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20 Jan 2026 18:56
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  •   Home > News > Entertainment

    Ben Affleck says his experience shooting 'Justice League' was "awful"

    The 49-year-old actor - who starred as Batman in the 2017 DC superhero film - opened up about his time acting in the blockbuster, noting that his turbulent personal life made for the "worst experience".


    He said: "It was really 'Justice League' that was the nadir for me. That was a bad experience because of a confluence of things: my own life, my divorce, being away too much, the competing agendas and then [director] Zack [Snyder's] personal tragedy and the reshooting.

    "It just was the worst experience. It was awful."

    The Academy Award winner was married to fellow star Jennifer Garner at the time but the couple - who have Violet, 16, Seraphina, 13, and Samuel, nine, together - had called it quits after 13 years together and were in the process of a divorce when Ben was shooting the superhero role.

    Speaking to the LA Times, he added: "It was everything that I didn't like about this. That became the moment where I said, 'I'm not doing this anymore.' It's not even about, like, 'Justice League was so bad'.

    Because it could have been anything."

    Ben - who was also set to direct and star in the title role of upcoming film 'The Batman' before being replaced by Robert Pattinson as Batman with Matt Reeves taking the reins - also spoke out about his decision to drop out of the picture completely.

    He explained: "I looked at it and thought, 'I'm not going to be happy doing this. The person who does this should love it.' You're supposed to always want these things, and I probably would have loved doing it at 32 or something.

    "But it was the point where I started to realise it's not worth it. It's just a wonderful benefit of reorienting and recalibrating your priorities that once it started being more about the experience, I felt more at ease."

    © 2026 Bang Showbiz, NZCity

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