Ben Affleck Runs Us Through His Suffering While Filming Justice League
People love Batfleck. But, the man behind the cape is a true inspiration. Kudos to Zack Snyder for adding the Oscar-winning Ben Affleck to his DCEU. Things were really good before Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice came out. Due to the studio’s meddling, BvS suffered on its theatrical release. Because of that, the production of Justice League suffered as the studio demanded many changes after Snyder had filmed his version. Sadly, Snyder also met with a tragedy and he just had to leave the film.
In came Joss Whedon, who teamed up with Geoff Johns and Jon Berg. They finished the movie by cutting it down to two hours. Meanwhile, the cast and crew suffered big time. It’s just Ray Fisher who has raised his voice against what Whedon and Johns did. But we’ve got proof that he wasn’t the only one who suffered on the set of reshoots. We’ve heard about the arguments that Gal Gadot had with Joss Whedon. But, even Ben Affleck was tired of all the BTS drama.
Everything that happened with Zack Snyder and the events on the set of Justice League reshoots turned him away from the Batman gig. In fact, Affleck has confirmed that he started drinking more while filming Justice League. This is why he couldn’t finish his Batman script. This is why he hasn’t been working with Warner Bros. after Justice League.
THR recently spoke with Affleck, and he ran us through everything that happened during and after Justice League reshoots. He said:
“I did Batman because I wanted to do it for my kids. I wanted to do something that my son would dig. I mean, my kids didn’t see Argo. Zack [Snyder] wanted to do a version of the Frank Miller Dark Knight graphic novel series, which is a really good version of that. Unfortunately, there are a lot of reasons why things go the way they do in the movie business, and just because your face is on the poster doesn’t mean that you’re dictating all of those things — and even if you were, that they would go well. I wore the suit to my son’s birthday party, which was worth every moment of suffering on Justice League.”
He continued to talk about his battle with alcoholism. He said:
“I started drinking too much around the time of Justice League, and it’s a hard thing to confront and face and deal with. I’ve been sober for a while now, and I feel really good — as healthy and good as I’ve ever felt. And the process of recovering from alcoholism has been really instructive. I think it’s great for people who aren’t alcoholics, you know? Like, ‘Be honest. Have integrity. Take accountability. Help other people.’ It’s a good set of things that they teach you. It took me a little while to get it — I had a few slips, like most people — but I feel really good. If you knew how many actors and directors and writers were alcoholics or compulsive in some way — I mean, it’s the most ordinary thing in the world in Hollywood. I’ve worked with actors who showed up drunk! And that was not me. I drank, like, alone in my living room and just passed out, like, with scotch. But I got sober.”
Right as he got sober, he starred in this year’s The Way Back. It was a movie that was very close to his heart. And it reflected his real-life problems. That’s why it was among the best movies of 2020 (for me). We’re happy that Affleck is returning as Batman in The Flash, and his performance in Justice League will be truly seen in the Snyder Cut. Let’s see if Affleck’s Batman series will be revived on HBO Max. And, Hopefully, what happened on the set of Justice League reshoots never gets repeated.
