Ben Affleck Talks About Playing Batman In 'Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice'

UPDATE: Ben Affleck is currently shooting Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. We've seen photos of him on set, he appeared at Comic-Con to promote it, but not much has changed in regards to his feelings.

In September 2013, the actor praised the script's unique take on the character, the work of director Zack Snyder, and discussed how he got cast – with Warner Bros. showing him clips of previous superhero casting backlash. Now, in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, he said all of this again. We've got the new Ben Affleck Batman quotes, along with the old ones (and a video), below.

First up, here are the new Ben Affleck Batman quotes via Entertainment Weekly:

On his preparation:

I'm right in the middle of shooting now. It's a process that I'll probably have better perspective on when I'm done. I can tell you that every time I do a role, it's the responsibility of an actor to get their physical self as close to the role as possible. And Batman's obviously got a set of expectations that are tough. So I spent a lot of time working out. And it's a far cry from Gone Girl where my character is described as "puffy and hungover." I want you to know I worked equally hard at both! [laughs]

On the fan reaction:

Before I took the role, Warner Bros. gave me a bunch of past reactions to casting and said, "Are you sure you want to get into this? This is part and parcel of these movies now. There's a lot of active fans with a lot of opinions." To me, having been through a certain amount of that, it doesn't really... Everyone's entitled to their opinion. I wouldn't have taken the part if I didn't trust my instincts in terms of the filmmaking. I think Chris Terrio wrote a terrific script. Zack's a great visual director. And there's an interesting take. I wouldn't have done it if I didn't think I could do it. I have the benefit of a lot of that understanding. But also, everyone is entitled to their opinion. That's a big part of this international sport. The Fifty Shades of Grey kid or whatever it is. That's sort of become a thing.

On fan entitlement:

You know what? It's great that people do care that much. They want to see the movie that much. And it is incumbent on you to honor the story. There are the Greek myths and these are the American myths. The American myths are these superheroes. People care about 'em a lot. And it's incumbent on you to do a good job and make it as excellent as you possibly can. At the end of the day, the movie's all that matters.

And now here's the original story from September 17, 2013. The only thing that's changed is the release date:

Since the announcement that Ben Affleck will play Batman in Zack Snyder's 2015 sequel, Batman vs. Superman, we're heard what everyone thinks: The director, the potential composer, past Batmans, other actors, friends, and family. But there's one person who has not yet commented. That person is Ben Affleck himself.

Affleck was on the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to promote his new movie, Runner Runner, and finally spoke up about Batman. He spoke about his excitement, how Warner Bros. got him to do the role and how they tried, and failed, to prepare him for the inevitable Internet backlash. Watch the clip and read the quotes below.

Here's the clip from Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The Batman stuff stars about 1:40 in. We've transcribed the full quote below, but Affleck's mannerisms and gesticulation are much more informative than the basic quotes are alone.

Here's the quote:

It's so awesome. I'm so excited. They called me up and said 'Do you want to do this?' And I thought 'I'm not 25 man, are you sure about this?' And they said 'Come down, we wanna show you what we're doing.' It was incredible. Zack Snyder's directing it and he has this incredible take on it that like, obviously you can't do what Chris [Nolan] and Christian [Bale] did, those movies are amazing. And so he wants to do something different but still in keeping with that.And I thought this was a brilliant way to do this and I really know how to hook into this. And I said 'Okay I wanna do it.' The people from the studio were like 'We're thrilled, we're so excited,' we arranged it and they said 'Listen, we want to talk to you because people go through this process and it can be trying.' I said 'What do you mean?' They said 'We want to show you some of the reactions that past cast members have gotten on the internet and stuff.' So they send me, I won't even say who they were, people who were in these movies who did a great job, and these things were like 'Kill him!!!' And he was amazing! You can't say it before the movie comes out. It doesn't matter what you think then, it matters what you think when you see the movie, obviously.But I was like 'I'm a big boy. If I can handle the Emmy snub. I can handle anything.' They said 'Just don't use the Internet for a couple days,' but I said 'I handle shit, I'm very tough.' So I saw the announcement, I looked on this thing, I looked at the first comment it's like 'Ben Affleck is going to be Batman' and the first thing goes "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" And I was like 'Maybe we should just [pushes to the side]. We're going to be Luddites for a while, kids.'Part of it is when you see the materials and when you see the take, it's a very hard thing to describe without giving away the story and giving away what it is. But I really feel like I have a lot of opportunities now which is really great and this is something that's really exciting.

It's incredibly interesting to me that Warner Bros. did what so many other websites did after the announcement. They went back and found the same negative comments about other great cast members. I'd imagine Affleck is talking about Heath Ledger above but really it could have been anyone, as it's well-established fans are not happy when anyone – except maybe Christian Bale – plays Batman.

Did Affleck's comments win you over?