'Justice League' release date, cast news: Ben Affleck responds to reshoots, praises director Joss Whedon

Actor Ben Affleck, who plays Batman/Bruce Wayne, recently responded to the issue of the "Justice League" reshoots. It is currently being handled by director Joss Whedon ("The Avengers," "Avengers: Age of Ultron") who replaced Zack Snyder ("Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice").

"It's a little bit unorthodox. Zack had a family tragedy, and stepped off, which was horrible. For the movie, the best person we could've possibly found was Joss. We got really lucky that he stepped in," Affleck told Entertainment Weekly.

Snyder stepped down from "Justice League" duties and left the project in March to focus more on his family because of his daughter's tragic suicide. Whedon was already set to direct DC's "Batgirl" at the time and stepped in for Snyder to finish shooting "Justice League."

Whedon was supposed to provide the finishing touches like writing and directing connecting scenes in the movie but still retain the vision of the preceding director. However, Whedon seemingly took more liberties and made bigger changes which cost the producers an additional $25 million.

The "Batman" star expressed that "Justice League" became, "an interesting product of two directors, both with kind of unique visions, both with really strong takes. I've never had that experience before making a movie. I have to say, I really love working with Zack, and I really love the stuff we've done with Joss."

Snyder's "Batman v Superman" received a low 27 percent rating on RottenTomatoes and was panned by most critics for being incoherent and dreary. It also didn't reach studio heads' expectations as it failed to reach $1 billion even with the big three heroes — Superman (Henry Cavill), Batman and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) — appearing in it. Meanwhile, both Whedon's "Avengers" movies earned over $1.4 billion at the box office.

Whedon's box-office clout strongly suggests why he has been given more money and leeway to make bigger changes to the film and possibly doing away with Snyder's initial vision.

"Justice League" will premiere in theaters on Friday, Nov. 17.

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