UPDATED (1/12/22): Via an interview with EW.COM — conducted by his good friend, Matt Damon — Ben Affleck had the following to say about the reason for walking away from Batman on film…
I had a really nadir experience around JUSTICE LEAGUE for a lot of different reasons. Not blaming anybody, there’s a lot of things that happened. But really what it was is that I wasn’t happy. I didn’t like being there. I didn’t think it was interesting. And then some really s—ty things, awful things happened. But, that’s when I was like, I’m not going to do that anymore.
In fact, I talked to you [Matt Damon] about it and you were a principal influence on that decision. I want to do the things that would bring me joy.
So there you go…again. Affleck left the role of Batman — as well as directing a solo Batman movie — because HE wanted to due to the fact that it just didn’t make him happy.
Affleck’s extended cameo as Bruce Wayne/Batman in THE FLASH will be his final outing in the role, according to the actor himself. The original report is below. – Bill “Jett” Ramey
(SOURCE: EW.COM)
It wasn’t because of Warner Bros.
It wasn’t because of Joss Whedon.
And it sure as hell wasn’t because of Matt Reeves.
No, Ben Affleck walked away from playing The Dark Knight and writing/directing/starring in a solo Batman film because HE decided he simply didn’t want to do it anymore.
Here’s what he told THE LOS ANGELES TIMES in a new interview while promoting THE TENDER BAR when asked about Batman…
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I looked at [directing a solo Batman movie’ and thought, ‘I’m not going to be happy doing this. The person who does this should love it.’ You’re supposed to always want these things, and I probably would have loved doing it at 32 or something. But it was the point where I started to realize it’s not worth it. It’s just a wonderful benefit of reorienting and recalibrating your priorities that once it started being more about the experience, I felt more at ease.
It was really JUSTICE LEAGUE that was the nadir for me. That was a bad experience because of a confluence of things: my own life, my divorce, being away too much, the competing agendas, and then [director] Zack [Snyder]’s personal tragedy and the reshooting. It just was the worst experience. It was awful. It was everything that I didn’t like about this. That became the moment where I said, ‘I’m not doing this anymore.’ It’s not even about, like, JUSTICE LEAGUE was so bad because it could have been anything.
Well, that speaks volumes. And frankly, anyone who has been paying attention to all of this with Affleck since 2016 should’ve already known that he wasn’t kicked to the curb. No, he left on his own accord.
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Hopefully, these “fans” of his will finally accept the truth and stop badgering the man online via social media because, frankly, it’s not only sad, but it’s despicable behavior.
Furthermore, the dude is getting his “cool way to segue out of the role” of Batman in THE FLASH this coming November. Not only is it awesome that he gets to go out as Batman on his own terms, but he called the experience on that film “my favorite scenes in terms of Batman and the interpretation of Batman that I have done.”
So instead of raging on social media with hashtags and other BS, how about being happy for the man and that his last turn as Batman was something that he enjoyed and is proud of doing. Good for him. – Bill “Jett” Ramey
