Yesterday, at the WB panel, Ben Affleck took the stage with his Justice League co-stars and expressed his enthusiasm for the role and his desire to continue playing Batman. With that, he was squashed all the rumors that were heavily circulating on Friday regarding his departure from the role prior to Matt Reeves’ Batman flick.
There, he’s quoted as saying that he was “the luckiest man in the world,” before going on about the great things DC and WB have in store for fans.
“I’d love to do it as long as they’ll have me.”
It seems that after the panel, he sat down with Entertainment Weekly and had more time to articulate his thoughts and specifically addressed the rumors. He said:
“My status remains what it always is. I’ve done the two movies. I’ve always intended on doing a third if Warners wants to make it. Certainly, if the Batphone rings, I will answer.
From there, he theorizes that fans perceived his decision to step down from directing the movie as disinterest in the role. He reiterates his admiration for the character, “I think it came off, optically, to the broader world, like lack of interest or enthusiasm. When in fact I love this character.”
He continues explaining that the reason why he decided against directing was because of the amount of work for which he would be responsible. He felt that something would suffer and he believed that that would have been the direction.
Affleck went on to express more excitement regarding working with Matt Reeves. However, he admitted that Reeves has yet to share his full vision while he was preoccupied with War for the Planet of the Apes, which was released on July 14.
Summarily, he provides a very succinct statement, fully denying the rumors:
“I’d love to do it as long as they’ll have me. Eventually, it’ll be somebody else, and I’m sure they’ll get somebody great. But while I’m doing it, I’m going to do the best job I can, and really appreciate how lucky I am.”
Justice League hits theatres November 17, 2017.
