The ex-Batman’s future is bright (but also dark)

At the tail end of 2021, ex-Batman Ben Affleck admitted he was mostly done with mainstream blockbusters like Justice League. “I don’t want to do IP movies, where you have this sort of built-in audience,” he said. “That’s something I was interested in and liked, and I just don’t like anymore […] love something different.”

Apparently what Affleck loves now is erotic thrillers that are close to unreleasable due to nudity, violence, and other adult content. And he’s right to love them — the world needs movies that live on the edge of trash and art! Movies like Deep Water.

For awhile there, it wasn’t clear whether the new film from Adrian Lyne (9 1/2 Weeks, Fatal Attraction) would ever see the light of day. Blame the Disney-Fox acquisition, and a hesitation to sully a family-friendly brand with steamy content. But in February, Hulu announced that Deep Water, which stars Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas (Knives Out, No Time to Die), would hit the platform this spring. A new trailer teases what’s to come.

Based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith (The Talented Mr. Ripley), Deep Water centers on a marriage between Vic (Affleck) and Melinda (de Armas) Van Allen, a relationship founded on, at least judging from the trailer, sexually tinged four-dimensional chess. Not much more is known about where Lyne and his writers, Zach Helm (Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium) and Sam Levinson (Euphoria), are taking Highsmith’s source material, but let me reiterate that the movie is written by the guy who penned Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium and the guy behind Euphoria.

Affleck and de Armas became so entangled during the making of Deep Water that actual romance blossomed off screen. Though they’ve since ended their relationship, hopefully the chemistry translated on screen. We’ll know soon, as Dark Water hits Hulu on March 18.

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