Morgan Freeman supports Ben Affleck as Batman

Morgan Freeman, who played a prominent role in 'The Dark Knight' series, has slammed the outcry over Ben Affleck playing the new Batman.

The Academy award winner said it was wrong to judge Affleck before watching his performance.

"Listen: Michael Keaton, George Clooney, Val Kilmer, and Christian Bale have played it. It's a franchise! It'll stand on its own merits, and you can't really say anything until he's done it. The pre-judging was strange. Give him a shot!," Freeman said.

Ben Affleck Gets Dream Project, Set To Direct African Thriller

Ben Affleck has made quite an impression on people as a director. Batman aside, Affleck has made an incredible comeback, and has proved himself to be a worthy filmmaker. Now it looks like he’s finally getting Hollywood on board with his dream project – an Africa-Set Thriller.

In between films BenAffleck’s impressive stance to tell the stories of the Eastern Congo has transported the actor in dangerous territory. His recent reporting on the Congo was for Dateline, and he even started the Eastern Congo Initiative to aid people who are suffering from the atrocities that take place. This of course was before his film Argo won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Now that he’s riding high in his career, it seems as though Hollywood is willing to finance his dream project.

Back in 2010 Affleck had voiced his desire to create a movie about Africa, but Hollywood wasn't biting. At the time Affleck said, “I would love to make a movie about Congo, but unfortunately I've asked Hollywood folks and they always say, ah, nobody wants to see a movie about Africa.”

Now Deadline is reporting that Ben Affleck is finally getting his dream project off the ground with the help of Warner Bros, who has been a solid supporter of Affleck’s directing career. Scribe Will Staples has been tapped to start the script, as he’s set to tackle themes of philanthropy, foreign policy, and neocolonialism that goes on in Africa. The plot revolves around a group of mercenaries that are hired to overthrow a warlord.

Odds are this project won’t come out anytime soon, as Affleck has just started shooting the Man Of Steel sequel with Zach Snyder. Earlier he spoke with 411 Mania about his hesitance to play Batman: “Initially, I was reluctant as I felt I didn't fit the traditional mold. But once Zack [Snyder] showed me the concept, and that it would be both different from the great movies that Chris [Nolan] and Christian [Bale] made, but still in keeping with tradition, I was excited.”

Next up for Ben Affleck is Gone Girl which is an adaptation of the book by Gillian Flynn, and will be directed by David Fincher. As far as directing goes, there’s also Live By Night to consider, which Affleck plants to film at the end of next year.

Source: Inquisitr

Cast too old for Dazed 2??

Richard Linklater has revealed that his "spiritual sequel" to Dazed And Confused will feature a new cast, because the original stars are now "too old".

The US filmmaker joked that the original cast, which included Ben Affleck, Matthew McConaughey and Milla Jovovich, are now too over-the-hill for the follow-up to the 1993 college comedy.

"I have a script actually. It's about college, so it's not the same cast but it's sort of the same spirit of it," he told Parade.com.

"My cast is now too old. We just had a twenty-year reunion at the New York Film Festival this year."

The coming of age film, which was written and directed by Richard, follows groups of teenagers during the last day of school in summer 1976. It has achieved cult status, with Quentin Tarantino listing it as one of his top ten movies.

Meanwhile, Richard - who tied up his Before Sunrise trilogy with third film Before Midnight - said working with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy has been a "wonderful collaboration".

"Since that first one, it's all been about originating the new film. We never fight. We never argue. We put our ideas forward and if the other two like it, we build on it. If the other two don't respond, it disappears. It's a really fluid thing," he said.

"We're just really good friends and collaborators. We goof around a lot. We just talk and digress. But we all have to agree with every piece of material. No one forces something in the movie that the other two didn't want. That's just never, ever happened."

Sources: uk.movies.yahoo.com

Tom Clancy dies: Ben Affleck says writer made realism 'top priority'

Ben Affleck in "The Sum of All Fears," adapted from the novel of the same name by Tom Clancy, who died Tuesday. (Phillip V. Caruso / Paramount Pictures)

As the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind "Argo," Ben Affleckcertainly knows the difference between a good spy story and a bad one.

Part of his education came from novelist Tom Clancy, who died Tuesday in a Baltimore hospital. The bestselling author of espionage tales was 66.

As a young actor, Affleck was cast in the 2002 film adaptation of "The Sum of All Fears," in which Affleck played Clancy's famous CIA operative Jack Ryan. 

“I think Tom was really the first major writer in the genre to make realism the top priority," Affleck said Tuesday.

"When you read one of his books, you had the distinct feeling that he was depicting military or espionage situations exactlyas they really are. He hews to his research religiously, and the result is an indisputable sense of authenticity.

"Other spy books feel invented, while his feel like genuine accounts of events that took place but that no one knows about. I think the movie adaptations have risen and fallen in direct proportion to how well they kept his sense of authenticity and nuts-and-bolts realism.”

Affleck added that Clancy was not as macho as his writing might have suggested.

"I spent time at his home with his family, and, despite his image as a tough guy, he was incredibly sweet and loving," the actor and director said.

"He cared a lot about the care Johns Hopkins gave children. Despite the fact that he spent so much time writing about the military and clandestine services, he thought the real heroes of the world were doctors — particularly ones who cared for children. I will miss him."

Source: La Times

New Images from Runner, Runner with Justin Timberlake

Trousersnake and the new Batman star in Runner, Runner. Richie (Justin Timberlake), a Princeton college student who pays for school with online gambling, bottoms out and travels to Costa Rica to confront the mastermind, Ivan (Ben Affleck), whom he believes has swindled him.Ivan sees a kindred spirit in Richie and brings the younger man into his operation. When Richie comes to fully understand the deviousness of his new boss, he tries to turn the tables on him. And that’s the story! Sounds like the usual fare, but with a cast like this which also includes Anthony Mackie and Gemma Arterton, this is something to keep you’re eyes peeled for! Incidentally, this is the 3rd last movie Affleck will appear in before donning some black pointy eared, bat life costume. Live by Night and Gone Girl which are both in pre production are next up for Bats! And then, he’s taking on Superman!

It hits Irish & UK cinemas on September 27th and our American readers will have to hold tough until October 4th

Source: The movie bit