Mark, Ben is the one who just said he acknowledges and embraces the pressures of the job. It comes with the territory.
Fandom as a whole certainly could improve their behavior...I completely agree with that. But the fact is, the internet is going to be the internet, fanboys are gonna be fanboys, nothing much has changed much over the years about how this community tends to operate other than it has a shorter attention spans now and want everything 10 minutes ago because it's been spoiled silly over the past decade or so. It is what it is and you have to put that in its place. I also believe that plenty of fandom doesn't deserve the "respect" they demand.
That said, I don't see an argument for how he should be treated any differently than other directors in the genre. Nolan got asked constantly about Batman when he was promoting his other movies too. In fact he would often say similar things about not committing to the project until he was happy with the script. The difference is you never got the sense from him that being asked about it was ever shaking him in any way. Affleck needs to be able to learn to deal with all this stuff, he needs to get numb to it, cause it's only going to get more and more intense and it won't end when the movie's out either, people will be debating the quality of his movie for years to come. And no matter how great it may end up turning out, plenty of fans will still vehemently hate it. That is the nature of the beast when you're tackling a character that so many people care so deeply about, and have so many differing opinions on. We need Mr. "I handle sh**" Affleck to take this thing on. I understand he's had a very rough year, and I respect the guy and his desire to make the best movie he can. But he's not the only talented director in Hollywood. There are PLENTY of other talented directors I'd love to see helm a Batman movie who'd be game for it, so if the pressure is became too much for him, I'd welcome him walking away from it.
I completely agree that his comments were most likely trying to get the studio to slow down, btw. Personally I don't care if the movie is delayed. Push it to 2022 for all I care if we get a better movie.
There's a big difference between saying you know and accept the pressures of a job, and those things escalating and making someone decide they understand and accept the REALITY of the existence of those pressures but no longer wishing to be SUBJECTED to them on a particular project. People need to understand the difference.
Affleck hasn't acted shaken, he's acted tired of it, and only recently did he start acting tired of it. And his reason is not remotely the same as Nolan's -- Nolan was in fact NOT committed to the project, had said he didn't even want to do it, resisted doing it, and said his involvement was entirely conditional on whether Goyer really found a story that made Nolan decide to go ahead and return. Once he got interested, he noted he was interested but that he was still NOT committing to definitely returning unless/until he knew the script was what he wanted and he felt like he wanted to make it. There was a very clear and precise progression of things, and we all knew perfectly well the context in which Nolan was making his decisions (Ledger's death, Nolan's being tired of the big franchise pictures, Nolan having other original projects he wanted to pursue, arguments with Goyer, etc). Affleck, in contrast, has for months said he is writing a script and plans to make the movie, he was announced as director months ago and confirmed it a few times already, he has confirmed the film is being made many times, and he's just said that he has a lot of work going on and doesn't want to make Batman until it's great. His frustration is specifically over the fact everyone acts like they don't understand his remarks and that there is big controversy about him wanting the script to be great before he makes a movie.
He's not asking to be treated any differently than other directors. I'd ask a very simple question -- show me a director who said "I'm planning to direct this movie, I'm writing a script, and I don't want to do it til it's great but I am excited for it and plan to make it" who was asked for months, even during press events for other films, if they REALLY were making the movie and if they were actually quitting as director. Months of that, while the director kept saying "I'm writing it, I plan to make it, I plan to direct it, I am just saying I won't do it til I know it's going to be great because I don't want to make it if it's not great." If there's really a truly comparable situation, I'd be interested in seeing it and seeing how the director acted toward the constant months of questions about whether they were really going to make it or quit.
People are acting like there's some huge weakness or lack of professionalism or something in the notion of someone feeling pressure at work and not liking mounting pressure, or being affected by a lot of pressure. People feel pressure, and people at jobs feel pressure, that's pretty simple and rational. This shouldn't be a controversy, and folks shouldn't feel like somehow Affleck is supposed to not say "I feel pressure" or not be affected by it. It's equivalent to folks acting like it's controversial that he said he wants to make sure the script is great before he makes a movie. Why on earth are people acting like it's shocking or unacceptable or controversial that a person says they feel pressure at a job or that pressure matters? Of COURSE it matters, of COURSE pressure affects him -- he's not a robot, and it's not reasonable to expect him to just not say he feels pressure or to not react to pressure.
