George Clooney says he ‘f**ked up’ Batman ‘so bad’

George Clooney didn’t hold back when grilled on one of his most infamous movie roles while appearing on a panel recently.

George Clooney has absolutely roasted his own performance as Batman.

The 60-year-old filmmaker was at New York City’s DGA Theatre following a screening of his upcoming film, as director, The Tender Bar, starring Ben Affleck, Tye Sheridan (Ready Player One), Lily Rabe (American Horror Story) and Christopher Lloyd (Back To The Future).

A reporter present just had to ask Clooney about playing the Caped Crusader back in 1997 in Batman & Robin — and whether or not he’d do it all over again.

“I did one superhero movie and I f**ked it up so bad they won’t let me near the set,” said the Oscar-winning actor.

Coyly, he added, “I don’t want to get into all the bat nipples,” referring to his interview last year with Howard Stern, in which he advised costume designers for upcoming DC Comics’ The Flash to nix the nips in the new batsuit.

He also said at the time that it “physically hurt” him to rewatch Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin.

Batman, Robin and Batgirl: George Clooney, Chris O'Donnell and Alicia Silverstone. Picture: Supplied

The actor then pivoted away from superhero flicks to discuss his strengths as a filmmaker. “My work, where my bread is buttered, is the kind of films that I grew up in the ‘60s and ‘70s, which is sort of the prime time for American filmmaking, which were all story-based,” Clooney explained.

Let’s hope that wife Amal Almuddin Clooney is a fan of his period work — as she won’t be seeing his turn as Batman anytime soon. Just last week at yet another press junket for his new work, Amal revealed that her husband “won’t let me watch” the movie, she said.

“I want my wife to have some respect for me,” said Clooney.

Clooney and his wife, Amal, at the UK premiere of the film The Temple Bar, during the 2021 BFI London Film Festival in London. Picture: Niklas Halle'n/AFP

It’s not the first time Clooney has spoken out about his disastrous turn as Batman. Late last year, the actor admitted the movie had almost killed his career.

It was only when he and director Steven Soderbergh landed the 1998 crime comedy Out Of Sight that his fortune changed.

Speaking from his Los Angeles home, Clooney told The Sun: “Steven was coming off a couple of flops and I was coming off Batman & Robin and we both needed a success. Our backs were against the wall, in a way.

“I was still doing ER at the time and there were always these conversations about whether you can go from television to film.

“It was a big deal – and I was losing that argument.

“After Batman & Robin I realised I was going to be held responsible for the movie, not just for the performance. And so we waited, and when I found that movie (Out Of Sight), we chased Steven down to direct it.

“There was a director attached and he walked away because he said I wasn’t a movie actor.

“It all worked out. Steven directed the hell out of that movie – he did a beautiful job with it.”

This article originally appeared in the NY Post and was reproduced with permission.