George Clooney, who has been the Caped Crusader in Joel Schumacher’s 1997 sequel Batman & Robin, has often been vocal about his experience of playing a superhero character. Facing a notorious setback, despite the anatomically correct Batsuit, and the movie’s wild swings, the 1997 sequel failed to thrive. Although the sequel earned $238M at the box office against a $160 million budget, it was still universally regarded as a flop.
Years later when Ben Affleck was offered the role of Batman, George Clooney reflected upon his own movie disaster and mentioned warning Affleck about the same. Even attempting to persuade the Gone Girl actor into rejecting the role, Clooney discussed the incident in an episode of The Howard Stern Show, among other topics.
George Clooney Reflected Upon His Experience As Batman
As an actor-producer-director, George Clooney has his fair share of experiences in the entertainment industry. Often known for giving his best, the two times Oscar winner happens to have a major regret regarding his appearance in Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin (1997).
Sitting for an interview with The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, Clooney reflected upon his notorious experience on Batman & Robin. Discussing, how the movie changed his entire approach to his career, George Clooney spoke critically about the 1997 flop.
“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,” Clooney mentioned. He further added, “I wasn’t just an actor getting a role, I was being held responsible for the film itself.”
Further, during his appearance on an episode of The Howard Stern Show, George Clooney discussed the same about his personal flop Batman & Robin. But this time, he made a slight addition about a discussion he had with Ben Affleck.
George Clooney Persuaded Ben Affleck To Refuse Batman
Although George Clooney expected his 1997 sequel of Batman Forever to be his big break onto the big screen, it didn’t go accordingly. Thus, facing a cataclysmic experience himself, the Oscar-winning actor didn’t want his Argo co-star Ben Affleck to go down the same boulevard of disaster.
Admitting that he encouraged Ben Affleck, not to take on Bruce Wayne, George Clooney openly discussed with Howard Stern. “You did not enjoy the experience of being Batman” Stern began the conversation. To which the actor openly stated, “It’s so bad that it actually hurts to watch…You’ll be flipping the channels and it’ll just pop up and I’m like ‘Oh no, no, no.’”
Howard Stern further asked, “Ben Affleck called you, I guess, and said, ‘Hey, they’re offering me, Batman, should I take it?’ You were so down on that experience, you told him don’t go near it, right?” And Clooney mentioned, “Ben didn’t listen to me and ended up doing a great job, and I was wrong.” Admitting his failure at the judgment, George Clooney added that he’ll never watch Batman & Robin again.
Watch Batman & Robin on Amazon Prime Video.
Source: The Howard Stern Show, The Hollywood Reporter