Some people don't talk about work pressure -- good for them, I guess. Some people don't feel as pressured or stressed by X amount of work pressure that another person might feel and react to. That's life. Pressure happens, and different people react differently. If every time you felt pressure and mentioned it, someone told you to stop complaining about it, and if every time you reacted to pressure by acting like you don't want the pressure someone said you needed to just deal with it and accept it, would you feel happy about those reactions? Would it be fair?
It doesn't matter whether folks think "oh famous people's pressure doesn't matter, it comes with the job." Pressure is pressure, long hours and exhaustion can wear you down whatever the job, other people's millions of investment dollars and careers being at risk is a valid reason to feel stressed out, trying to get multiple projects done that require a lot of focus and concentration and time will make people tired and frustrated in any profession, and having family and personal problems that keep showing up on the front page of the newspaper or websites for all the world to see is going to bother any normal person. Saying "it comes with the job" doesn't mean anything, it doesn't suddenly make human feelings and emotions and pressure go away.
Everyone thinks their own pressure and stress matters and is valid, everyone feels pressure and stress at some point, everyone complains if and when pressure and stress bother them, and nobody thinks they need to get approval for their own feelings of pressure and stress or for their complaints about it. And if someone DOES suggest your pressure and stress don't matter, or that it's part of what you signed up for, or that you can't complain about it, how do you feel? What would you say to them?
The internet is the internet, and fans are going to be fans, but none of that comes without responsibility. The internet can be the internet and fans can be fans, and reasonable people can say "screw them, they'll be them and I'll be me," and walk away if they want to. Sure, if someone accepts a job doing a superhero movie, they should know what they're walking into. And if fans behave certain ways, they should know plenty of folks (actors, filmmakers, writers, etc) have gotten tired of such things and walked away to find something that makes them happier. Again, if we're going to say Affleck has to expect such things, then fans have to expect people to act like people, and sometimes people get sick of pressure and stress that they realize they don't remotely have to keep putting up with since they can move on to something else. For Affleck, he can make any number of other films without any of the pressures that came from the DCU. He doesn't have to stop being an actor or writer or director, and he's been perfectly fine with the work pressures from his other projects. And he can pause on those other projects easily enough and take time to handle personal stuff when he needs to, without the same stress and pressure that comes from the DCU.
Let's be very blunt here -- If Affleck hadn't made BvS and JL, he still had the enormous clout that came from Argo winning Best Picture, his reputation was still soaring, and he could've spent the previous year doing The Accountant and Live By Night and getting another project started, had many more months to work on Live By Night (and thus possibly had more time to test the film with viewers and tweak it etc and gotten better critical reception, although I think it's a great film as it is), been more relaxed and had more time to put into his personal life, and continued to have other high-profile successful projects in the future.
He'd be less rich without the Batman role, sure, but my point is that he hasn't been running around just complaining about pressure and stress in general, it's very specific to the fact he had several months-long shoots back to back around the world plus had to step in and serve a greater role as producer and writer on other projects plus had less time for his family and his personal life, he got physically and emotionally exhausted, his concentration gets affected (a bad thing for artists, obviously), he had to maintain a constant narrow diet and intense exercise regime, and he has had big press tours all year long. Most of his time hasn't been spent being rich and famous and doing celebrity stuff, or hanging out with his family, or doing any other things we all assume celebrities spend their time doing -- he's been non-stop filming, traveling around to film, doing press tours everywhere for one film after another, having meetings, on and on, day after day. This isn't a 40 hour a week job, it's been like 100 hours a week. It doesn't matter if your job is sitting at a desk or standing behind a cash register or standing behind/in front of a camera, that much constant work and little sleep and pressure sucks.
I just regret seeing so many fans dismissing his stress and pressure, acting as if he has no reason or right to complain, or as if it's somehow wrong or weak or whatever for him to feel so pressured and not like it. Fans should be more supportive of people who are being so dedicated to trying to make good movies for us, even amid their work and personal lives bearing down on them with immense pressure and stress. Despite all of this stuff, he goes on live TV to try to convince us that YES he's going to direct The Batman, YES he is writing it and wants to make it, YES he thinks it'll be great, and just PLEASE can we have a little trust in him and give him time to relax and get his head together so he can finish the screenplay and get to work on the movie? I really am surprised so many fans seem to reject that and seem to have little sympathy or support for him in this situation. Sigh...
