Matt Damon was recently asked about his take on the Ben Affleck as Batman controversy. Damon, who is a long time friend of Affleck, stated that “Bruce Wayne is the more challenging part of the role, and Ben will be great at that”. He then went on to say that “Batman just sits there with his cowl over his head and whispers in a kinda gruff voice at people. Now I understand Matt Damon is just looking out for his boy, but the comments he made about how Batman isn’t a complex character came off as being more than a little ignorant and dismissive of the genre. In fact he only hurts Ben case by reinforcing a commonly held belief that Affleck doesn’t really take preparation for his roles seriously. I am hoping that Affleck does not share Damon’s feeling on Batman/Bruce Wayne or we could be in store for another Daredevil.
The studio isn’t going to back down so we are probably stuck with Affleck. So if I was to give Ben any advice it would be this; please take the role seriously. Try an understand the character and the history behind him. He is a far more complex character than your boy Damon believes. If you dig beneath the surface you will find that Bruce Wayne is just the facade, the frivolous playboy and billionaire act is merely the mask that he puts on for the public. The real Bruce Wayne died that night in Crime Alley with his parents. The Batman is who he is now, and who he will always be. The Batman is the pure manifestation of an eight year old boy’s anger, frustration, guilt, sorrow, pain, and most of all, need for justice. His transformation into the bat is the only way in which he can make sense of the world which was shattered before his eyes.
Frank Miller’s take on Batman in the graphic novel “Dark Knight Returns” is perfect. If you haven’t read it, you should. If you don’t want to read it then get the animated movie which is a fairly great interpretation of the original source material. In the book Miller accurately portrays Batman/Bruce as a tortured and obsessed man. He could not stop being the Batman anymore than he could stop breathing. In his own way he is just as crazy and dysfunctional as the Joker and Two face. He has merely found a way to channel his pain in a way that helps people from being victimized as he was as a child. The main thing that separates Batman from the criminals that he fights is that he doesn’t kill. He is a human man with no other powers than his brains, will, and dedication to push himself beyond his limits. So in order for him to stand against someone like Superman, as we have been lead to believe will happen in the next film, you will need to make us believe that you are the ultimate badass. Unfortunately none of your previous acting roles have come even close to making me feel that you are capable of pulling this off.
Please prove me wrong. Please take this role seriously. Please show Frank Miller’s version of Batman more respect than you showed Miller’s version of Daredevil. I hope that you are a better actor than I have given you credit for being in the past. I truly want you to do for Batman what Heath Ledger did for the Joker. I truly want you to prove me wrong. Because if you screw this up and give us another Daredevil, millions of us geeks will never watch any project you are involved in ever again.