George Clooney will forever be associated with Batman for the wrong reasons. That’s not to say that the star hasn’t broken out of that shadow. Still, even with his successful resume and many famous roles, including Danny Ocean in the Ocean’s Eleven series, Clooney has always been a good sport at poking fun at himself while attempting to fill the cape and cowl in an early career move. Batman and Robin lives in critical blockbuster flop infamy but has since garnered an ironic and non-ironic appreciation of its campiness.
CBR reports that Clooney recently gave a press conference at a Roybal Film & TV Magnet open house where the Ocean’s star joked about being the best Batman, “You think of actors, you don’t really think about education. In general. I mean, you look at me, and you think, ‘Oh, he’s just the best Batman!”
The quip was met with laughter and applause before he reached out to an audience member to ask who the best was. The audience member responded, “Ben Affleck.” Clooney’s wit and humor then shot back with, “The best available. Ben Affleck, really? He’s got nothing on me!” More laughter ensued.
Clooney has been on record as calling his performance “terrible” and has taken the responsibility of “killing the Batman franchise.” He is referring to the first generation franchise that started with 1989’s Batman starring Michael Keaton, who will be returning in The Flash. On the other hand, Affleck has received a mixed reception with his take as his Batman has been thrust around the DCEU and hasn’t had a chance to shine in a solo film. The solo treatment would be given to the standalone movie, The Batman, with Robert Pattinson as the caped crusader. Affleck is expected to make a return in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
Clooney’s Batman would eventually be erased to welcome a new interpretation provided by Christopher Nolan in 2005’s Batman Begins, which gave the character his grit back. However, if you ever wanted to see what a multi-million version of Adam West’s campy TV show Batman would be like, you needn’t look any further than Batman and Robin.
George Clooney can be seen in the upcoming Ticket to Paradise on October 21.
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