Ben Affleck On ‘Justice League?’ His Camp Says No
I’ve been reading a lot of stuff lately that has been of questionable substance, and I’m calling bullshit on this big Variety scoop today that implies Warner Bros will get Ben Affleck as director of its Justice League film. This is a story I checked out days ago, and didn’t run when Affleck’s reps stated that it was not going to happen with him. Now, it makes sense that Warner Bros would offer Affleck the project. Chris Nolan is top man over there, but after three Batfilms and after producing the Superman reboot Man of Steel, he’s gotten spandex-clad protagonists out of his system. After Nolan, the studio then offers everything else to Harry Potter director David Yates (who is now keen on Tarzan) and Affleck, who has become a major director with Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and the upcoming Argo. Just because the studio wants Affleck doesn’t mean he will do the movie, and several sources tell me he might take a meeting, but that’s it.
After costing himself momentum as an actor with some questionable choices like Gigli, Affleck admirably scripted a second act for himself with his writing and directing skills, and did it by taking on unexpected, thoughtful films. His reps clearly denied he would take this, and why would he want to direct a Justice League movie, unless he himself had figured out a way to make one that would compare favorably with Joss Whedon’s billion dollar Marvel smash The Avengers? I don’t see it. As my old agent/manager pal Michael Black used to say sometimes when I came at him breathlessly with an important but dubious package involving one of his clients, “Don’t dress for that premiere, darling.”
“Don’t dress for THAT premiere, darling.” = showbiz line of the month!
ditto. Hell no and don’t walk blindly into a daredevil role of disaster.
I read that quote in Tom Hardy’s Inception voice.
This pet project of Jeff R.’s has been slop as far back as when he wasn’t running the studio and the movie was called Justice League Mortal. The studio knew it was garbage and killed it the second the Australian government wouldn’t give George Miller the 40% tax credit. The production knew the script was hogwash and that potential cash write-off was the only thing keeping the project moving.
Jeff’s been pissed ever since and getting the project underway far outweighs any interest in telling a story or delivering the right product. Affleck has to have already sensed that the studio is just looking for a shooter, or they would have given him the same offer they did with Nolan and Batman to start from scratch.
All Jeff wants to do is prove he can show up Kevin Feige and Joss Whedon’s Avengers sequel, which is why this monstrousity is going to get pushed through with a Matt Reeves or Greg Berlanti attached as director. 2015, here they come… common sense and development be damned!
“All Jeff wants to do is prove he can show up Kevin Feige and Joss Whedon’s Avengers sequel, which is why this monstrousity is going to get pushed through with a Matt Reeves or Greg Berlanti attached as director. 2015, here they come… common sense and development be damned!”
You’d think common sense would prevail, given that he’s not going to show anybody up if that movie is so bad it craters at the box office and kills off half-a-dozen potential film franchises in the process, but I guess there’re some people out there who think they crap gold.
All for it….Gone Baby Gone & the Town were excellent. Would be interesting see him do the Superhero genre.
The Town was shit. Implausible every step of the way.
Not to mention Argo! Totally implausible, Affleck is so bad.
You are aware that Argo is based on actual events, or did I just miss the sarcasm?
The Town was great. Most heist movies are implausible. That’s why there movies and not documentaries.
All THE TOWN showed us was that anyone can direct, even third rate actors, as long as you employ very talented people to work alongside them.
Affleck needs to call up Kevin & get the job done right.
Kevin Smith writes mediocre comedies. Sometimes he writes mediocre comic books. He hasn’t been involved with a decent film in years.
He seems like a nice guy on a personal level and I understand why fanboys like him, but he doesn’t have the skills to help develop a DC film franchise. Also I don’t want to see Superman and Batman having an argument over which is faster, the Millennium Falcon or an X-Wing Fighter.
It Smith were to shift gears into writing screenplays he needs to consider writing a decent book or two first.
The poor guy is probably having Daredevil flashbacks.
The inner-fanboy in my certainly wants to see Time-Warner get Marvel-Disney smart w/their DC properties, but we’s have to have to wait ‘tull *AT LEAst* 2017 to get Superman, Bat-reboot, Wonder Woman, and a Green Lantern reboot/sequel together to lead into an overall acceptable quality feature sans too many character origins for one movie
I once saw Affleck’s name thrown around to direct the post-nolan Batman. Maybe he should film that as his genre trainingwheels before taking on such an ambitious business-linchpin blockbuster who’s success would rest solely on it breaking BO numbers…
I believe the difference between Marvel Studios and Warner Bros. is this:
Marvel makes comic book films.
Warners dabbles in making comic book films.
You need more than dabbling to make a great JUSTICE LEAGUE movie.
Uh, yeah because the Batman movies were just “dabbling,” while Thor and Iron Man 2 were REAL comic book movies.
You’re one of those “if it ain’t silly/comedy/goofy then it’s not a ‘comic book’ movie,” people.
Have you read a comic book in the last 35 years? They haven’t been campy, silly. or comedic since the 70′s.
DC’s problem is that they don’t take their properties as seriously as they should. Green Lantern proved that.
