Ben Affleck says he lost his passion for Batman and praises Robert Pattinson

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

In an alternate universe, Ben Affleck is in the midst of directing and starring in THE BATMAN, but in our universe, the actor stepped down from the role of the Dark Knight after several years of speculation. After opening up about why he left THE BATMAN earlier this week, Ben Affleck elaborated a little more on the topic while speaking with Jake Hamilton during the press-tour for THE WAY BACK.

Ben Affleck began by praising Robert Pattinson, who will be taking over the cape and cowl in THE BATMAN, by saying, "I think Robert's a great actor, he's going to do great." Affleck then explained that he had lost his passion for Batman after playing the role in BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE, SUICIDE SQUAD, and JUSTICE LEAGUE.

We had a script. I liked the script, I wrote it with Geoff Johns, who I have a lot of respect for. It just so happened that I had done a couple of those movies, and I kind of lost my passion for it. You know what I mean? I kind of lost my passion for telling those stories, I got interested in telling stories more like this, and it just seemed like very clear to me that if it's not the most important thing in the world to you, you're not going to make a very good movie. The movie deserves to be made by someone whose dying to do it and can't wait, and that wasn't me at the time, so I moved on.

Ben Affleck has also said that his drinking played a part in leaving THE BATMAN behind, and that a friend had urged him to step back for the sake of his health. "I showed somebody ‘The Batman’ script," Affleck said. "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 through again.'"

While Ben Affleck's time as the Dark Knight may have come to a premature end, THE BATMAN looks to be shaping up quite nicely in his absence, and just last week we got our first glimpse at Robert Pattinson (THE LIGHTHOUSE) in the Bat-suit. In addition to Pattinson, THE BATMAN also stars Zoë Kravitz (Big Little Lies) as Catwoman, Paul Dano (SWISS ARMY MAN) as The Riddler, Jeffrey Wright (NO TIME TO DIE) as Commissioner Gordon, Andy Serkis (STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI) as Alfred Pennyworth, Colin Farrell (DUMBO) as Penguin, and John Turturro (The Night Of) as Carmine Falcone.

THE BATMAN is already slated for a June 25, 2021 release, and we'll soon be seeing Ben Affleck in THE WAY BACK on March 6, 2020.