Before taking the role of Batman, Ben Affleck consulted with a friend who had played the role before. That friend was George Clooney.
George spoke to The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast and he revealed his role in Batman & Robin changed his approach to his career.
“[Arnold] Schwarzenegger was paid, I think, $25 million for that, which was like 20 times more than I was paid for it, and, you know, we never even worked together! We worked together one day. But I took all the heat,” he said in reference to how badly the film was received.
“Now, fair deal; I was playing Batman and I wasn’t good in it, and it wasn’t a good film, but what I learned from that failure was, I had to rethink how I was working. Because now I wasn’t just an actor getting a role, I was being held responsible for the film itself.”
Clooney went on to work with Affleck on Argo, which gave him the opportunity to give the future Bruce Wayne some advice.
Ben was about to take the role of Batman in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and George gave him some very straightforward advice.
“I actually did talk to him about it. I said, ‘Don’t do it.’”
“It was only from my experience, which is, you know …”
Ben obviously didn’t end up taking the advice, but George added, “He did great, though.”
There are fans who would agree with that statement, but the general consensus was that although he was good, he wasn’t given a great story to work with.
Ben has since decided to hang up the cape following the underperformance of Justice League, telling Jimmy Kimmel he “couldn’t crack it”.
A new Batman flick was confirmed earlier this year and will be directed by Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes director Matt Reeves with a younger actor. It’s set for a 2021 release.
Some of the names being thrown around to play the role include Robert Pattinson, Ansel Elgort, Logan Lerman, Noah Centineo, Kit Harrington, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Richard Madden and Armie Hammer.
If only Ben had taken George’s advice…