Um, I think you’re actually in total agreement with the guy you just trashed. All he said was that while Warners SOMETIMES makes movies based on comics (as part of a larger slate of product), Marvel is a company set up SPECIFICALLY to make movies based on comics. He mentioned nothing about tone, content, or quality; he merely noted that Marvel has an overall master plan to produce an integrated SERIES, whereas DC doesn’t- and a film like JUSTICE LEAGUE, consisting of characters from different franchises, NEEDS that level of coordination to work.
Thank you, cst. That is exactly what I meant.
JaySmack, that is not what I said at all. Read cst comment, he got it right.
You say DC doesn’t take it’s properties seriously enough and cite GREEN LANTERN as an example. That is both an absurd and ignorant statement. I’ve worked extensively with DC (and Marvel) and the problem is not them. Time Warner owns DC. Warner studios make the ultimate decision on what DC property they’ll make and how they want to make it.
Nolan’s TDK trilogy was well made but it was a departure from Batman as depicted in DC’s monthly publications. Man of Steel from the trailer also looks to be a departure from what DC readers are used to seeing. Green Lantern was a mess that felt like development barely moved on after Jack Black’s involvement.
Marvel on the other hand is much more faithful in it’s adaptations. The recent Marvel Studio films draw from classic comics as well as Marvel’s more recent “Ultimate Universe” titles.
Marvel has more confidence in their properties where WB sees things that must be ‘fixed’ to work on screen.
Agreed. Nolan’s TDK trilogy was well made but it was a departure from Batman as depicted in DC’s monthly publications. Man of Steel from the trailer also looks to be a departure from what DC readers are used to seeing. Green Lantern was a mess that felt like development barely moved on after Jack Black’s involvement.
Marvel on the other hand is much more faithful in it’s adaptations. The recent Marvel Studio films draw from classic comics as well as Marvel’s more recent “Ultimate Universe” titles.
Marvel has more confidence in their properties where WB sees things that must be ‘fixed’ to work on screen.
Yates on JL is like Ang Lee on HULK. Studios will never learn. Marvel is schooling people on how to do these.
Terrible analogy. Yates was part of a phenomenally successful franchise for half a decade, whilst Lee came from a more character-driven background before ‘Hulk’. If you are talking in terms of creativity or commerce, that comparison stinks.
Reading comprehension is important. Yates’s name was dropped in the story but at no time was it implied he’s being offered JLA.
However it Yates were offered JLA I think he’d do a fine job.
What a terrible idea.
The Avengers worked because it was preceded by two successful Iron Man movies, one successful Thor movie, and one successful Captain America movie, all three of which built organically up to Avengers. Iron Man was the anchor, and its commercial and critical success made all the rest extra-viable.
Nothing like that exists for the DC product line. Christian Bale will never agree to be in a Justice League movie. We don’t know if the new Superman movie is good, or if audiences will like Henry Cavill. Green Lantern was a flop. There is no Wonder Woman movie. The aborted TV project was garbage. And DC recently turned their classic storylines upside-down with their “New 52″ reboot.
Instead of trying to mimic The Avengers like a child who’s jealous of a neighbor’s toy, the studio should make sure that audiences even want a Justice League movie. Not the loud fanboys, who can’t carry a film, but normal, mainstream audiences. You know, the ones who have no idea who Green Arrow, Black Canary, or Martian Manhunter are?
All four of which, I meant to say.
And I thought Hawkeye was obscure. Martian Manhunter?
^^^Best post here. Spot on analysis. Thanks, Jack Brooks.
Jack you’re right and you make some very valid points. DC does have to take the time to determine if there’s truly a market that awaits “Justice League”. Nothing wrong in taking some tips from Marvel so long as you don’t try to one up them by doing what they’ve already done much more successfully. What i mean by that is absorb what Marvel Studios has done, than set out and make your own path. As far the ‘Fanboys’ go, a lot of them blindly and foolishly believe because the “Justice League” has been around longer than the “Avengers” and they’re more iconic, that will translate on the big screen and make them even bigger, but it does’nt work that way. I don’t care how long you’ve been around, if audiences don’t have a connection and invested interest in these characters it won’t cross over successfully. In many ways i’m a fanboy myself, but i’m very realistic about this as well. It’s easy to say all of us fanboys will go see it so it has to be the biggest hit, but that audience only goes so far with limitations. The reason “The Avengers” was such a massive hit because it went far beyond it’s comic book bounderies, it became that must see event film like “Avatar”, “Titanic”, “ET”, “Star Wars”, “Jaws”, etc before it. People who could care the least about comic book films went to see “The Avengers”, it hit reached every demographic and hit every right note. Just my take on that, so if DC wants to truly bring a “Justice League” film to the big screen which i’m all for, they just need to make sure they fully embrace it, respect the source material and put the right people into this ambitious project. Also WB needs to back off and allow DC to make their own moves. Another thing Marvel Studios was smart about is they signed with Disney for backing, distribution and promotion, but they maintined all creative control over their characters and properties, something DC could use over WB.
Kevin Smith? If his awful Batman comics are any indication, they should keep that man far away from any DC title for the rest of eternity. His approach to the superhero genre is that of n right