The Batman: Ben Affleck Reveals the Real Reason He Dropped Out

Ben Affleck revealed in a new interview with The New York Times why he decided to depart the Batman movie he had signed on to write and direct: the infamously troubled production of the Justice League movie. “I showed somebody The Batman script. They said, ‘I think the script is good. I also think you’ll drink yourself to death if you go through what you just went through again,’” Affleck explained. While that may sound like a flippant remark, Affleck has been open about his history of dealing with alcohol addiction and has checked himself into rehab on multiple occasions, which he also addresses in the interview. While Affleck’s take on the Caped Crusader in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was generally well-received, Zack Snyder’s movie as a whole received a critical thrashing. While promoting the film, the “Sad Affleck” meme was spawned, showing a dejected Affleck lost in thought after being asked about the negative reaction to the film. Affleck had sworn off superhero roles after the poor reception to 2003’s Daredevil movie. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-dc-cinematic-universe-movie-rotten-tomatoes-score&captions=true"] The story for Affleck’s Batman only got worse when he starred in the poorly-received follow-up Justice League, which was subject to numerous rewrites, reshoots, and, most notably, saw Avengers director Joss Whedon brought on as a replacement after Snyder departed the project. Affleck now admits it was his experience on the DC ensemble flick that ultimately dissuaded him from continuing on as Batman and writing/directing his solo movie. This new quote from Affleck paints a different picture from what he’s said before on the subject. Previously, Affleck told IGN that he decided to depart The Batman because he wasn’t satisfied with the script, saying, “We worked on the script, I was trying to figure out how to crack it, and I was never happy enough with it where I thought it was worth going out and making it because I just didn't want to do a version that I wasn't really excited by, so I still don't know." Perhaps enough time has passed that Affleck now feels comfortable being a bit more candid with why he left. Despite Affleck’s bad experience with Justice League, he seems to still be in Snyder’s corner given how he tweeted in support of the campaign to #ReleaseTheSnyderCut two years after its release. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=dc-extended-universe-every-upcoming-movie&captions=true"] With Affleck out of the picture, Matt Reeves took over The Batman as director and began fresh with a new script. Reeves recently shared the first look at Robert Pattinson as Batman with a screen test showing the actor in the new Batsuit. The story reportedly shows Batman early on in his superhero career and the cast also stars Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle / Catwoman, Colin Farrel as Oswald Cobblepot / The Penguin, Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon, Paul Dano as Edward Nashton / The Riddler, Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, and John Turturro as Gotham City mobster Carmine Falcone. Check out our breakdown of the new Batsuit below: [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/14/the-batman-breaking-down-the-new-batsuit-ign-now"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joshua is Senior Features Editor at IGN. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Game of Thrones are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.