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New BATMAN film to be directed by Ben Affleck (1 Viewer)

Sean Bryan

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Warner Brothers has confirmed their plans for a solo Batman movie staring and directed by Ben Affleck.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/warner-bros-chief-confirms-ben-883358

I think most agree that Affleck was a great Batman and Bruce Wayne in BvS. I'm excited to see a Batman movie centered on that version of the character and directed by a director of Affleck's talent.
 

Robert Crawford

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Yeah, I think Affleck will do well and probably introduce a little more humor to that film.
 

steve jaros

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I think most agree that Affleck was a great Batman and Bruce Wayne in BvS. I'm excited to see a Batman movie centered on that version of the character and directed by a director of Affleck's talent.

I liked Affleck a lot more as Wayne than Batman. His Wayne conveyed a tired, beaten-down persona that fit with the premises of BvS. But I found his Batman to be too wooden, too mechanical, too robotic (OK, I think you get the point, LOL). Just my 3 cents.
 

Tony J Case

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Well, the good side is that Affleck is a pretty solid actor/director. On the other hand, it's sad to see WB doubling down on the dark depressing DC Murderverse.

Eh, hopefully away from Snyder it'll be a good flick.

EDIT -
After thinking about it, I'm not sure how this will work. Batman is a psycho. He casually murders mooks with his Bat Guns, tortures people with his Bat Branding Iron and is he is a Batman nearing the end of his career. For Synder to masturbate to Dark Knight Returns, they've painted themselves in a corner for a solo movie.
 
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Tino

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He was great in the terrific BVS so I'm in. [emoji106]
 

Brandon Conway

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Looking forward to it.

After thinking about it, I'm not sure how this will work. Batman is a psycho. He casually murders mooks with his Bat Guns, tortures people with his Bat Branding Iron and is he is a Batman nearing the end of his career. For Synder to masturbate to Dark Knight Returns, they've painted themselves in a corner for a solo movie.

BVS spoilers:

The branding, the killing of guys shooting machine guns at him from vehicles by destroying the vehicles, etc. - all things that are due to him going deeper and deeper into what he feels he needs to become to destroy this alien threat of Superman. But at the end of the film he's come back from this darker place (noted by his dialogue to Diana and his decision to not brand Luthor).

I'm sure his role in Justice League will make this even more clear. It'll work just fine.
 

Stephen Brooks

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Looking forward to it.



BVS spoilers:

The branding, the killing of guys shooting machine guns at him from vehicles by destroying the vehicles, etc. - all things that are due to him going deeper and deeper into what he feels he needs to become to destroy this alien threat of Superman. But at the end of the film he's come back from this darker place (noted by his dialogue to Diana and his decision to not brand Luthor).

I'm sure his role in Justice League will make this even more clear. It'll work just fine.
I really can't believe the number of people who can't seem to understand that he had a character arc in the film and was pulled back from the edge by the end.
 

Josh Steinberg

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I really can't believe the number of people who can't seem to understand that he had a character arc in the film and was pulled back from the edge by the end.

For some viewers, the combination of introducing a brand new Batman into a world with an existing Superman, along with a lack of backstory and introduction for this new Batman, makes it feel that there isn't much of a character arc, or that the beats in the story haven't been earned. I don't think the movie does a particularly great job of showing us that Batman has gone off the deep end directly as a result of Superman. He just seems off the deep end. There are a few lines of dialogue, but as my old screenwriting professor loved to say, "show, don't tell." Then, at the end of the movie, Batman has a few more lines of dialogue about how he failed Superman in life but won't in death.. but it's more dialogue, it's not really showing us a change.

I believe the filmmakers intended to convey that as a character arc but I don't think they were entirely successful in executing that plan. As with many of my criticisms of the movie, perhaps this is detail that will be better addressed in the longer cut.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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Yeah, I understood the arc, but it didn't work for me. The movie did a good job reprising the Battle of Metropolis from the end of Man of Steel from Bruce's perspective to show why Batman would see Kryptonians as a threat. But I didn't buy Lex Luthor so easily manipulating him along the course of the remainder of the movie. A lot of what Bruce did seemed like it happened because the plot needed it to happen.

Part of the problem is Warner Bros.'s decision to skip ahead to their Avengers without having the patience to lay the groundwork with solo films first. Part of of the problem is the overstuffed nature of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which is also reflected in the overstuffed title.
 

Brandon Conway

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I think the stress of being writer/actor/director/producer got to be too much for him.

If they go with Matt Reeves (as rumored in the Variety article) then I'm fine with it. (And I actually like this work as director on Dawn of the Planet of the Apes more than any Affleck directed film).

In one of the 10,000 Live by Night interviews Affleck had recently he has mentioned that the logistics of being in the full costume on set in BvS and JL was incredibly challenging, and that directing on top of it was going to be a challenge simply from a stamina aspect. He echoes that here in his statement.

So, between that and the recent small push from a Spring production start to early Summer, along with the constant attention from the Live by Night press tour, I can totally see why he would be "Screw it, I need someone else to wear one of the hats on this."

I get that many are gonna point and laugh at DC/WB, or wring their hands and such, but I just want the best film possible in the end. If Affleck doesn't have the energy to pull off wearing all those hats I'd rather he acknowledge it now than in the middle of production.

One more thought for DC Films as a whole - I think Geoff Johns needs to have a public appearance soon to talk about the DC Films upcoming slate and direction. There's just been too much of a vacuum of news for them recently from an official source. It's been all back channels, and a lot of it has been perceived as negative, from the different projects in development, to this news today. No one's really noticed that Aquaman is about to start production in a few weeks because of The Flash this, and Black Adam that.

If Johns wants to be the guy lining everything up as co-lead of DC Films, and especially as the perceived lead of the creative aspects, he really needs to be more ahead of this publicly. Don't let the handwringers dominate the conversation. Because in the absence of a leading public voice they absolutely will fill it with dispair and worst case scenarios hypothesizing.
 

gadgtfreek

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^^^

Thats how I took it. I can't imagine what its like to try and be a main star in, and direct, a movie.
 

Sean Bryan

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I'll have to see about maybe getting the thread title changed. I can understand Affleck feeling like the load is too much to bear, especially considering the pressure of bringing out a new Batman film that doesn't meet the same type of negative response of the other DCEU movies to date.

He said he wants to be able to collaborate with a new director, and he is working on the script and producing, so he is still trying to steer the project where he thinks is best but realized that it's better to share the load.
 

Brandon Conway

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Kevin Costner was able to pull it off quite nicely with Dances with Wolves. :)

And Gibson with Braveheart. But both Costner and Gibson were drained by it. And they didn't have to wear a physically exhaustive costume.

Here's the comment from a couple weeks back I mentioned earlier:

“I know what’s it’s like to be in the suit. We’ll have to modify the suit to make it a little bit easier to put on and take off. When you are in it, you can be sweating, crazy and exhausted, do your part and walk away. But when you’re a director, you can’t walk away. You have to be there for everybody. Chief among the challenges of doing Batman, will be finding a suit that’s more comfortable.”

http://www.darkhorizons.com/affleck-talks-the-pressure-of-directing-batman/
 

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