George Clooney Told Ben Affleck To Make Sure His Batman Suit Didn’t Have Nipples on It

George Clooney has been around the block in the movie business. With over 40 years of experience in the game, he’s pretty much seen and done it all. In fact, he’s got so much wisdom that many actors seek him out for advice on what roles they should take on. 

Ben Affleck reached out to Clooney before he signed on to do Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, which Clooney advised him not to do. Obviously, Affleck took the role anyway, but Clooney had one request: to make sure the suit didn’t have nipples. 

George Clooney is an adviser for some actors 

Clooney’s long tenure as a bankable Hollywood actor makes him attractive to both producers and other actors. His knowledge of the game makes him a goldmine of information for actors seeking input, which he attests to his wide range of experience in the movie business. He recently spoke about his elder statesman role in Hollywood during an interview with Howard Stern. 

“I think also because I’ve been around, and also because I’ve done—I’ve sort of had both rounds,” Clooney said. “I’ve been a big flop and I bombed in things, and I’ve had big successes”

He told Ben Affleck to make sure the suit didn’t have nipples

Clooney told Affleck not to sign on to the Batman franchise, likely due to his own experience playing the role. However, actors don’t listen to him every time. 

“And it doesn’t mean they listen, Ben didn’t listen to me and he ended up doing a great job and I wrong, but I can only impart my wisdom from my experience and I just said don’t have nipples on the suit.”

George Clooney can’t watch ‘Batman & Robin’

Clooney had his time as Batman many years ago, when he starred in Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin. The movie was successful at the box office, grossing $238 million according to Box Office Mojo, but it was panned by critics for its poor writing, lackluster acting performances, and paltry costume designs. 

Clooney himself took a lot of criticism for the role, and to this day can’t watch the movie. 

“It’s so bad that it actually hurts to watch,” Clooney said. “It’s physically—like you’ll be flipping the channels and it’ll just pop up and I’m like, ‘Oh no, no, no, no.”

When asked if he would’ve liked to have done the movie differently, Clooney explained that it wasn’t possible.

“I couldn’t have done that one differently,” Clooney said. “It’s a big machine, that thing, right? I got—you gotta remember, at that point, I was just an actor getting an acting job. I wasn’t the guy that could greenlight a movie. They paid Arnold $25 million to be in it. They paid me like, one. And we never even worked together, we never saw each other.”

Clooney is honest about how bad ‘Batman & Robin’ was

Now that 23 years have passed since Batman & Robin cane out, Clooney is able to speak candidly about how bad the movie was.

“It’s a big monster machine, and I just sort of jumped in and did what they said, and the truth of the matter is I was bad in it and it’s a terrible—I mean, Akiva Goldsmith who’s won the Oscar for writing since then, he wrote the screenplay. It’s a terrible screenplay, he’ll tell you. I’m terrible in it, I’ll tell you.”