Ben Affleck explains why Justice League was the "worst experience"

Ben Affleck has opened up about his time working on Justice League, admitting it was the "worst experience" in part due to issues in his life at the time.

The 2017 DC film – and its subsequent 2021 re-cut under Zack Snyder – was the final time the actor portrayed Batman (well, up until this year's The Flash).

However, in a new interview with The Los Angeles Times, Affleck described the production as the "nadir" for him, largely due to personal problems as well as the death of Zack Snyder's daughter which meant the director had to pull out of the movie.

Related: The Flash star Michael Keaton reveals why he rejected previous Batman return

"It was really Justice League that was the nadir for me," he said. "That was a bad experience because of a confluence of things: my own life, my divorce, being away too much, the competing agendas and then [director] Zack [Snyder]'s personal tragedy and the reshooting.

"It just was the worst experience. It was awful," he added. "It was everything that I didn't like about this.

"That became the moment where I said, 'I'm not doing this anymore.' It's not even about, like, Justice League was so bad. Because it could have been anything."

Related: Henry Cavill reveals his thoughts on Zack Snyder's Justice League

Despite walking away from the role, Affleck will place Bruce Wayne one more time in The Flash later this year, which the star has said will "put a really nice finish on my experience with that character".

"I have never said this – this is hot off the presses – but maybe my favourite scenes in terms of Batman and the interpretation of Batman that I have done, were in The Flash movie," he said.

"I hope they maintain the integrity of what we did because I thought it was great and really interesting – different, but not in a way that is incongruent with the character."

Zack Snyder's Justice League is out now on HBO Max in the US, and Sky Cinema and NOW in the UK.

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Sam Warner

Sam is a freelance reporter and sub-editor who has a particular interest in movies, TV and music. After completing a journalism Masters at City University, London, Sam joined Digital Spy as a reporter, and has also freelanced for publications such as NME and Screen International.  Sam, who also has a degree in Film, can wax lyrical about everything from Lord of the Rings to Love Is Blind, and is equally in his element crossing every 't' and dotting every 'i' as a sub-editor.