Ben Affleck Says Making JUSTICE LEGAUE Was the "Worst Experience" and It's Why He Didn't Direct THE BATMAN

It’s no secret that Ben Affleck was going through a rough time when he was playing Batman, but it was the production of Justice League that ended up breaking him. As you know, Affleck was developing his one standalone Batman movie that he was going to direct, then all of a sudden he dropped out of the project.

Not long after he dropped out, Affleck explained that one of the reasons he stepped away from The Batman film he was developing, was over relapse concerns. Now, in a recent interview with THR, he’s getting brutally candid about why he dropped out of The Batman, and another reason was that Justice League was the worst experience of his moviemaking career. He said:

"You could teach a seminar on all the reasons why this is how not to do it. Ranging from production to bad decisions to horrible personal tragedy, and just ending with the most monstrous taste in my mouth."

He went on to expand on his nightmarish Justice League experience and what it was like with Joss Whedon to fly in to rescue them. He explains that the whole thing was heartbreaking:

"But I was going to direct a 'Batman,' and ['Justice League'] made me go, 'I'm out. I never want to do any of this again. I'm not suited.' That was the worst experience I've ever seen in a business which is full of some s**** experiences. It broke my heart. There was an idea of someone [Joss Whedon] coming in, like, 'I'll rescue you and we'll do 60 days of shooting and I'll write a whole thing around what you have. I've got the secret.' And it wasn't the secret. That was hard."

He’s definitely not holding back on how he really feels. Everyone involved with that production seemed to have had an awful time. The who thing was just handled so poorly and tastelessly. No wonder Affleck doesn’t want to go back and direct a DC movie for James Gunn! The whole thing just left a rancid taste in his mouth.

It sucks that his experience was so terrible that it drove him away from making his Batman movie. I liked Affleck’s Batman and I wanted to see his Batman movie. But, I also think he made the right choice for his own mental health and well-being.

The actor also discussed his past alcoholism issues, and he remembers the thoughts that were going through his head while filming Justice League :

"'This isn't the life I want. My kids aren't here. I'm miserable.'  You want to go to work and find something interesting to hang onto, rather than just wearing a rubber suit, and most of it you're just standing against the computer screen going, 'If this nuclear waste gets loose, we'll...' That's fine. I don't condescend to that or put it down, but I got to a point where I found it creatively not satisfying. Also just, you're sweaty and exhausted. And I thought, 'I don't want to participate in this in any way. And I don't want to squander any more of my life, of which I have a limited amount."

Affleck does appear as Batman in The Flash for about five minutes, and in that five minutes Affleck says he “did finally figure out how to play that character [Batman], and I nailed it.” After that, I don’t expect to see Affleck in any kind of DC project ever again.

The Flash hits theaters on June 16, 2023