From one Batman to another! George Clooney revealed the advice he gave to Ben Affleck before the latter suited up as the superhero in 2016 — and it’s not what you would think.
“I actually did talk to him about it. I said, ‘Don’t do it,’” Clooney, 58, said during an interview on The Hollywood Reporter‘s “Awards Chatter” podcast, released on Tuesday, May 14. “It was only from my experience, which is, you know.”
He explained: “Ben has had one of those careers, in a way, we’ve have very similar careers where there has been highs and lows and highs and lows, ups and downs. And that’s good, no one’s trajectory is a straight line up. And he worked his way back from actor jail … which happened when I did Batman & Robin and [when he did Gigli]. He gets to that moment and I was like, ‘Don’t give him something to fire off at.’ … He did great though.”
Affleck, 46, however, didn’t listen to his pal, and made his debut as Bruce Wayne in 2016’s Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. He went on to suit up again in Suicide Squad and 2017’s Justice League. Earlier this year, the Gone Girl actor seemingly confirmed he won’t be returning for the next Batman film, which is set to be released in 2021.
“Excited for #TheBatman in Summer 2021 and to see @MattReevesLA vision come to life,” Affleck wrote in response to an article posted by Deadline at the time that reported he had passed “the torch to the next generation of Bruce Wayne.”
Clooney, meanwhile, starred as the caped crusader in the less-than-celebrated 1997 film adaptation of the cartoon alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger (Mr. Freeze), Uma Thurman (Poison Ivy) and Alicia Silverstone (Batgirl).
“I’ll tell you the last time I really cried was at the premiere of Batman & Robin,” Clooney previously joked to W magazine about the flick. “They were real tears because I realized that that it might be the end of my career, and I might have brought down the franchise along with it.”
