Ben Affleck Admitted 1 of His Movies Was ‘Excruciating’ to Make
Ben Affleck has been in many movies in his career, but one stands out as particularly painful to film. He starred as Batman in several films, and said he enjoyed the character as a whole. There was one film that he hated filming, though. Affleck said that the experience of filming Justice League was painful for him.
Ben Affleck said a movie was painful to make
In 2017, Affleck starred in Justice League. The film had a difficult path to production. Director Zack Snyder exited the film after the death of his daughter, and Joss Whedon stepped in. Affleck said this was a challenge, and he was dealing with a great deal of stress in his personal life. This made his time on set painful.
“There are a number of reasons why that was a really excruciating experience,” Affleck told GQ in 2025. “And they don’t all have to do with the simple dynamic of, say, being in a superhero movie or whatever. I am not interested in going down that particular genre again, not because of that bad experience, but just: I’ve lost interest in what was of interest about it to me. But I certainly wouldn’t want to replicate an experience like that.”
A number of the actors in Justice League said they disliked their time on set. Affleck admitted he didn’t do much to improve the gloomy atmosphere.
“A lot of it was misalignment of agendas, understandings, expectations,” he said. “And also by the way, I wasn’t bringing anything particularly wonderful to that equation at the time, either. I had my own failings, significant failings, in that process and at that time.”
He noted that by “failings,” he meant that he felt he was bringing a lot of unhappiness to work with him.
Ben Affleck said playing the character in other movies wasn’t bad
While Affleck didn’t like acting in Justice League, he liked playing Batman.
“I had a really good time,” he said. “I loved doing the Batman movie. I loved Batman v Superman. And I liked my brief stints on The Flash that I did and when I got to work with Viola Davis on Suicide Squad for a day or two.”
He thought that having someone his age in the role — Affleck was in his 40s when he took on the part — was an interesting take on a superhero film.
“In terms of creatively, I really think that I like the idea and the ambition that I had for it, which was of the sort of older, broken, damaged Bruce Wayne,” he said. “And it was something we really went for in the first movie.”
He decided not to direct another take on the films
Though Affleck liked the character, he didn’t want to continue to create movies about Batman. He had the opportunity to direct and star in The Batman, but he ultimately dropped out.
“Directing Batman is a good example [of my changing priorities],” he told the LA Times in 2022. “I looked at it and thought, ‘I’m not going to be happy doing this. The person who does this should love it.”
Affleck dropped out of the project, and Robert Pattinson later starred in the Matt Reeves-directed film.
