REPORT: Ben Affleck Passed On Directing Flashpoint

After losing two directors for Flashpoint, Warner Bros. reportedly courted Batman himself Ben Affleck for the job.

The Tracking Board’s Jeff Sneider revealed on Twitter earlier today that — prior to selecting John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein to helm Flashpoint — the studio had approached none other than Affleck after it gave up on its bid for Robert Zemeckis to sign on. Affleck, of course, passed. The reason for Affleck’s decision to pass on the project is unknown at this time.

Zemeckis, of course, had been rumored to helm the feature for some time. Unfortunately, the director has been otherwise busy with The Women of Marwen, which is set to hit theaters later this year. With the director currently readying the film for release, Warner Bros. would have been forced to push Flashpoint further back in order to work around his schedule. Despite earlier rumors stating the fate of Flashpoint was tied into the success of Justice League — a film that has been a seen as a failure for the studio — it appears the film is moving fast after securing a new script back in September from King Arthur: Legend of the Sword scribe Joby Harold.

Not much is known about Flashpoint, though it is rumored that Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman and Ben Affleck’s Batman will be involved in some capacity. In November, DC Comics CCO Geoff Johns teased the grand scale of the film: “There’s elements in it that we’re going to be playing into that we couldn’t do anywhere else,” he said at the time. “The scale of it, the Batman story of it all.”

Flashpoint stars Ezra Miller as Barry Allen, Kiersey Clemons as Iris West, Billy Crudup as Henry Allen, Ray Fisher as Cyborg and possibly Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. Originally intended to hit theaters on March 16, 2018, when it was titled simply The Flash, the film currently has no release date.