Ben Affleck reveals why his Batman and the Snyderverse failed: “Even my own son was scared”
The Oscar-winning actor admits he’s done with the superhero genre in cinema.
Ben Affleck’s journey as Batman in the so-called Snyderverse came to an end after the reshoots of ’Justice League’ under Joss Whedon’s direction, following Zack Snyder’s departure from his own DC Universe due to personal reasons. Affleck even abandoned his solo Batman project, which paved the way for Robert Pattinson’s version of the character. However, the actor returned twice more as the Dark Knight, in ’Zack Snyder’s Justice League’ and ’The Flash’. Now, the Oscar-winning actor has definitively moved on from both Batman and superhero films, describing that chapter with mixed feelings. He shared these insights in a new interview with GQ, offering details about how the role impacted his personal and professional life.
Ben Affleck closes the Batman chapter for good
Despite some fans hoping for another return as the Dark Knight, a highly unlikely scenario with James Gunn’s new DCU, Affleck has firmly shut the door on both the character and the superhero genre. “There are a number of reasons why that was a really excruciating experience. And they don’t all have to do with the simple dynamic of, say, being in a superhero movie or whatever. I am not interested in going down that particular genre again, not because of that bad experience, but just: I’ve lost interest in what was of interest about it to me,” the actor admitted.
He continued with a candid self-assessment: “But I certainly wouldn’t want to replicate an experience like that. A lot of it was misalignment of agendas, understandings, expectations. And also by the way, I wasn’t bringing anything particularly wonderful to that equation at the time, either. I had my own failings, significant failings, in that process and at that time,” Affleck said, adding, “I wasn’t bringing a lot of positive energy to the equation. I didn’t cause problems, but I came in and I did my job and I went home. But you’ve got to do a little bit better than that.”
Affleck on Zack Snyder’s vision and Warner Bros.’ strategy
Affleck also shared his thoughts on Zack Snyder’s vision and Warner Bros.’ approach to DC superhero films. Regarding the Snyderverse, he remarked, “What happened was it started to skew too old for a big part of the audience. Even my own son was too scared to watch the movie. And when I saw that, I thought, ‘Oh, we’ve got a problem.‘”
He further criticized Warner Bros.’ handling of the situation: “Then I think that’s when you had a filmmaker that wanted to continue down that road and a studio that wanted to recapture all the younger audience at cross purposes. Then you have two entities, two people really wanting to do something different and that is a really bad recipe,” Affleck concluded.
What’s next for Ben Affleck?
Affleck’s next film, ’The Accountant 2′, co-starring Jon Bernthal, is set to hit theaters on April 25.
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