‘Batman’ Movie: Bret Easton Ellis Regrets Ben Affleck Script Rumor, Has ‘No Idea’ What Script Is Like

The Batman movie franchise has been always been up and down – from Michael Keaton’s portrayal of the “Caped Crusader” that wowed audiences to George Clooney’s cringing performance that set the character back years. After Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the franchise is officially moving into a new direction as Ben Affleck will write and direct the next Batman solo film. Of course, many are already skeptical about how good this movie can be.

In an interview with The Ringer, writer Bret Easton Ellis (American Psycho) talked about the untitled Batman film and an informal meeting he had with some of the executives from Warner Brothers. What Ellis said could mean bad news for Batman fans:

“I was having dinner with a couple of executives who know other executives who are working on the [forthcoming] Batman movie, The Batman,” Ellis tells me. “And they were just telling me that there are serious problems with the script. And that the executives I was having dinner with were complaining about people who work on the Batman movie. And they just said they went to the studio and they said, ‘Look, the script is … Here’s 30 things that are wrong with it that we can fix.’

“And [the executives] said, ‘We don’t care. We don’t really care. The amount of money we’re going to make globally, I mean 70 percent of our audience is not going to be seeing this in English. And it doesn’t really matter, these things that you’re bringing up about the flaws of the script.’ So I do think global concerns play a big part in how movies, and what movies, are being made, obviously.”

Ellis set off a firestorm that had many believe that Warner Brothers is just banking on fans plunking down money to watch a Batman movie, no matter how bad it is.

Except Ellis lied. Ellis later tweeted out that maybe what he said wasn’t completely true and that those people he met with may not be has involved with the Batman script as it seemed at first.

Affleck to his credit is dedicated to making the best Batman movie he can and is determined to do so. “I’m in full-on, trying-to-get-it-right mode [for Batman],” Affleck told IGN. “It’s not the kind of movie that you can fail quietly at. [I] have to be sure I have something I feel really confident about before we go forward.” With the script most likely nowhere near its final stages, there’s no telling what executives, if any, saw what and what version they read. A first draft is most likely completed but the process is in its infancy stages. We are nowhere near the end game for script and we won't be for a while.