There has been a lot of talk about whether or not Ben Affleck will actually return to the role of Batman in the DC film universe. While the initial expectation was that Affleck would be playing Batman for some time to come, in recent days, it's become far less clear and rumors of recasting or future movies being prequels with a younger actor have been running rampant. However, now another factor has popped up that might keep Ben Affleck from playing Batman again whether he wants to or not. Affleck may be too expensive to insure now that he has entered rehab.
Last week Ben Affleck checked himself into rehab for the second time in barely over a year. While this could certainly impact several of his upcoming film projects due to delays if he's not ready to go back to work, it could have the biggest potential impact on his role as Batman. Insurance industry insiders are telling The Wrap that due to Affleck's situation, while a studio would be able to get insurance on the actor, the deductible would likely be exceptionally high as the insurance company would see Affleck as a high risk for the film. The cost of insurance could be so high that the studio might very well decide to recast Affleck simply because it doesn't want to pay the bond.
Up until now, it's been far from clear whether or not Ben Affleck would ever return to play Batman so all this could actually be a moot point if the actor never had any intention of donning the cowl again. Several reports have indicated that was the case, but so much has stayed in the shadows regarding the future of DC's film universe that we just don't know most of what is happening and what isn't and what is currently planned for the future. While Affleck has officially stepped down from directing the Batman movie which he had been attached to do, he is still, officially, attached to star in it. If Affleck is planning on playing Batman again, it would be unfortunate if the reason he ended up not doing so was because of the insurance company.
Insurance is no joke when it comes to film production. Tens or hundreds of millions of dollars are being put out on any given production and if an actor is unable to perform for even a short period of time it can cost a lot of money. The studio gets insurance to make sure they won't be out the cost if something goes wrong, but, of course, the insurance company doesn't want to pay the cost either, so it all comes down to a question of whether the film, and the people that are part of it, are a good bet or not.
Most of the DC universe is clouded in mystery, so just add this to the list of reasons we just don't know what they're planning to do next.
