Last week, interested fans got to
see the angst-ridden “vegetarian” vampire transform into a bat-motif dark
knight, as Matt Reeves, director of “The Batman” for Warner Bros. Pictures,
shared the first screen test of lead star Robert Pattinson (“Twilight” saga) in
a new iteration of the bat-suit. Amid appreciation and commentary on how the
British actor looks in costume, there has been speculation on how the pervious
Batman actor, Ben Affleck, has been following his departure from starring and
directing in the project, with his last appearance being in “Justice League”
(2017). Recently the older movie star has made candid revelations regarding his
time as Batman, and why he quit.
Entertainment Weekly tells us that Ben Affleck gave quite the
insight about the somewhat complicated circumstances surrounding his initial
involvement in the standalone DC superhero film “The Batman” for Warner Bros.,
and the reasons he decided to bow out in favor of Matt Reeves to direct and
Robert Pattinson to star. As it turns out, Affleck was feeling the pressure on
continuing as Batman since he debuted in the role back in “Batman v Superman:
Dawn of Justice” (2016). And that pressure was potentially exacerbating a
personal struggle: staying sober.
Affleck opens up that he has been
developing a drinking problem that began roughly in 2015, when he was first
revealed as the new Batman and when his marriage with Jennifer Garner started
hitting a downward spiral that would ultimately lead to their 2018 divorce.
Even as he starred opposite Henry Cavill’s Superman in “Dawn of Justice” there
were already plans to have Affleck take the lead, as well as co-write and
direct, a solo “Batman” movie for the DC Extended Universe franchise. The
veteran movie star knew he might not be in top shape to take on so many duties
and thus relegated writing and directing to Matt Reeves.
But following his second outing
as the Batman on “Justice League,” Ben Affleck realized he was not going to involve
himself in “The Batman,” especially after a conversation with a family friend
about the film. That friend commented, “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.” Come 2018 Affleck has left the bat costume behind and has had
no further business with “The Batman,” now a non-DCEU franchise movie similar
to Todd Phillips’ “Joker” starring Joaquin Phoenix last year.
That does not mean Affleck has
not been busy. He stars in “The Way Back,” a Warner Bros. sports film about a
recovering alcoholic basketball coach premiering March 6. He is also
co-starring with Anne Hathaway in the British-American Netflix Original movie “The
Last Thing He Wanted,” which will hit the streaming service February 21.
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