Ben Affleck appeared on the latest episode of the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast and called the reshoots for “Justice League” the “low point of my career.”
Warner Bros. infamously replaced Zack Snyder with Joss Whedon to overhaul the movie after Snyder needed to pause work due to his daughter’s death. Snyder estimated in a recent interview with Variety that Whedon’s reshoots covered 60 new pages of material. The end product resulted in a critical and commercial misfire for Warner Bros. Whedon was later accused by “Justice League” actor Gal Gadot of threatening her on set, claims of which he denied.
“The experience of ‘Justice League’ was so negative for lots of different reasons, some of which have to do with where I was at personally and some of which had to do with the tragedy that happened at that time,” Affleck said. “I saw how not to make a movie like that, which is where the studio is at odds with the filmmaker. You are really making a mistake. I was really glad and gratified that Zack got to release [his version via the SnyderCut]. That was fucking great. I was really happy for him. That was shitty, him being taken off that movie and the reshoots that we did. If you want the low point of my career, it was that.”
“Somebody’s death by suicide eclipses everything,” Affleck continued, referring to the death of Snyder’s daughter. “The way in which that was, I thought, used as an excuse [to replace Zack] was one of the shittiest things I’ve ever seen. It was so gross. The whole environment and vibe [on set during the reshoots], much of which I was not privy to but heard secondhand from the actors, it was just, ‘Wow, this is about as gross as it gets.’ And I was drinking too much… and I got divorced. It was a difficult time for me personally, but those thing, while painful, did not impact that movie.”
Affleck previously told Entertainment Weekly that making “Justice League” was “a nadir experience” that made him not want to continue playing Batman. The actor added at the time: “I didn’t like being there. I didn’t think it was interesting. And then some really shitty things, awful things happened. But, that’s when I was like, I’m not going to do that anymore.”
Elsewhere during his “Happy Sad Confused” interview, Affleck confirmed that Lucasfilm approached him about directing “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” Whether that means he was the studio’s first choice or if they were also talking to eventual pick J.J. Abrams at the time is not something Affleck knows.
“I talked to those folks at the time, and that was one where I just was like, again, I thought like, ‘Hey, I like ‘Star Wars’ and I’m a fan, but I’m not the person to direct this movie,’” Affleck explained about turning down “Star Wars.”
“I just think someone else who has more passion for this is going to do a better job. There’s a lot of challenges to reinventing that,” Affleck continued. “In fact, you’ve seen that played out. It hasn’t been easy for them to reinvent that franchise. Some have done really well, some — and you’ve got this whole fan base that’s got its own very strong opinions… I just thought like, ‘You know what? This would be — I don’t think I can do it as well as somebody else, and I don’t want to direct something that I don’t feel like I have a chance to be really really proud of.’”
Watch Affleck’s full interview on “Happy Sad Confused” below.