Ben Affleck has no interest in James Gunn's DC cinematic universe
"I would not direct something for the [James] Gunn DC," Ben Affleck asserts in a new interview. "Absolutely not."
It’s pretty safe to say Ben Affleck didn’t rush to theaters to see Shazam! Fury Of The Gods. In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Affleck responds to a query about whether or not he would ever want to direct a film in the DC universe—currently masterminded by James Gunn—with a very definitive answer: “Absolutely not.”
“I would not direct something for the [James] Gunn DC,” Affleck tells THR’s Rebecca Keegan. “I have nothing against James Gunn. Nice guy, sure he’s going to do a great job. I just wouldn’t want to go in and direct in the way they’re doing that. I’m not interested in that.”
For Affleck, his disinterest in the DCEU has little to do with James Gunn specifically and everything to do with his experience filming Justice League, which he calls “the worst experience I’ve ever seen in a business which is full of some shitty experiences.” He’s not exaggerating—Justice League’s rollout is infamous for its chaos. The project passed hands from Zack Snyder to Joss Whedon in 2017 when Snyder stepped away in the wake of his daughter’s suicide; Whedon has since faced serious backlash for how he handled the reshoots, including allegations of abuse from multiple cast members. After a rabid push from fans (and quite a few bots) rallying behind the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut hashtag, Snyder released his four-hour version of the film in 2021.
Although Affleck highlights Snyder’s re-release of the film as a “silver lining,” his experience on Justice League was enough to convince him never to do the superhero thing again. Before the ordeal, he “was going to direct a Batman”; afterward, he couldn’t get away from the “miserable” day-to-day soon enough.
“You want to go to work and find something interesting to hang onto, rather than just wearing a rubber suit, and most of it you’re just standing against the computer screen going, ‘If this nuclear waste gets loose, we’ll …’” Affleck says. “That’s fine. I don’t condescend to that or put it down, but I got to a point where I found it creatively not satisfying… I thought, ‘I don’t want to participate in this in any way. And I don’t want to squander any more of my life, of which I have a limited amount.’”