We recently came across a report from The Ringer that features a quote by American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis in which he apparently describes an encounter with Warner Bros. executives who claimed that the script of Ben Affleck's The Batman has "serious problems". He adds that the studio has no interest in fixing the flaws in the script, and that they "don't really care".
While covering it, my colleague Ana Tropos warned us to take it with "a grain of salt" due to the nature of the report. And now Bret Easton Ellis has taken to his official Facebook page to apologize for starting the rumor about The Batman script and to offer a clarification of his remarks.
The author says that during his long interview with the outlet's Sean Fennessey, they discussed why studio movies are "so bad" today, as well as the global needs of the marketplace. Ellis claims that he spoke about the things he had heard about the script for The Batman to help the reporter understand the problem. He explains:
I was talking with two executives who have NOTHING to do with the Batman movie and who KNEW people who were involved with the production. The two executives I was having dinner with were relating the problems they had heard about the script from people working on the Batman project – that’s all.
The author further claims that he personally knows "no one" involved with The Batman and that he "didn't realize" that those remarks would make it into the particular piece. He insists that if he had known, he wouldn't have cited that movie. Ellis concludes by saying:
I have no idea what the Batman script is like and I regret that it came off as if I was disparaging the project. Another reason to be careful giving interviews.
A couple of weeks ago, Ben Affleck suggested that he was still working on the script, and wouldn't move forward unless he felt "really confident", as it isn't a movie that one can "fail quietly at". It didn't sound like he was in a hurry. So, the rumor also contradicts what Affleck said.
