Man of Steel star Henry Lennix says that Ben Affleck will be a better Batman than Christian Bale, in part because Affleck is American while Bale is British.
“There’s no question in my mind that he’s going to be terrific as Batman,
“I think he’s going to be perfect,” the actor, who plays General Swarnick in “Dawn of Justice” as he did in “Man of Steel,” said during a recent interview.
“Ben’s a very, very intelligent guy, he’s also got talent, he’s a brooding type of actor, and Batman has that temperament.”
“I’m especially excited that we’ve got an American actor here, that’s increasingly rare. The last guy, who did a great job, Christian Bale — is British. I think that when you’ve got somebody that doesn’t have to act like an American and embodies that ethos, if you will, then that gives him a head start,” Lennix added to Vintage Sound 93.1 FM.
“And knowing how intelligent and how artful that he is as a filmmaker and actor, I think he’s going to do a terrific job.”
Bale played Batman in the Dark Knight trilogy but Affleck was chosen to replace him for the upcoming merger of Batman and Superman.
The backlash after the initial casting of Affleck was fierce but has died down some.
Bale was widely praised for his portrayal of Batman.
Affleck hasn’t been spotted on set but his wife Jennifer Garner revealed in an interview with Ryan Seacrest this week that Affleck is on a “strict” diet.
“There’s something about it… whenever one of us has to be really good, the other one pudges up,” Garner, 42, said. “I don’t know why it is, but I blame my pudginess on his strict and disciplined place in life. There’s something about it that just makes me like, ‘Well, I’m gonna have a bonbon. I’m gonna have some ice cream.’”
She added that Affleck, 42, resisted indulging. “He worked out twice a day and ate only what was put in front of him by some very mean, mean person…” she said, seeming to refer to a personal chef. “Everything was cut out… If I made dinner and it was a healthy dinner, he wouldn’t even look at it, in case something hadn’t been steamed.”
Meanwhile, Affleck told the Inquirer recently that the movie “has a great script.”
“It has a very talented director (Zack Snyder), a really strong, smart, robust and experienced studio behind it, so it’s very exciting,” he said.
He also described working with Snyder.
“Zack has more energy than anybody I know. He works as hard as anybody. He’s in the gym in the morning and storyboards every single shot, which is a huge amount of work. So everybody knows what’s going on. He’s got enormous visual talent. I stand there and he sets up shots. We do the blocking and…I see a shot from Zack and I think, I never would have thought of that.
“He is so visually inventive so that’s quite pleasant. Action movies take a lot of days and involve a lot of stunts and visual effects—that combination and the story has its own challenges but I’m enjoying it. What I’ve learned from Zack in the movie are the cutting-edge visual effects—what we’re able to do now and how you integrate that into a story. He’s very gifted.”
Filming for the movie has been taking place in Michigan, primarily Detroit. It’s set to shift to Lansing in mid-October and Chicago in late October. Shooting has been confirmed on the Kent farm in Illinois in November.
Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice is slated to hit theaters on March 25, 2016.
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