While it’s looking increasingly unlikely that Ben Affleck will don the cowl again and play Batman, he has signed on to some interesting projects outside of the DCEU. The most interesting one might be his latest, as he’s signed on to star alongside Anne Hathaway in director Dee Rees‘ follow-up to Mudbound, The Last Thing He Wanted.
The film is based on Joan Didion‘s 1996 novel of the same name and follows “hardscrabble journalist, Elena McMahon, who inherits her father’s position as a dealmaker — an arms dealmaker. She soon finds herself on dangerous ground as the Iran-Contra Affair’s arms-for-drugs plot reaches its tipping point”. No details related to Affleck’s character have been released yet.
Rees penned the screenplay alongside Marco Villalobos and will also produce alongside Cassian Elwes in a Mudbound reunion. That film went on to earn four Oscar nominations, including one for Rees herself, making her the first black woman to be nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Netflix, who are also behind this film, will be hoping for similar critical acclaim this time around. The Last Thing He Wanted also stars Toby Jones, Rosie Perez and Edi Gathegi, and is currently filming in Puerto Rico with an eye towards a 2019 release.
This won’t be Affleck’s only Netflix release next year, as he’s also starring in J.C. Chandor‘s Triple Frontier alongside Charlie Hunnam and Oscar Isaac, which is also set to debut on the streaming service in 2019.
While Warner Bros. and the DCEU might no longer want him as they look to focus on a younger Batman, Netflix seem happy to bring him on board as they look to create a more consistently positive output from the Netflix Original Film department.
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