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Ben Affleck Seems Ambivalent About Directing ‘The Batman’

Though he told Variety just two weeks ago that “everything is coming together” for the production of “The Batman,” a standalone film that he would direct and star in, in his latest interview didn’t sound so optimistic.

When he spoke to Variety at a New York screening of his new film “Live By Night,” he said, “We’re still finishing up a script. I’m very excited.”

But on New Year’s Day, Britain’s The Guardian released an interview ahead of the U.K. opening of “Live By Night” that made the project sound much more iffy. “That’s the idea,” he told The Guardian. “But it’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.”

It’s not the first time Affleck has seemed hesitant about making the DC Comics film, which is set to star Joe Manganiello as Deathstroke and is projected to open in 2018. He’s said repeatedly he doesn’t want to force it. Also in December, he told Entertainment Weekly, “I’m not going to write and direct anything that I don’t think is good enough to be made.”

Starring Affleck and Elle Fanning, the period gangster film “Live By Night” opened in limited release on Christmas Day and so far hasn’t made much of an impression. It will have another shot at drawing interest when it opens wide on Jan. 13.

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