Affleck said the negative experience stemmed from a combination of personal struggles and professional tensions
Pop Culture & ArtOctober 13, 20262 min readPhoto: Reuters
Ben Affleck has described the reshoots for the 2017 superhero film Justice League as the lowest point of his career, criticising the circumstances surrounding director Zack Snyder’s departure and the studio’s handling of the troubled production.
Speaking on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, the actor reflected on the difficult experience of making the DC film, which originally had Snyder at the helm before Joss Whedon took over during post-production. Affleck said the negative experience stemmed from a combination of personal struggles and professional tensions.
“The truth is that the experience of Justice League, for me, was so, so negative for lots of different reasons,” Affleck said, explaining that the situation showed him how damaging it could be when a studio and its filmmaker were at odds.
Snyder stepped away from the film after the death of his daughter, Autumn Snyder, in 2017. Whedon subsequently oversaw extensive reshoots that changed elements of the film’s story and tone before its theatrical release.
Affleck strongly criticised how Snyder was removed from the project and suggested the family tragedy had been used as an excuse for the decision.
“Boy, that was shitty. Him being taken off that movie, and the reshoots that we did, if you want the low point of my career, it was that,” he said. “Somebody’s death by suicide, that eclipses everything.”
The actor added that the way the situation was handled was among the worst things he had witnessed in the film industry, describing the experience as “so gross”. He also referred to reports about the working environment during the reshoots, mentioning co-stars Ray Fisher and Gal Gadot, while clarifying that much of what he knew about their experiences had reached him second-hand.
Affleck also spoke about his personal circumstances at the time, revealing that he was drinking too much and struggling to stop. He was also going through a difficult period in his personal life, including his divorce. However, he stressed that these struggles coincided with the film’s troubled production rather than directly affecting the movie itself.
“Those things, while painful, were not what impacted that movie,” he explained. “They just happened to be happening at the same time.”
The comments revisit a period that Affleck has criticised previously. In a 2022 interview with Entertainment Weekly, he described his experience making Justice League as a particularly low point, explaining that he had been unhappy with the production and did not find the experience creatively fulfilling.
Despite his criticism of the theatrical film’s production, Affleck expressed happiness that Snyder eventually got to release his own extended version, Zack Snyder’s Justice League, in 2021.
Affleck played Bruce Wayne, also known as Batman, in Justice League, appearing alongside Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller and Fisher. The film’s production became a major talking point among DC fans, particularly following the release of Snyder’s version, which restored material absent from the 2017 theatrical cut.
His latest remarks offer another reflection on a film that proved professionally difficult for the actor, with Affleck identifying the reshoots and the circumstances surrounding Snyder’s departure as central to his negative experience.
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