Ben Affleck Reportedly Rewrote ‘Batman vs. Superman’ Script Every Day…in Costume
One of the stipulations when Ben Affleck signed on to star in Batman vs. Superman was that his Argo writer, Chris Terrio, would come aboard to help fix the script. Though Terrio was indeed brought in to rewrite the script (originally written by David Goyer), it seems Affleck still was not happy with it. According to a recent report, Affleck spent each day rewriting that day’s scenes until they were up to snuff. Oh, and he did it dressed as Batman.
According to the US Weekly “insiders”:
[Affleck] would go into wardrobe and get all suited up for the day in his Batman suit. Then he would sit around reworking the script. Ben wasn’t thrilled with it and would find himself on multiple occasions fixing it the day of.
Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with the star of a superhero movie rewriting the script on a semi-daily basis; this is how Iron Man was born. It’s even less weird when you remember that Affleck is an Oscar-winning writer whose last film, Argo, won Best Picture. So it’s well within Ben Affleck’s purview to punch up the Batman vs. Superman script. But, he wrote it in the Batman costume? That’s just a highly amusing visual.
While you may question the logic of signing on to a film with a script you are not “thrilled with,” it’s unfortunately de rigueur in Hollywood. Many films are driven not by the quality of the production, but the release date. Warner Bros. wanted a Batman vs. Superman movie and they wanted it quickly to be able to catch up to Marvel. This does not necessarily dictate the quality of the movie. Marvel has an on-set writer just for this sort of thing! Good movies have done this (Mad Max: Fury Road) and bad movies have done this (Green Lantern). It’s still way to early to figure out where Batman vs. Superman fits into that spectrum. With Justice League coming up, perhaps Affleck will have time to sit down and work on the script before shooting starts, and wearing appropriate clothing, so he’s not stuck doing daily rewrites. But knowing how the machine works, probably not.
Batman vs. Superman opens in theaters on March 25.