Batman star Ben Affleck got quite honest about his thoughts on Zack Snyder’s skills as a director after their experience on Justice League and The Snyder Cut.
Affleck is about to make his final appearance in the DCU as the Caped Crusader in this summer’s The Flash while Snyder left the blue brand behind in 2021 after finally releasing Zack Snyder’s Justice League, his true vision for DC’s super-powered squad.
The two teamed up on three separate occasions to help bring Snyder’s take on the DC story to life, with Affleck playing Bruce Wayne in both versions of Justice League and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice under Snyder’s watch.
And considering the time they’ve spent working with each other over most of the last decade, it’s no surprise to see that Affleck is so supportive of the work that Snyder has put in with these characters.
Ben Affleck’s Honest Praise of Zack Snyder
Speaking to a crowd of fans at the Q&A session following the screening of Zack Snyder’s Justice League at the Zack Snyder Full Circle Event in Pasadena, California, Batman star Ben Affleck reflected on his work with the director in the DCEU.
He looked at all of the actors that Snyder had cast in his movies and the work they’d done since, crediting Snyder for being so “intuitive” as a filmmaker:
“As you look at all these actors who Zack cast and how good they are and what they’ve gone on to do, it’s a testament to Zack’s taste. And his taste is very, as he says, intuitive. I don’t know if you can learn it or teach it. He has a feeling if he is, sort of, being like a filmmaker with a point of view is.”
The Batman star praised Snyder for not worrying about “a bunch of other thoughts or opinions” from outside sources along with the director’s ability to stand strong with his decisions:
“As soon as he sees that thing that bounces off him, it’s very wonderful to work with someone who’s not clouded by a bunch of other thoughts or opinions or ‘What are they gonna say? What are they gonna do? How many followers do they have?’ Whatever it is, immediately, and listen, he has an opinion, and he has a strong one.”
Snyder was always one to give his actors the bottom line about their performances, with Affleck liking the way that there weren’t “15 auditions and do a whole circus” involved with the process:
“And that’s kind of what you want as an actor, very much, whether it’s good or bad. ‘Are we doing this or are we doing that? You want me for the movie or you don’t?’ You know what I mean? Both are fine, I just want to know, let’s not do 15 auditions and do a whole circus.”
To close, Affleck highlighted the way that Snyder works off of his instincts and how he’s “decisive and absolutely self-assured” of the decisions he makes, knowing that he trusts everything that his director does with his movies:
“And that’s one of the beautiful things about Zack and his process is that he is worked by instinct and decisive and absolutely self-assured of that, and it’s a very calming thing to have in a director, to go ‘OK, he knows where we’re going, so I’m gonna follow him.'”
Will Ben Affleck Work With Zack Snyder Again?
Ben Affleck’s relationship with Zack Snyder has been well-detailed over the years, with Affleck admitting on numerous occasions that Snyder helped to bring him out of a dark place that he’d been to with his experience as Batman.
Affleck has also never been one to hold back on sharing his experience with the DCEU, even the negative parts of being part of the franchise, with Snyder being one of his biggest supporters through the whole journey.
The actor is likely to end his time with DC in The Flash a couple of years after Snyder’s own exit, with the chances being quite low that the pair will ever reunite under the DC umbrella.
Whether they team up again in other movies is anybody’s guess, but with Snyder working diligently to push out new material, Affleck may look to take on another role in a non-DC project for Snyder someday.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League, along with Snyder’s other DC movies, are available to stream on HBO Max.
