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Dalek

Member
Oct 25, 2017
39,103
deadline.com

Ben Affleck Dropped Out Of ‘The Batman’ Amid Fears He’d “Drink Himself To Death”

Ben Affleck has finally revealed the real reasons he decided to leave The Batman. In an interview published Tuesday by The New York Times, the two-time Oscar winner said his struggles with alcohol, his divorce from Jennifer Garner, and a “troubled shoot” on Justice League prompted him to abandon...

Ben Affleck has finally revealed the real reasons he decided to leave The Batman.

In an interview published Tuesday by The New York Times, the two-time Oscar winner said his struggles with alcohol, his divorce from Jennifer Garner, and a "troubled shoot" on Justice League prompted him to abandon the role of Bruce Wayne.

"I showed somebody The Batman script," Affleck told the Times. "They said, 'I think the script is good. I also think you'll drink yourself to death if you go through what you just went though again."

Affleck said he "drank relatively normally," but then things got out-of-control.

"I drank relatively normally for a long time. What happened was that I started drinking more and more when my marriage was falling apart," he explained.

"You're trying to make yourself feel better with eating or drinking or sex or gambling or shopping or whatever," the actor and director explained. "But that ends up making your life worse. Then you do more of it to make that discomfort go away. Then the real pain starts. It becomes a vicious cycle you can't break. That's at least what happened to me."
 

boontobias

Avenger
Apr 14, 2018
9,592
User banned (1 day): Inappropriate commentary
Sack Znyder and Bonus Tsujifuckingactresseshara out here literally ruining lives
 

Goldenroad

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Nov 2, 2017
9,475
Obviously a persons health has to come before their work.
 
Oct 26, 2017
9,859
That's good for him and for the movie.

Messing with your life is not good first and foremost and WB can't have a bad Batman movie.
 

Pall Mall

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,426
Wow his quote is quite candid. Totally feel that cycle of abuse that you impose upon yourself.
 

Doober

Banned
Jun 10, 2018
4,295
I don't blame him. It wasn't his fault but the DCEU left a bad taste in peoples' mouths when it came to Batman.
 

NTGYK

Attempted to circumvent ban with an alt-account
Banned
Oct 29, 2017
3,470
Always put your health before some dumb movie.
 

Sulik2

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
8,168
deadline.com

Ben Affleck Dropped Out Of ‘The Batman’ Amid Fears He’d “Drink Himself To Death”

Ben Affleck has finally revealed the real reasons he decided to leave The Batman. In an interview published Tuesday by The New York Times, the two-time Oscar winner said his struggles with alcohol, his divorce from Jennifer Garner, and a “troubled shoot” on Justice League prompted him to abandon...

"You're trying to make yourself feel better with eating or drinking or sex or gambling or shopping or whatever," the actor and director explained. "But that ends up making your life worse. Then you do more of it to make that discomfort go away. Then the real pain starts. It becomes a vicious cycle you can't break. That's at least what happened to me."

As someone who has dealt with compulsive behaviors to try and cope with depression. This is right on the money. We often don't think of famous people as real humans. But this is clearly a guy who has actually dealt with alcoholism. I'm glad he dropped the role even though I actually really liked his Bruce Wayne.
 

Oregano

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,878
Yeah but remember how funny it was when he looked sad in an interview that time.

That's sarcasm by the way. It was always super shitty how people were treating him just because he was in the wrong franchise at the wrong time.
 

VAD

Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,569
Fuck that South Park episode about him aged like milk. Get better Ben, you were the best part of the DCEU.
 

effzee

Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,308
NJ
Was he really in the running to continue to be Batman in the Reeves movie? I thought they were going in a different direction no matter what.
 

aerie

wonky
Administrator
Oct 25, 2017
8,085
Glad he's putting his health first and I wish him luck in dealing with this and on his journey to recovery.
 

Reizzz

Member
Jun 19, 2019
1,818
I'm glad he prioritized his health before anything else. He was great as Batman, even when the material he was working with wasn't.
 

