Ben Affleck reportedly wants to bury his memories of the Justice League in a cave.
The 49-year-old Oscar winner was questioned about difficult periods in his recent past during an interview with the Los Angeles Times that was published online on Friday. His 2017 declaration that he would no longer direct The Batman, the Matt Reeves-directed picture that will now mark Robert Pattinson’s debut as the title superhero, was one of the topics he highlighted.
“Directing Batman is a fantastic example,” Affleck added after explaining that he has come to the knowledge that he should focus on job decisions that make him happy rather than attempting to satisfy others. ‘I’m not going to be pleased doing this,’ I thought as I looked at it. ‘Whoever does this should enjoy it.’ You’re meant to desire these things all the time, and I would have liked to do it when I was 32 or whatever. But it was at this time that I realized it wasn’t worth it. It’s really a lovely side effect of reorienting and recalibrating your priorities that I felt more at peace once it became more about the experience.”
According to the New York Times, Affleck’s return to Batman in 2017’s Justice League was “the nadir” of his career. Affleck mentioned director Zack Snyder’s departure from the picture after the death of his daughter Autumn in May 2017 as one of the reasons for the difficult filming. Snyder was replaced by Joss Whedon, whom Affleck did not mention by name in the new interview.
“The nadir for me was truly Justice League,” said Affleck, who left the role of the Caped Crusader in 2019 but will return in November for The Flash. “It was a difficult experience due of a combination of factors: my personal life, my divorce, being away too much, opposing agendas, and then Zack’s personal tragedy and reshooting.” It was just the worst event of my life. It was a disaster. It was everything about this that I didn’t like.”
“That became the point where I said, ‘I’m not doing this anymore,'” the actor concluded. It’s not even about how horrible the Justice League was. Because anything might have happened.”
In March 2020, Affleck told GQ that he “truly liked” playing the superhero in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016, but that Justice League was plagued by “one difficulty after another,” leaving him burned out on the role.