”
‘It is my highest-rated career movie’
Ben finally concluded by discussing his ‘Justice League’ experience, “The genius, and the silver lining, is that Zack Snyder eventually went to AT&T and was like, ‘Look, I can get you four hours of content.’ And it’s principally just all the slow motion that he shot in black-and-white. And one day of shooting with me and him. He was like, ‘Do you want to come shoot in my backyard?’ I was like, ‘I think there are unions, Zack. I think we have to make a deal.’ But I went and did it. And now [‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’] is my highest-rated movie on IMDb.”
He further added, “Say what you want, it is my highest-rated career movie. I’ve never had one that went from nadir to pinnacle. Retroactively, it’s a hit. All of a sudden, I was getting congratulated for the bomb I’m in.”