The clock is ticking on 2017, and Ben Affleck still doesn’t know what the heck his future is as Batman. Across the past twelve months, rumors have strongly suggested that the actor was going to hang up the cowl and move onto other things. With no planned “Justice League” sequel, and Matt Reeves developing “The Batman” with another actor in mind for the lead role, the writing has been on the wall for a while now. However, Affleck will not go gently into the night.
The actor has spent considerable time this year rebuffing suggestions he’s exiting the DC Films Extended Universe, or playing cagey about his plans. His character is rumored to be part of the The Flash standalone movie “Flashpoint,” but that project is still without a release date or director, so who knows what will happen. Certainly, everything is up in the air following the abysmal reviews and box office for “Justice League,” and ever careful, Affleck is still keeping the door to DC Films open.
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“For me, it’s interesting, and I always evaluate this stuff on the merit of the material. I want to direct a Batman movie, and I never got a script that I was happy with, so they are starting over and writing another script,” he told Daily Sabah. “And right now, I think a lot of different possibilities I think for the way the DC Universe could go, and I will just follow my interests in pursing that. And I know that I love working with this group of people, and it was a real joy for me to make [‘Justice League’].”
It’s a bit odd to hear Affleck speak about the Batman script he wasn’t happy with, because by all accounts, he actually co-wrote a screenplay with Geoff Johns, before Reeves came in and scrapped it so he could do his own thing. In either case, Affleck probably wasn’t pleased. Now, with “Justice League” taking a bruising (I’d presume this interview was done during pre-release promotional rounds, and not after) I’d wager the actor is probably more convinced to find other things to do.
However, perhaps instead of just giving up completely, Affleck wants to find one last, hopefully well made movie, to take his iteration of Batman out on a high. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see what he decides. [via io9]