Ben Affleck Rebukes James Gunn: “I Would Not Direct Something For The Gunn DC”

John F. Trent |

Mar 16, 2023

Ben Affleck as Batman in Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021), HBO Max

Former Batman actor Ben Affleck made clear he has no intention to direct anything in the DC Universe being launched by CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran a direct contrast to Gunn’s previous claim that Affleck wanted to work with him.

Back in December Gunn claimed he had met with Affleck and that Affleck wanted to direct a project and that he wanted Affleck to direct a project.

Gunn tweeted, “Met with Ben yesterday precisely because he wants to direct & we want him to direct; we just have to find the right project.”

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Affleck was asked, “So if DC came to you now and said, ‘Do you want to direct something?'”

He responded, “I would not direct something for the [James] Gunn DC. Absolutely not.”

“I have nothing against James Gunn. Nice guy, sure he’s going to do a great job. I just wouldn’t want to go in and direct in the way they’re doing that. I’m not interested in that,” he added.

Interestingly, this appears to blow a giant hole in the narrative that James Gunn has attempted to build around himself. Earlier this month, Gunn was confronted on being professional liar and responded writing, “For years it’s been my commitment to the fans that I will never lie to them… and I never have. I’d be very curious about what it is you think I’ve lied about.”

While Affleck’s discussion with The Hollywood Reporter makes it apparent that he had discussions or at least a meeting with Gunn given he seems to have a clear understanding of what Gunn’s vision is, it also seems pretty apparent that he had no indication of ever wanting to direct a film under that vision, which is directly contrary to what Gunn claimed.

This also isn’t the first time Gunn’s own comments have come to bite him in the butt.

At the end of January Gunn made the wild claim that he didn’t fire Henry Cavill from the role of Superman after the actor had just returned to the role in a cameo in Black Adam. Gunn told The Hollywood Reporter, “We didn’t fire Henry. Henry was never cast.”

He added, “For me, it’s about who do I want to cast as Superman and who do the filmmakers we have want to cast. And for me, for this story, it isn’t Henry.”

He went on to the tell outlet, “I like Henry, I think he’s a great guy. I think he’s getting dicked around by a lot of people, including the former regime at this company. But this Superman is not Henry, for a number of reasons.”

While he told The Hollywood Reporter that Cavill isn’t the right actor for his Superman film, he previously indicated it had to do with his age writing on Twitter, ““As I said yesterday, it is very simple, he’s a different age.”

So, Gunn changed his tune from claiming it was about Cavill’s age to simply he isn’t the right casting while also claiming he didn’t fire him when for all intents and purposes that is exactly what he did given Cavill had just appeared as Superman in Black Adam.

Sure, one can argue that his age is a factor in why Gunn didn’t Cavill to continue in the role, but he also made clear his Superman: Legacy script would not be an origin story for Superman, but would already have the superhero well-established.

In order for that to be case, Superman would more than likely have to be in his mid to late 20s or early 30s. It’s not hard to see Cavill still reprising that role given he’s only 39 especially with how proficient Hollywood makeup people are not to mention the de-aging capabilities the studios have.

Not only did Gunn give contradictory comments regarding Henry Cavill, but he’s also made contradictory comments when it comes to what The Flash will do to the DCEU and how it sets up his vision of the DCU.

When he made his big Gods and Monsters slate announcement, Gunn was clear The Flash would be resetting the DCEU to launch the DCU. He said, “First, we have Shazam! Fury of the Gods. Shazam has always been off kind of in his own part of the DCU so he connects very well. That moves directly into The Flash, a fantastic movie that I really love, that resets the entire DCU universe.”

However, he quickly backtracked on this statement telling a fan on Instagram, “Flash resets many things, not all things. Some characters remain the same some do not.”

Either its a reset or it isn’t. And it’s really unclear what it is given James Gunn himself seemingly doesn’t know or if he does, he’s purposefully mudding the waters to create confusion.

And that gets back to this narrative that Gunn is trying to spin about himself never lying to fans. It doesn’t hold water and appears to be just another lie, proving the fan’s point that Gunn does indeed appear to be a professional liar.