Ben Affleck Gave Up The Batman Cowl Because Of A 'Principal Influence': Matt Damon
Call it a hot take if you must, but with the exception of Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, there's no other male friendship in Hollywood quite like Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. The duo met as kids, living two blocks away from each other all throughout their childhood. As legend has it, their friendship was forever solidified when a high school kid was threatening to beat up Damon, and Affleck inserted himself and fought off the bully. The two have done so much together in the years since, with their first professional movie together being uncredited extras in the Fenway Park scene in 1989's "Field of Dreams." A few years later they'd both appear in "School Ties" and "Glory Daze" before the two would begin writing what would become their calling card, "Good Will Hunting," while simultaneously both appearing in "Chasing Amy."
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Damon sat down with Affleck to interview his friend, asking about what many are considering a resurgence in Affleck's career and playfully giving each other the type of s*** that only friends of four decades can get away with. At one point, Damon asks his longtime friend how he feels about where he is currently with his career, which inspired him to revisit some of his favorite performances that helped get him to acclaimed films like "The Last Duel" and "The Tender Bar." But during this time of reminiscing, Affleck brings up "Justice League," and confesses that a big reason why he stepped away from the longest cinematic tenure as Batman came from a conversation he had with Damon.
'I Want To Do The Things That Bring Me Joy'
Affleck has been vocal about his unhappiness on the set of "Justice League," and this interview was no different.
"I had a really nadir experience around 'Justice League' for a lot of different reasons. Not blaming anybody, there's a lot of things that happened. But really what it was is that I wasn't happy. I didn't like being there. I didn't think it was interesting. And then some really s***** things, awful things happened. But, that's when I was like, I'm not going to do that anymore."
He was clearly unhappy, but Damon did his due diligence as a solid best friend and helped Affleck gain a new perspective.
"In fact, I talked to you [Matt Damon] about it and you were a principal influence on that decision. I want to do the things that would bring me joy. Then we went and did "Last Duel" and I had fun every day on this movie. I wasn't the star, I wasn't likable. I was a villain. I wasn't all the things I thought I was supposed to be when I started out and yet it was a wonderful experience. And it was all just stuff that came along that I wasn't chasing."
It doesn't sound like Matt Damon straight up told Affleck to never make a "Batman" movie again, but rather he helped his clearly hurting best friend contextualize what he really wants out of his career, and what about the art of acting brings him happiness. Fans out there may be sad about Affleck's decision to retire the cloak, but we should all be thankful that he has a friend like Damon who could help him during his time of need and process such a difficult decision.