Ben Affleck’s Rejected Batman Script Saw the Dark Knight Incarcerated in Arkham Asylum!
Share the Force:
Phil Roberts 
The unloved script explored the insanity of becoming Gotham’s Dark Knight
The erosion of Ben Affleck‘s tenure as the Dark Knight has been one of Hollywood’s most publicised downfalls of all time. The “will he won’t he” saga ultimately saw his position become untenable resulting in him relinquishing the role and retiring his idea for a standalone Batman project.
Fast forward to today, and the role has now been recast with Robert Pattinson cast as the Dark Knight and Matt Reeves in the director’s chair, but that hasn’t stopped fans from speculating about Ben Affleck’s long-gestating script for the movie. Well at long last, the mystery has been revealed.
During a recent interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Robert Richardson who was expected to assume cinematography duties on Matt Reeves’ The Batman opened up about Affleck’s script and its unloved premise.
“There was a script, but not a loved script,” Richardson said. “There was a lot to do… he was trying to change it and then he made the decision to do as you know, ‘Gone Girl.'”
Addressing the movies reviled premise, Richardson says that the Dark Knight’s standalone adventure would have seen him incarcerated in Arkham Asylum as a way of exploring Bruce Wayne’s insanity. Richardson confirmed Affleck’s version would have delved into “the darker side of Batman,” which would have been a step in the wrong direction following the resolution of his cruel character antics in the finale of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
“Well, Affleck was going more into the insanity aspects,” Richardson said. “So, I think you would’ve seen something a little darker than what we’ve seen in the past and more into the individual, who was inside Batman — what element may be sane and what element may actually not be sane. So, he was entering into a little more of the Arkham, as you know, he’s going into where you keep everyone who was bad, everyone that shifted and Batman. And so that whole aspect was sort of, it was very fascinating to go to the darker side of Batman.”
Whether you’re a fan of Affleck’s incarnation of Batman or not, I think we can all agree that this would have made a fascinating Batman movie, albeit a poorly timed one. Affleck’s scenario would have worked perfectly for a third or fourth solo adventure, but not as a legitimate launch point for the Batfleck tenure which Warner Bros. needed to be a solid hit to secure the future of the Bat-franchise.
Overall, his idea was probably too wide of the mark, but it had potential to be turned into a great movie somewhere down the line. Sadly, we will never get to see his ideas come to fruition.
The future of the Dark Knight now rests in the hands of Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson who will bring Batman back to the screen in 2021.
To the Batmobile!
The Future of the Force. The future of pop culture writing.
Phil Roberts is the Owner, Daily Content Manager and Editor of Future of the Force. He is passionate about Star Wars, Marvel, Batman, Star Trek, Indiana Jones, King Kong, and the Ray Harryhausen movies. Follow him on Twitter @philthecool where he uses the force frequently!
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Source: Happy Sad Confused
Phil Roberts is the owner, daily content manager, and editor-in-chief of The Future of the Force. He is a huge fan of Star Wars, Batman, DC, Marvel, Star Trek, Indiana Jones, Ghostbusters, King Kong, and the Ray Harryhausen movies.
If he’s not in the cinema he’s probably streaming something equally awesome!
