Ben Affleck Finally Talks About Being Batman
At long last, Ben Affleck finally broke his silence on being Batman on Jimmy Fallon this week. Video here, but more easily, a transcription is below via UnleashtheFanboy.
“It’s so awesome. I’m so excited. They called me up and asked me if I wanted to do this. And I thought I’m not 25 man, are you sure about this. And they said “come down we wanna show you what we’re doing”. Zack Snyder’s directing it and he has this amazing vision. Obviously you can’t do what Christian Bale did, those movies were amazing. But Zack wants to something different but in keeping with that.
And I thought this was a brilliant way to do this. I know how to hook into this. And I said “I wanna do this”. The people from the studio were so excited and they said “Listen, we want to talk to you. People go through this process and it can be trying. We want to show you some of the reactions that past cast members received on the internet.” So they send me info, and people (on the internet) were like “Kill him!”. And he was amazing!!! You can’t say anything before the movie comes out. It doesn’t matter what you think before, it matters what you think after the movie comes out.
But I thought “I’m a big boy. I can handle any snub. I can handle anything”. They said don’t use the internet for a few days, but I handle my shit. So I went to the announcement and looked at the first comment and it says “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”. And I was done! We’re going to be Luddites for a while.
Part of it is when you see the material, when you see the takes, it’s hard to describe without giving it away. But I feel like I have a lot of opportunities.”
So there you have it, even Ben Affleck isn’t immune to the giant tidal wave of hate the internet can produce. I’m guessing that the “past cast members” referred to means everyone bashing Heath Ledger when he was casted as the Joker, but I think it’s kind of a false equivalency to compare EVERY new casting complaint to him. I don’t know what Affleck will do with Batman, but I do think he’s a bit too “known” for the role, and will just act too much like Ben Affleck, as opposed to Heath acting nothing like Heath. But we’ll see, I guess.
I have no complaint to gripe about as far as Affleck being casted and his acting ability … my only qualm is that they keep saying they want Batman to be weathered and older … a more “wise” Batman … and to me, Affleck doesn’t seem to be “old” enough for what I’m picturing in my head. Nothing that cinema can’t fix I assure you (see Benjamin Button)
I’m looking forward to the first trailer and our first peek at what we have in store for us!
Come on Paul!
Keaton, Clooney, Kilmer and Bale where all relatively well known before they took the role. Let’s all just give him a freaking chance! We can all bash him afterwards if he indeed sucks…
There was a lot of backlash against (at least) Keaton, as well. Basically, whenever you have a character this high-profile there’s always going to be people who think they’re better at casting a movie than the people who get paid to cast movies. Daniel Craig suffered from it, too, mainly on account of his hair was apparently the wrong color. Affleck would do well to just keep his head down and do the work.
Not that I’m looking forward to this movie or anything, because I’m not, but if I was I’d be totally onboard for Affleck’s participation.
My only reaction to Affleck’s announcement was that he does not looks “weathered” and in his mid-40’s as the description I heard about relentlessly in the weeks/months leading up to it. Sad to say but I think Clooney would be better for the part now. Just sucks the association with B&R prevents that.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The Batman/Superman film I’d love to see is a period piece that takes place in the 40’s or 50’s With Hamm from Mad Men as Supes and Fassbender as Bats. This way the tone could be lighter and more fun, instead of super serious as their most recent outings have been.