During an interview with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Ben Affleck rather candidly broke down his “negative” experience filming Warner Bros.’s 2017 film Justice League, referring to it as the “low point” of his entire career. Likewise, the Batman star took aim at the film’s executives for the way the death of director Zack Snyder’s daughter was “used as an excuse” to replace him during reshoots.
Following a question about the canceled solo Batman film in the DCEU, in which Affleck was set to reprise his role, the actor began recounting his time working on Synder’s Justice League. While Affleck stated that he “loved playing” the DCEU’s Frank Miller-inspired take on Batman, the “experience of Justice League was so negative” that it taught him exactly “how not to make a movie,” and he directly criticized Warner Bros.’ treatment of director Zack Snyder during the shoot in the process.
“Boy, that was shitty,” stated Affleck (via IGN). “Him being taken off that movie, and the reshoots that we did–if you want the low point of my career, it was that[…]Somebody’s death by suicide, that eclipses everything. And the way that was, I thought, frankly, used as an excuse… I just thought that was one of the shittiest things I’ve ever seen. It was so gross.”
Zack Snyder’s daughter passed during Justice League’s post-production, at which point Snyder was replaced by The Avengers and Buffy the Vampire Slayer director Joss Whedon. Instead, however, Whedon went on to reshoot large chunks of the film.
Ray Fisher, who portrayed Cyborg in Justice League, would later accuse Whedon of “gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable” behaviour during the reshoots, and criticized Warner Bros.’s execs Jon Berg and Geoff Johns for enabling him. Co-star Jason Momoa later supported Fisher’s comments. Wonder Woman actor Gal Gadot also stated that Whedon “threatened” her career after she refused to record her lines.
As Affleck went on to explain, he heard “second-hand” recounts of his co-star’s “gross” experiences on set: “The whole environment and vibe, much of which I wasn’t privy to, but that I heard about second-hand, in terms of Ray and Gal and other people’s experiences, it was just like… ‘Wow, this is about as gross as it gets.” And I was drinking too much. That’s when I started to feel like, ‘I’d like to quit drinking, and I’m having a hard time not drinking.’”