There comes a time in every father’s life when he needs to sit his son down and lay out some hard truths. That time came for Ben Affleck recently, when he sat his 7-year old son Samuel down and explained that his father’s no longer Batman. That’s a tough thing for any kid to have to hear, especially as I’d imagine it easily wins any schoolyard arguments about whose dad is cooler.
The actor was asked about the fallout from his hanging up of the cape and cowl in an interview with Entertainment Tonight to promote his new movie Triple Frontier, and here’s what he said in regards to how he told his son:
“He took the news okay. He kind of understands that there’s time for everything. [Samuel] is not quite old enough to understand that I was gonna direct [a Batman movie], but I couldn’t figure out how to do it. I didn’t love it enough. I just kinda stuck with like, you know, ‘It was my turn and now it somebody else’s turn.’ Because he understands turn taking.”
It’s got to be a pretty sad bit of news for Samuel, as he’s reportedly an enormous Batman fan, with Ben Affleck famously going so far as to borrow his Batman suit from Warner Bros. in order to make an appearance in character at his birthday party.
It’s also kind of sad for Affleck though, who not only had to put up with years of the stupid Batfleck criticism but never got the chance to really show what he could do with the character. There were some brief moments in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice that showed what a solo Affleck/Batman film might have looked like (the excellent warehouse fight for one), but with the focus being on his conflict with Superman, we never got to truly see Batman taking down crime and tangling with the best rogues gallery around. And then there was Justice League and…well, just have a look at Affleck’s face during any of the promotional interviews to see what he thought about that.
With Warner Bros. apparently moving ahead with Matt Reeves’ plans for The Batman, the search is on for Affleck’s replacement. Shooting is expected to begin later this year, so there should be a casting announcement sometime relatively soon. As always, watch this space for more.