Ben Affleck Opens Up On Why He Left The Batman

Ben Affleck gets candid on struggles faced, both professionally and personally.

© Warner Bros. Pictures

In a New York Times celebrity profile on Ben Affleck, the actor opened up about why he decided to walk away from The Batman. As we know, Affleck was slated to star in and direct the project, but decided to bow out and allow Matt Reeves to take over for directing duties. He also stepped back from the role of the caped crusader, which eventually went to Robert Pattinson.

His working experience on Justice League was unfortunately not a positive one, and his struggles with alcoholism plagued him for several years. Initially, in an interview with IGN, he mentioned that he decided to leave the project because he was never happy with the script. However, now it seems that it was not as much dissatisfaction with the script as the acknowledgement that it wouldn’t be good for him mentally.

He said that he “showed somebody ‘The Batman’ script [and] they said, ‘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.’”

Affleck is currently promoting The Way Back, a movie where he plays Jack Cunningham, a construction worker coping with devastating personal loss. His character drinks to deal with his loss, and while it seems that the subject matter does hit a little close to home, director Gavin O’ Connor mentioned that Affleck uses this experience as a way “to confront his own issues through this character and heal”.

The Way Back will arrive in cinemas March 6, 2020.

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