Debates over the script quality of Warner Brothers’ DC Comics Extended Universe films are a dime a dozen on the internet. But one person who is committed to making sure that the project they are attached is going to be as great as it can be is Ben Affleck.
The actor/writer/director has already made a big impression with fans in his two appearances as Batman – first as a co-lead in last year’s Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice and then in a smaller role in Suicide Squad – that the studio was very happy to put a solo film for the character into development with Affleck set to write and direct in addition to starring. And while he has talked in the press in the past about the fact that he is working on the screenplay for the film, titled appropriately enough The Batman, Affleck told The Guardian that unless the script reaches a certain quality, he will not do the movie.
[I]t’s not a set thing and there’s no script. If it doesn’t come together in a way I think is really great, I’m not going to do it.
While I am not sure how well this is going to go over with the brass at Warner Brothers. More often that not, films are scheduled and pushed into production to meet that date are done so without a fully realized screenplay. That Affleck wants to make sure that the script is ready before cameras roll is a good thing. But recently, the release date for Warners’ Justice League Part 2 was moved back, with speculation leading to the possibility that the movie was done by the studio to release The Batman in the vacated date instead. So is Affleck angling to get fans on his side in case the studio is pressuring him to get the film shooting before he feels it is ready?
When, or if, it does happen, actor Joe Manganiello is set to appear in The Batman as the classc DC villain Deathstroke.
