Ben Affleck Calls 'Justice League' Reshoots the 'Low Point of My Career'

By Grace Kim

Ben Affleck has called the reshoots for "Justice League" the "low point of my career." He made the statement on the latest episode of the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast, hosted by Josh Horowitz.

The context is well known to film fans. Warner Bros. replaced director Zack Snyder with Joss Whedon to overhaul the movie after Snyder stepped away following his daughter's death by suicide. Snyder recently told Variety that Whedon's reshoots covered 60 new pages of material. The finished film became a critical and commercial misfire for the studio.

What does Affleck actually say happened?

Affleck didn't hold back. "The experience of 'Justice League' was so negative for lots of different reasons, some of which have to do with where I was at personally and some of which had to do with the tragedy that happened at that time," he said. "I saw how not to make a movie like that, which is where the studio is at odds with the filmmaker. You are really making a mistake."

He also addressed the circumstances of Snyder's exit head-on. "Somebody's death by suicide eclipses everything," Affleck said, referring to the death of Snyder's daughter. "The way in which that was, I thought, used as an excuse [to replace Zack] was one of the shittiest things I've ever seen. It was so gross."

Affleck said he wasn't privy to much of the reshoot environment firsthand but heard about it secondhand from actors. His verdict: "Wow, this is about as gross as it gets."

The actor framed the period as personally dark, too. "And I was drinking too much… and I got divorced," he said. "It was a difficult time for me personally, but those things, while painful, did not impact that movie."

One bright spot for him was the eventual release of the "Snyder Cut" — Snyder's own four-hour version of the film, which HBO Max put out in 2021 after a sustained fan campaign. "I was really glad and gratified that Zack got to release [his version via the Snyder Cut]," Affleck said. "That was fucking great. I was really happy for him."

Is this the first time he's said it?

No. Affleck previously told Entertainment Weekly that making "Justice League" was "a nadir experience" that made him not want to keep playing Batman. "I didn't like being there. I didn't think it was interesting," he said at the time. "And then some really shitty things, awful things happened. But, that's when I was like, I'm not going to do that anymore."

There's also the Whedon backdrop. "Justice League" star Gal Gadot accused Whedon of threatening her on set, claims he denied.

He also turned down 'Star Wars'

Elsewhere in the same interview, Affleck confirmed that Lucasfilm approached him about directing "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," the 2015 entry eventually directed by J.J. Abrams. Affleck said he doesn't know whether he was the studio's first choice or whether Lucasfilm was talking to Abrams at the same time.

He turned it down out of self-awareness, he explained. "Hey, I like 'Star Wars' and I'm a fan, but I'm not the person to direct this movie," Affleck said. "I just think someone else who has more passion for this is going to do a better job. There's a lot of challenges to reinventing that."

He pointed to the franchise's uneven record since. "It hasn't been easy for them to reinvent that franchise. Some have done really well, some — and you've got this whole fan base that's got its own very strong opinions," Affleck said. "I don't want to direct something that I don't feel like I have a chance to be really really proud of."

What does this change for Affleck? Probably little in career terms — he's been open about this chapter for years. But the podcast marks his bluntest language yet on how Snyder's family tragedy factored into the studio's decision, and it keeps pressure on Warner Bros.' handling of one of Hollywood's messiest productions.