Ben Affleck Says He Will "Absolutely Not" Direct a Film for James Gunn's DC Studios
Remember that time when James Gunn talked about the conversations he had with Ben Affleck about directing a future DC Studios film and even said that Affleck “really wants to direct one of our projects, and we're excited for him doing that"?
Well, it turns out that Affleck wants nothing to do with it and he is “absolutely not” interested in directing a DC Studios film for Gunn and Peter Safran. This is exactly what he said during an interview with THR:
"I would not direct something for the [James] Gunn DC. Absolutely not. I have nothing against James Gunn. Nice guy, sure he's going to do a great job. I just wouldn't want to go in and direct in the way they're doing that. I'm not interested in that."
So, after his appearance in The Flash as Batman, it seems like Affleck is leaving the DCU behind him once and for all. He makes it pretty clear here that this isn’t a franchise he wants to be a part of anymore. But, when talking about his role in The Flash, Affleck revealed that he liked what he did in the film and that he’s only in the movie for about five minutes. Here he talks about Batman again and nailing the character in that five minutes:
"The Justice League experience, the fact that those stories became somewhat repetitive to me and less interesting. Yeah, I did finally figure out how to play that character [Batman], and I nailed it in The Flash. For the five minutes I'm there, it's really great. A lot of it's just tone. You've got to figure out, what's your version of the person? Who is the guy that fits what you can do? I tried to fit myself into a Batman. And by the way, I like a lot of the stuff we did, especially the first one [Batman v Superman]."
I was actually hoping the see Affleck direct one of these DC Studios films since he never got the opportunity to direct his Batman movie. But, he’s got other priorities, other kinds of projects with stories that he’s more interested in telling, which is great! He most recently directed Air, which tells the story of how Nike got Michael Jordan on board for the Air Jordan. That movie looks great!
What do you think about Affleck passing on the opportunity to direct a DC Studios film?