Posted in: Movies | Tagged: batfleck, Batman, ben affleck, HRL

Waffling Ben Affleck Says He Wants to Direct a Batman Movie

As we look back on the past year of stories we've written here at Bleeding Cool, one of the most fascinating and frequent subjects of our journalistic inquiries has been Ben Affleck's on-again/off-again/on-again/off-again/on-again/off-again/on-again/off-again/on-again/off-again/on-again/off-again/on-again/off-again affair with playing Batman in the DCEU. We've written more than 60 articles about Affleck since last November, most of them having to do with his seeming inability to make a decision on the role.

Originally, Affleck was set to write, direct, and star in The Batman, the standalone Batfleck Batflick that was meant to follow his role in Justice League. However, Affleck began making comments about how he would only direct the film if it was going to be good, and then slowly dropped out of the writing and directing role. After that, rumors began to circulate that Affleck was looking to exit the Batman role entirely, and though Affleck and Warner Bros. continued to deny it, when we last checked in, Affleck was "contemplating" his exit from the DCEU entirely, possibly to pursue what Bleeding Cool recommended as the only way to save his career: to star in a Daredevil reboot. You can read a more detailed history of Affleck's love/hate affair with Batman here.

But just when we thought Affleck was done, he's done a 180 again, telling Daily Sabah in an interview that he does want to direct a Batman movie.

B.T.: Do you see yourself coming back for another 'Batman' or at this moment are you looking at different projects?

B.A: For me, it's interesting, and I always evaluate this stuff on the merit of the material. I want to direct a "Batman" movie, and I never got a script that I was happy with, so they are starting over and writing another script. And right now, I think a lot of different possibilities I think for the way the DC Universe could go, and I will just follow my interests in pursing that. And I know that I love working with this group of people, and it was a real joy for me to make this movie.

So now, in addition to the question of whether Affleck will star as Batman in The Batman, Justice League 2, and Flashpoint, we now have to wonder whether Affleck will direct an additional standalone Batman movie. Until, of course, the next time he talks about it, when we expect he'll have a completely different story.

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