by Ben Affleck is putting the nail in the coffin of his DC tenure once and for all, including being barred from directing an upcoming DC film under the new regime led by James Gunn and Peter Safran.
“I would not direct something for the [James] Gunn DC. Absolutely not,” the “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.” “I have nothing against James Gunn. Good boy, sure he’ll do a great job. I wouldn’t go in and direct the way they’re doing it. I don’t care about him.
Oscar-winning director ‘Argo’ has been attached to direct his film ‘Batman’ for a couple of years after playing the Caped Crusader on camera for Zack Snyder. But he ultimately walked away from that project altogether when Matt Reeves stepped in and rebooted the property with Robert Pattinson in the lead role.
In December, Gunn said he and Safran met with Affleck to discuss working together, saying “we want him to direct; we just have to find the right project”. Sadly, it seems Affleck has no interest in revisiting the DC Universe in any shape or form.
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Affleck, whose next directorial effort is the character drama “Air” in which he stars opposite Matt Damon, told THR that making “Justice League” was what convinced him to give up directing a Batman film. .
“I was going to direct a Batman, and [‘Justice League’] it made me say, ‘I’m out. I never want to do any of this again. I’m not suitable.’ It was the worst experience she has ever seen in a company full of crap experiences. She broke my heart. There was someone’s idea [Joss Whedon] coming in, like, ‘I’m going to bail you out and we’re going to do 60 days of shooting and I’m going to write a whole thing about what you’ve got. I have the secret.’ And that wasn’t the secret. It has been difficult. And I started drinking too much. I was back at the hotel in London, or jumped out the window. And I thought, ‘This is not the life I want. My children are not here. I’m unhappy.'”
Snyder directed principal photography on ‘Justice League’ before dropping out of post-production after his daughter died by suicide. Whedon, who was already busy with the project of writing new scenes for the shoot, was then tasked with taking over additional photography. The resulting superhero team-up film was a failure with both critics and audiences when it released in 2017.
But Affleck praised the film’s four-hour “Snyder Cut” which was released on HBO Max four years later.
“You could give a seminar on all the reasons why this is how not to. From manufacturing to bad decisions to horrific personal tragedy, to ending with the most monstrous taste in my mouth,” Affleck said. “The genius, and the bright side, is that Zack Snyder finally went to AT&T and said, ‘Look, I can give you four hours of content.'”
Affleck noted that “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” is the highest rated film on his IMDb. However, he has no interest in revisiting the superhero genre. Life is too short.
“You want to go to work and find something interesting to hold on to, rather than just wearing a rubber suit, and most of the time you’re just sitting in front of your computer screen saying, ‘If this nuclear waste breaks free, we… ‘ That’s fine. I don’t endorse it or put it down, but I’ve gotten to a point where I found it creatively unsatisfying,” she said of her decision to walk away. “Plus, you’re sweaty and exhausted. And I thought, ‘I don’t want to participate in any way in this. And I no longer want to squander my life, of which I have a limited amount.’”
Affleck has one last goodbye as Batman in the upcoming DC film “The Flash,” for which he says he finally figured out how to play the character. That movie hits theaters in June.
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