Y'know, it's probably a good idea to take with a healthy dose of salt every time Birth.Movies.Death posts one of these scoops that are so personal in nature. Remember, they were wildly in accurate with their claim that James Wan was thinking of quitting as director of Aquaman. Now as Ben Affleck has been bumped up to executive producer on Justice League, the site says he's really pissed over how that whole 'Batman v Superman' thing went down.
"Affleck was incredibly unhappy about the reception of BvS. He felt humiliated after spending so much of the press tour saying how much better this film would be than Daredevil. On top of that his agent was furious when Kevin Tsujihara jumped the gun and announced him as the director of The Batman - there were still negotiations happening. This move seems to help placate Affleck while also edging Zack Snyder out of a controlling central position in the DC Movieverse."
The latter point, about Affleck being upset over his being announced as director The Batman, sounds like it could have something to it. While there had been rumors stretching back months, the way it was revealed was pretty random and not on the level that kind of announcement deserved. But his being upset because of friggin' Daredevil, a movie he made 13 years ago? Doubtful he's sitting around stewing about that. It sounds like one of those things Affleck critics sit around wishing he was doing, because nobody else is wasting their time drawing comparisons between the two movies.
But we all saw Affleck's "sad face" during those 'Batman v Superman' press rounds after the negative buzz had built up. Clearly the reaction got to him a little bit, and taking on an exec-produce role on Justice League will give him a chance to work closer with Zack Snyder and writer Chris Terrio. Given the quality of Affleck's other work for Warner Bros. this can only be good thing.
