Ben Affleck is still making the rounds to promote Justice League (our review here), but — as he explained to birthday boy Jimmy Kimmel — he nearly played a different hero in another Batman movie, and he was competing with childhood friend Matt Damon for the role.
Affleck and Damon were child actors who would travel together from Boston to New York City for auditions. One audition for a secret project turned out to be Tim Burton’s Batman. Affleck says, in the elevator ride after auditioning “we were both pretty sure we got the part,” although he now wishes Damon had landed the role. “I wish to God he had gotten that part.”
If you’re thinking about how Robin wasn’t actually in Tim Burton’s Batman, you are correct. The character was cut from the production, explains Affleck, saying he found out he didn’t get the role because no one was getting it. “They ended up deciding it was an ambiguous relationship. What are you talking about? He fights crime… in panties.”
Well, Affleck definitely won’t get to play Robin with that attitude, but it’s not too late (maybe) for Matt Damon to make his Robin role dreams a reality…
(Via CBM and Jimmy Kimmel Live!)