George Clooney is among the top stars in the industry, who has entertained the audience for more than two decades. The actor became a popular face with his role in NBC’s medical drama series ER. He became an action star with films like From Dusk Till Dawn, The Descendants, The American Out of Sight, Ocean series, and more. Amidst his soaring career, he also made his superhero films debut with Batman & Robin in 1997.
In the film, he played the role of Batman, but it did not turn out fruitful for the actor. Hence, he advised Ben Affleck to think before taking up the role in the DC projects.
George Clooney reveals talking to Ben Affleck for DCEU’s Batman role
The 62 years old megastar opened up about playing the role of Batman in his youthful days. He was the caped superhero in the 1997 film Batman & Robin, which was a massive commercial disappointment at the time. Hence, when he heard that one of the biggest Hollywood stars, Ben Affleck, was going to play Batman in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, he decided to talk to him.
Clooney shared that he tried to warn Affleck to not take up the part. He advised the Academy Award winner when they were working together on the film Argo, produced by George Clooney. Affleck was the director and lead actor of the film. The movie went on to receive the Best Picture Oscar in 2012.
Clooney revealed on THR’s Awards Chatter podcast,
“I actually did talk to him about it. I said, ‘Don’t do it,’. It was only from my experience, which is, you know…’”
“In a way, we had very similar careers, highs and lows, ups and downs, and that’s good, you know. No one’s trajectory is a straight line up.”
“He had worked his way back from actor jail, which happens when I do Batman & Robin and he does Gigli, so it’s that, he gets to that moment, and I think, ‘Don’t do something they can fire back off at you.’ He did great, though.”
Batman & Robin was made with a budget of $160 million and grossed $238.2 million worldwide.
Ben Affleck quit his most loved Batman role because of its movie script
Warner Bros. announced in 2016 that Ben Affleck would reprise his role as Batman in a standalone film, as well as write and direct it. However, soon after, the Good Will Hunting fame completely dropped out of the project.
The actor shared with IGN in an interview that he was not satisfied with the script of the action-hero film. He said,
“That was part of the problem. We worked on the script, I was trying to figure out how to crack it, and I was never happy enough with it where I thought it was worth going out and making it because I just didn’t want to do a version that I wasn’t really excited by, so I still don’t know.”
Reportedly, Ben Affleck exit from the Batman movies in 2021 after his appearance in Zack Snyder’s Justice League. He indicated by sharing a link to a Deadline story with the headline,
“Ben Affleck Passes The Torch To Next Generation Of Bruce Wayne,”
He added his own caption,
“Excited for #TheBatman in Summer 2021 and to see @MattReevesLA vision come to life.”
In February 2017, Matt Reeves confirmed he had signed to direct and produce the next Batman movie. The Batman featuring Robert Pattinson was released in 2022.
The Batman is available for streaming on Apple TV.
Source- People
