For many of us, Ben Affleck’s performance as Batman was one of the few bright spots in the DC Extended Universe years that followed in the wake of Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, a role Affleck often described as challenging and frustrating, not least because of the gulf that existed between Snyder’s interests and the studio’s wishes. The director’s dark interpretation didn’t sit well with the young audience Warner Bros. hoped to reach, which Affleck himself reflected on in a recent interview with GQ, drawing parallels to his own son, saying:
“Like even my own son at the time was too scared to watch the movie. And so when I saw that I was like, ‘Oh shit, we have a problem.'”
Affleck went into further detail as to why Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in particular was a stressful experience for him, and why he has now completely lost interest in superhero films.
“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.”
Affleck also admitted that he himself contributed to the problem, but that the mismatched visions were the main problem during the production of the film.
“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.”
What do you think are the biggest problems with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice?