George Clooney was right about not playing the Batman

George Clooney recently made some comments about playing the role of Batman, but what do they really mean?

Everyone is hearing the news, maybe clicking the article and just taking in the click-bait of George Clooney’s comments. Word is that originally he told Ben Affleck not to take on the role of the Batman for Batman v. Superman. George Clooney was a producer on Ben Affleck’s Argo, hence this allowed the two to have this conversation. “I actually did talk to him about it. I said, ‘Don’t do it.’ It was only from my experience, which is, you know …” The “you know” obviously referring to Joel Schumacher’s Batman and Robin. George Clooney did say about Ben Affleck “He did great, though.”

Some are most likely not reading the story and perhaps assume George Clooney is bitter or truly believed that Batman v. Superman would be a terrible film just like Batman and Robin. Hence, he was warning Ben Affleck not to get involved. Maybe he just hates Batman and superheroes in general. We can discuss which is truly the worst Batman film – Batman and Robin or Batman v. Superman. However, Clooney is not wrong about his fellow actor. Even critics who disliked the film had praise for Ben Affleck’s role. Plus, that is not the point. We need to go back to what Clooney also said:

"“[Arnold] Schwarzenegger was paid, I think, $25 million for that, which was like 20 times more than I was paid for it, and, you know, we never even worked together! We worked together one day. But I took all the heat. Now, fair deal; I was playing Batman and I wasn’t good in it, and it wasn’t a good film, but what I learned from that failure was, I had to rethink how I was working. Because now I wasn’t just an actor getting a role, I was being held responsible for the film itself.”"

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And he’s not wrong. We think Bat-nipples, even though they pre-date Batman and Robin with Val Kilmer in Batman Forever. We also think Bat Credit Card, which was likely not an idea thought up by Clooney. Keep in mind, some other terrible details of the film – the ice puns, Robin’s wounded petulance, those rubber icicles, Poison Ivy in a gorilla suit and more. At the time, George Clooney caught a lot of heat, as he says here.

Yet it’s true that he is barely in the film. This is the second time in history where Batman does not get top billing. The first time this scenario happened was with Jack Nicholson as the Joker. Top billing normally means that actor shows up the most. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who played Mr. Freeze, came out rather decent for the most part. Reasoning for this comes from his earlier film history, as fans can still love him as The Terminator and for other favorites like Commando and Predator. George Clooney was still relatively new to film. Before landing the role of the Caped Crusader he was best known for his work on the hit TV show ER. With this, it’s easy to blame the new guy.

Throughout time, as more stories circulate and new details surface, much of the blame has shifted towards Joel Schumacher more and later on to Warner Bros. for basically desiring a toy commercial to cash in on the Batman brand. Nonetheless, Clooney still carries some stigma. Ben Affleck did get some heat for Daredevil. Even new characters and actors can take blame as well Take Daisy Ridley’s Rey in the recent Star Wars films. Why is this new series so bad or not as good as Lucas’? Rey, she ruined it… or at least that is what some of the critics and outraged fans will say. Everybody needs a scapegoat, it’s not that different from when people blame a president, even when what happens is out of his hands.

In the end, Clooney was letting Affleck know that taking on such a role is more than just a job. You are, in a sense, taking up the mantle of something larger than one’s self that everyone holds you responsible for carrying and holding up to a high standard. He is not saying it will not pay well or that such a role is below him. What Clooney is trying to get at is that the stress can possibly break the role. We can debate if George Clooney ruined the role of Seth Gecko from Dusk till Dawn or if Ben Affleck ruined the role of Joe Coughlin in Live By Night. Even if they did ruin these roles, who cares! These were roles written specifically for those films, they have neither the might, history or recognition of the Batman!

Our Dark Knight was dead for a while, and the public in ’97 said the blood was on Clooney’s hands. Luckily, Affleck did not kill the Batman and now… fans miss him more than ever.