Zack Snyder’s era at DC was not without its problems, and you probably remember how fans created various petitions to replace Ben Affleck. Moreover, the actor himself calls this experience painful and unbearable.
«There are a number of reasons why it was a really unbearable experience, and it’s not just due to the simple dynamics of, say, being in a superhero movie or something», — said the actor in GQ interview. «In many ways, it had to do with misalignment of agenda, understanding, and expectations. And, by the way, I was not adding anything good at that time either. I had my own shortcomings, significant shortcomings».
The shortcomings that the actor mentions included alcohol addiction.
«For a long time I drank in relatively normal doses. And then more and more as my marriage fell apart», — said actor to The New York Times in 2020, clarifying that he often drank alone in his hotel room while working on «Justice League».
Ben Affleck has played Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, in five films, and most of them have received disastrous reviews: for example, «Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice» has a 29% on Rotten Tomatoes, and «Justice League» — 39% (although it should be noted that Zack Snyder’s «Justice League» in this case brought the best result with 71%).
The actor’s last appearance in the Batman costume was in for the movie «Flash» 2023, which is also hardly successfulIt grossed only $271 million at the box office (against a budget of $200 million).
Affleck adds that he would not like to play in films of this genre again: not only because of his bad experience, but also because he has lost interest in them. In general, Snyder’s version, according to the actor, was too dark and not designed for a family audience — even his young son was very scared when he tried to watch the films.
«When I saw this, I said: “Oh, shit, we have a problem.” Then we had a director who wanted to continue on this path and a studio that wanted to bring back a younger audience. Two opposing sides, and that’s a really bad recipe».
In fact, all these factors forced the two-time «Oscar» winner to refuse to work on «Batman» — the film eventually appeared in Matt Reeves’ 2022 version with Robert Pattinson in the title role.
«I showed someone the script for Batman and they said: “It’s good. But you’ll drink yourself to death if you go through what you just went through again».