To say that actor Ben Affleck received a lot of criticism after being cast as Bruce Wayne / Batman in BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE is not accurate because he got a sh*tload of it. And all of it before filming a single scene in the cape and cowl.
Now, he's finally opening about about his turn as the Caped Crusader with the movie opening in just a couple of weeks.
"What I wanted was to create a Batman that was sort of at the end of his rope physically and psychologically and emotionally," Affleck told Entertainment Weekly, "a guy who was beaten down by the world, a guy who was a little bit more of a slugger, who has more gray in his hair, and who was questioning whether the whole journey that he lived as Batman was in fact even worth it, given that he was not superhero, but now had to face a super-being, which none of the other [former Batman actors] had to confront in the movie world. It’s an interesting thing to combine, because in the [Christopher] Nolan [Batman movies], which are the defining [Bat films] — so magnificent — there are no other superheroes. It’s just this guy. He never has to reconcile who he is with this idea that there are all these other people who can do these supernatural things. Having to confront that and having to deal with that is my contribution to the character."
Affleck spoke about how the destruction at the end of MAN OF STEEL actually led into a storyline for BATMAN V. SUPERMAN.
"[W]atching destruction and seeing things exploding, which we take for granted in this genre of movie — there’s a price for that. There are people in those buildings, and the people in those buildings get killed, and that’s the real price of violence. The real cost of that is in people’s lives and suffering. And we see that through the suffering that Bruce Wayne goes through. I think it’s really interesting. I really liked the idea that you can’t just blow up a whole city and just blindly move on.
"There’s an enormous amount of fear and resentment and suffering that would engender. And we know what that is, we know what that’s like now. It ties in nicely thematically with Bruce’s dilemma. We know what happens now when confronted with powerful things that scare us, that can hurt us. We get afraid, we get reactionary.
"We often fall back on our haunches and want to arm ourselves or we want to attack, so I don’t think it’s a very farfetched reaction that Bruce has to the arrival of Superman in the world. It’s not like we all know Superman’s a good guy, he’s been in comic books since the fifties and he’s standing for truth, justice, and the American way. The truth is, a super-being showed up and was in some fights with some other super-beings and a lot of people were killed. I think a tremendous amount of controversy surrounds that. You figure that a lot of people think, “This guy should be locked up."
The man also called 'Batfleck' then spoke about the loss of his Bat-sidekick, Robin.
“He’s bitterly disappointed in the past that he’s lost this guy who fought by his side. That character’s death must have been devastating to him, and he’s suffered. We get the sense that he’s suffered a lot of devastating losses before this movie even starts.”
However, Affleck says Wonder Woman helps to inspire Batman.
“It inspires in him the idea that well, if there’s one of these kinds of people out there, then maybe there are in fact more. If there are more, then maybe that’s hopeful and also terrifying to him, because then they could make humans even more powerless — or they could serve on our side. You’ve got to remember that Batman is the world’s greatest detective, and if he suspects that there may be more, and if he suspects in particular that Diana may be somebody special, he gets inspired.”
BATMAN V. SUPERMAN releases on March 25 and a solo BATMAN movie is currently in development.
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