Affleck On DC Tone & That “Gone Girl” Shot

2021's "Zack Snyder's Justice League" was a fascinating experiment that at least gave the director the chance to reinstate his vision following the dire 2017 version of "Justice League." The story of how the director had to step away from production on the theatrical version before being replaced by Joss Whedon is well known. But suffice it to say Whedon's version of the movie was hardly a triumph. Now, with the DC Extended Universe (aka Snyderverse) having been replaced by James Gunn's DC Universe, former Batman actor Ben Affleck has some thoughts on what went wrong with DC's big team-up movie.

via: Dark Horizons

Ben Affleck has been out there a lot this week promoting his new Netflix film “Animals,” which he both stars in and directs.

That has led to the 54-year-old giving a number of interviews with some refreshingly candid and straightforward remarks about his life and where he’s at.

He’s also touched upon some of his past filmography, such as in a recent interview with Variety where he talked about his time as Batman.

After saying he “really liked” doing “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and the “Justice League” follow-up “wasn’t that much fun,” he went on to explain how the film’s tone is still something DC is trying to figure out:

“There was a sense of “Oh, the movie was a little bit too dark or scary, and it lost some of the younger audience.” It seems to be an ongoing question, and I don’t know the answer: Do you go all the way to a hard-R rating like “Joker”? Or do it like Marvel, which does something broad, unless you’re talking about “Deadpool & Wolverine”?

The interesting thing with the DC characters [comes down] to the legacy of Frank Miller. There seems to be more tension between “Are we doing the grown-up version or the one that’s open to kids?” There’s a risk of being a feathered fish. It’s something they’re still navigating at DC. But I have to say, Kevin Feige is a kind of genius. I can’t think of any producer in the world who can say, “This is what the audience wants,” and be right, except for him.”

He also cleared up a long standing question in some circles online. There are many shots in David Fincher’s “Gone Girl” that get talked about – the stare at the end, the bloody bedroom scene, and so on.

However, one of the most discussed shots is a fleeting glimpse of the actor’s manhood as he enters the shower in a scene towards the end of the film. For a long time there has been a debate about whether Affleck used a prosthetic for the scene.

Affleck cleared that up: “I wore no prosthesis. I’ve only worn one in one film, ‘Hollywoodland.’ It was a nose.”

“Animals” premieres on Netflix on Friday.