George Clooney claims he was paid less than Arnold Schwarzenegger for Batman

George Clooney has revealed he advised Ben Affleck to pass on a certain movie role, but Affleck ignored him and lived to regret it.

George Clooney advised Ben Affleck not to accept a certain movie role. Picture: Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images

Ben Affleck was warned not to accept the role of Batman by a star who previously played the caped crusader.

George Clooney starred in 1997’s critically panned Batman & Robin and revealed on The Hollywood Reporter’s “Awards Chatter” podcast that he advised Ben Affleck to turn down the role in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and in 2017’s Justice League.

“I actually did talk to him about it. I said, ‘Don’t do it,’” Clooney said. “It was only from my experience, which is, you know …”

Ben Affleck as Batman.

The scars from Batman & Robin still remain for George Clooney.

The Oscar-winning actor, 58, said he caught a lot of flak for his performance in the titular role of Batman, even though co-star Arnold Schwarzenegger, who portrayed the villainous Mr. Freeze, took home the bigger pa ycheck.

Schwarzenegger played villain Mr Freeze.

Clooney as Batman.

“[Arnold] Schwarzenegger was paid, I think, $25 million for that, which was like 20 times more than I was paid for it, and, you know, we never even worked together! We worked together one day. But I took all the heat,” Clooney said, adding he learned plenty from the experience.

“Now, fair deal; I was playing Batman and I wasn’t good in it, and it wasn’t a good film, but what I learned from that failure was, I had to rethink how I was working. Because now I wasn’t just an actor getting a role, I was being held responsible for the film itself.”

Batman & Robin, which also starred Chris O’Donnell as Robin, Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy, and Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl, currently holds at 10 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and grossed $107 million in the US, with a $125 million production budget, according to Box Office Mojo.

Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy.

This story originally appeared in the NY Post and is republished here with permission