By Breeanna Hare
The sustained hatred for Warner Bros. recent Batman casting was hard to miss — particularly for the actor who landed the part.
But Ben Affleck — or “Batfleck,” as he shall henceforth be known — told Jimmy Fallon on “Late Night” that he can handle the hate. Or so he thought.
The star’s management had a hunch that the 41-year-old actor would get hammered online after news went out about his new gig as Batman in Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel” sequel, and they warned him to stay off the Internet for a while.
Affleck brushed them off, saying, “I’m a big boy. If I can handle an Emmys snub, I can handle anything. … I handle s***, I’m tough.”
So he goes online, checks out his casting announcement, and was hit with the world’s reaction right in the first comment: “NOOOOOOOO!”
After that, Affleck informed his family that they’re going to be Luddites for a while.
To be fair, even Affleck was hesitant about taking the role, knowing that Bruce Wayne’s cape is a hard one to fill.
“They called me up and said, ‘Do you want to do this?’ and I thought, ‘I’m not 25, are you sure?,'” Affleck told Fallon.
But after hearing director Snyder’s direction for Batman, Affleck was on board. Although he can’t give too much away, he did say that Snyder plans to keep the character somewhat in line with the hero Christian Bale brought to life in Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy, while also branching off and doing something different.
“It’s so awesome, I’m so excited,” Affleck said. “He has this incredible take on it. I thought this was a brilliant way to do this.”
™ & © 2013 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.
