Ben Affleck on the ‘Batman v Superman’ Reaction: ‘It Was Interesting’
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was a tale of two heroes and a tale of two outcomes. The film made $873 million worldwide but it was also a deeply polarizing film, satisfying many hardcore DC fans but putting off others with its dark tone and heroes that I would characterize as, how should I put this, kinda dumb. It will lead directly into the Wonder Woman and Justice League movies, along with an entire DC Extended Universe, but the film was so dark and dour that it made a lot of viewers less excited than nervous about all the stuff to come.
Batman himself, Ben Affleck, is back out on the PR circuit promoting his upcoming thriller The Accountant, and he’s fielding plenty of questions about Batman v Superman and its merits. In the video above, Fox’s Kevin McCarthy asks for Affleck’s own reaction to the movie, in light of all the controversy and the divided response from fans. He said:
It’s interesting. It was a huge hit movie that so many more people went to see than any movie I’ve made in my career. It was the biggest hit of my career. And then it had a lot of editorial negativity — fans went, and I got a lot of positive response. It was interesting, that movie, because it was judged not necessarily on execution so much as its tone. People seemed to want to have a lighter tone to the movie, and I thought that was interesting because that’s subjective. Tone is not a qualitative thing. It’s subjective, right? Some tones resonate with me that might not with you. And the tone of the movie was really parallel to the Frank Miller book, which I liked and thought was great. I’m glad that so many people went and so many people liked the movie and it worked out.
But what did Affleck think of Batman v Superman? “I loved it,” he told McCarthy.
So it sounds like in Affleck’s eyes they made exactly the movie they set out to make. (That movie, of course, was originally titled Marthas: A Love Story.) But from everything I’ve heard about Justice League, it also sounds like Affleck and director Zack Snyder are looking to make a much lighter movie, which would speak to them hearing the reaction to BvS’ tone and adjusting accordingly.
Snyder’s Justice League opens on November 17, 2017, with Affleck, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, Henry Cavill’s Superman, the Professor and Mary Ann.