SilverX

Member
Jan 21, 2018
13,106
Glad he made that decision and seems to be doing better right now. The movie and vision would have also ultimately suffered if he was going through that health crisis so it would have probably sent him to a worse state. He made the right move for himself
 

bohex1984

Member
Oct 27, 2017
522
Hey, at least people had a good laugh...

sXxKEsId1W3sNmbCt695uGMdHOmDsRianMSbJdaxVckZEqZr4J_8nhJeGeBRzEXYTNMkCkaWfguXXeygyLp73mNZ7-V_y6Zyh9Y6re9r6ZLkZHHxYsfGp7-fHRIa408eSjblQg8UFyWyRQ2IHi-lFbQIgYXjHd8v41s


Hope he stays healthy...
 

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
116,697
That's horrible. Poor Ben. I hope he's doing better - deliberately immersing oneself in a role that exacerbates your worst qualities and sends your depression into overdrive is a great way to ruin your own life (or worse), so I'm glad he got out when he did, even if I would've loved to see his take on Bruce in a solo film divorced from Snyder's nonsense.

The important part is that he's getting better.
 

Deleted member 179

user requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,548
Feel bad for the guy. I'm glad he's doing better at least. I can't imagine the pressure 'being Batman' has because of some of the rabid fanbase.
 

RDreamer

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,114
Good he put his health first but I'm not sure I see the connection to Batman. Is he not doing any acting while he gets back on track?
 

Ashhong

Member
Oct 26, 2017
16,741
This was before Reeves got the gig. Originally it was going to be Affleck directing and writing and starring in it.
There was also a point where Affleck was gonna star with Reeves directing. Once he dropped out is when they completely changed it up


It says right there "Troubles on the Justice League shoot". And Op put Batman in the title

I admit I got clickbaited
Troubled Justice League shoot meaning how Snyder had to leave due to his daughter dying..and your connection is that he ruined Bens life?
 
Last edited:

B_Spooky13

Member
Oct 25, 2017
757
Michigan
If you see him in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot and his speech you can definitely tell he's not just talking about Mewes struggles. I'm glad he wants to better himself.
 
Oct 25, 2017
19,165
Good he put his health first but I'm not sure I see the connection to Batman. Is he not doing any acting while he gets back on track?
I think the connection is supposed to be he had such a tumultuous experience with Justice league that if he went through anything similar with another big budget project like The Batman it might have exacerbated his alcoholism

He's probably going to step away from big tentpole movies for a while
 

Khanimus

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
40,437
Greater Vancouver
It is incredibly sad watching him looking genuinely amazing as Bruce Wayne in BvS, and as his appearances progress through Justice League reshoots, you can see him looking increasingly out of shape, makeup to clean him up gets more noticeable, his own directorial project is panned hard.

And then you see paparazzi shots of him completely drunk in the back of a van as Jennifer Garner drives him to rehab.

The guy just collapsed under the weight of it all.
 

Salmonax

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,088
I really respect his candor about depression and substance abuse. Sounds like he's making the right decision.
 

Deleted member 60582

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 12, 2019
2,152
Sack Znyder and Bonus Tsujifuckingactresseshara out here literally ruining lives

lol Snyder's daughter died and Affleck had a serious drinking problem that cost him his marriage and possibly years of his life, but let's make jokes because we didn't like a couple of comic book movies, what a great idea!

At some point the anti-Snyder brigade need to engage in a little bit of self-reflection, right?
 

Aurica

音楽オタク - Comics Council 2020
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
23,523
A mountain in the US
I wonder what it was about the film that made it worse for him, because I'm surprised that he then went on to do a film where he plays an alcoholic.
 

Disco

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,493
Sack Znyder and Bonus Tsujifuckingactresseshara out here literally ruining lives

Comic book movie fanboys are trash. More news at 11

And on a related note its healthier for him to get away from a role that invites such a passionate fanbase tbh. If i were in hollywood and struggling with self esteem issues or scrutiny coupled with substance abuse one of the last jobs id ever take is a star wars or comic book lead role