Skip to main content

Ben Affleck isn't taking your Batman outrage personally

Ben Affleck isn't taking your Batman outrage personally

Share this story

Ben Affleck (Flickr Nivrae)
Ben Affleck (Flickr Nivrae)

The popular reaction to Ben Affleck taking up the role of Batman wasn't exactly a positive one, but the actor says that he knew to expect it. "People from the studio ... said 'Listen, we want to talk to you. [The announcement process] can be trying," he tells Jimmy Fallon on Monday's Late Night, describing the backlash. Studio representatives apparently primed him with examples of angry online comments from past casting announcements to give him a taste of what he was in store for. "I saw the announcement... the first [commenter] just goes, 'Noooooo.'" Affleck isn't taking the criticism to heart just yet, however, "You can't say 'kill him!' before the movie comes out. It doesn't matter what people think then, it matters when you see the movie."

Affleck discusses the Batman announcement, beginning around 1:55, on Monday's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Despite the reaction, Affleck seems to feel confident that he'll be able to play a good Batman. He says that director Zack Snyder's approach to the new Batman is brilliant, "I really know how to hook into [it]," he tells Fallon. Though Affleck says his own Batman doesn't completely depart from the character found in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight series, he notes that Snyder still wants to take a different direction. "Obviously you can't do what Christian [Bale] did. Those movies are amazing." It'll still be a little while before we really get a taste of what that'll look like though — Affleck's Batman isn't set to appear across from Henry Cavill's Superman until 2015.