Key Points
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Ben Affleck explained why Justice League was a “low point” of his career.
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During a recent appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Affleck reflected on what he was experiencing personally and professionally ahead of the movie’s 2017 release.
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“I really saw how not to make a movie like that,” Affleck said.
The perfect storm of personal and professional issues led to the “low point” of Ben Affleck‘s career.
“The truth is that the experience of Justice League,for me, was so so negative for lots of different reasons,” Affleck revealed during the Monday episode of Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confusedpodcast. “Some of which having to do just with where I was personally, some of which having to do with some of the tragedy that happened during that time.”
Affleck appeared to be referring to the death of director Zack Snyder’s 20-year-old daughter Autumn, who died by suicide. Snyder stepped away from the project while the film was in post-production. He was replaced by Joss Whedon who oversaw extensive reshoots on the project.
“I really saw how not to make a movie like that, which is with the studio at odds with the filmmaker,” Affleck continued on Monday. “You’re really making a mistake, and that was what really doomed that.”
The actor claimed the way Snyder was taken off the movie was “s—ty.” He added, “Somebody’s death by suicide, that that eclipses everything and then the way in which that, I thought, was frankly used as an excuse I just thought was one of the s—tiest things I’d ever seen.”
Affleck said the entire thing “was so gross” before discussing the “whole environment and vibe” on set. Several members of the 2017 Justice Leaguecast have spoken out regarding what went down behind the scenes. Affleck, however, “wasn’t privy” to it at the time.
Snyder eventually droppedZack Snyder’s Justice League, which was his extended cut of the movie. Affleck said on Monday that it was “f—ing great” that Snyder got to release that in the way that he did. “I was really happy for him,” the actor added.
In terms of his personal struggles, Affleck said he was “drinking too much” at the time.
“That’s when I started to feel like, ‘Boy, I’d like to quit drinking and I’m having a hard time not drinking,'” he continued. “I got divorced. It was definitely a very difficult time for me personally.”
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Affleck clarified: “Those things, while painful, were not what impacted that movie. They just happened to be happening at the same time.”
Affleck previously reflected on Justice Leagueduring a 2022 interview with Entertainment Weekly, explaining that the DC Superhero epic was a “really nadir experience” overall.
“Not blaming anybody, there’s a lot of things that happened. But really what it was is that I wasn’t happy. I didn’t like being there. I didn’t think it was interesting,” he said at the time. “And then some really s—ty things, awful things happened. But that’s when I was like, ‘I’m not going to do that anymore.'”
Watch Affleck’s full Happy Sad Confused appearance above.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
