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George Clooney gave Ben Affleck some advice on playing Batman: “Don’t do it.”

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Clooney–who played Batman in Joel Schumacher’s 1997 box office bomb Batman & Robin–recalled the advice he gave to Affleck. “I actually did talk to him about it. I said, ‘Don’t do it.'”

Clooney said the advice he gave to Affleck–who played Batman in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, and Justice League–was based only on his own experience, which wasn’t great. “I wasn’t good in [Batman & Robin], and it wasn’t a good film,” Clooney recalled.

“But what I learned from that failure was, I had to rethink how I was working,” he added. “Because now I wasn’t just an actor getting a role, I was being held responsible for the film itself.”

Affleck did take the part of Batman in Dawn of Justice, against Clooney’s advice, and Clooney remarked that Affleck “did great” in the movie.

Affleck–who won Oscars for Good Will Hunting and Argo–was initially attached to write, direct, and star in a new Batman movie called The Batman. However, he eventually dropped out. Explaining his decision to leave, Affleck told Jimmy Kimmel that he “couldn’t crack it.”

There is no word yet on who will be the next actor to play Batman after Affleck. Other actors who have played Batman over the years include Christian Bale, Michael Keaton, and Val Kilmer.

The Entertainment Software Association, the United States-based video game organization that lobbies for the industry with lawmakers and also runs E3 every year, has announced new leadership. Stanley Pierre-Louis, who had been serving as interim CEO following the departure of former president and CEO Michael Gallagher, is taking over effective immediately. The timing of the news is noteworthy, as it comes just a day after Variety published an explosive story that detailed what is said to be rampant disarray within the ESA.

Pierre-Louis joined the ESA in 2015 as general counsel. Before the ESA, he was senior vice president and associate general counsel for intellectual property at Viacom where he worked on brands like Nickelodeon, MTV, and Paramount Pictures. He also worked for the recording Industry Association of America.

“I look forward to leading the ESA and advocating for the industry with a strong voice and clear vision,” Pierre-Louis said in a statement. “The future of our industry is bright and limitless. Video games are a part of the fabric of American culture and a cornerstone of entertainment.”

The bombshell Variety report cited numerous current and past ESA employees who described the organization as a “toxic environment rife with internal politics, witch hunts, and in-fighting.” Regarding the claims against Gallagher, it is alleged in the story that he was “very difficult to work with.” Some said he was “manipulative, moody, and sometimes nasty,” and at times sent “vicious, belittling emails to employees.”

Gallagher left the ESA in October 2018. At the time, the situation surrounding his exit was unclear, but Variety’s story claims members of the ESA board–including Xbox boss Phil Spencer–visited the ESA’s HQ in Washington D.C. to hold meetings with employees to discuss Gallagher’s management style and behavior. Gallagher ultimately resigned, while Variety’s report said “some believe he was forced to leave the association.” Gallagher denied all claims against him.

Variety’s story contains numerous other details about the goings-on at the ESA, including a claim that ReedPop, the group that runs the PAX events and Star Wars Celebration and owns various gaming media sites, made an offer to take over E3, but it never happened. Read the full story at Variety.

E3 2019 runs June 11-13 in Los Angeles. We’re expecting a lot of big news and reveals, including a new console from Microsoft. Check out the video embedded above to see a rundown of what we know so far about the E3 2019 press conferences.

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The top executive at Take-Two Interactive, the parent publisher of Rockstar Games and 2K Games, has weighed in on two major video game industry trends: subscription and streaming. CEO Strauss Zelnick said today on an earnings call that he is skeptical of subscription-based models but more optimistic about streaming, at least in some scenarios.

Starting with subscription services, Zelnick said Take-Two as a company is open-minded because it wants to “be where the consumer is.” Take-Two could get on board if it makes sense from a business and creative perspective–and that might not be so easy.

“You have to find that intersection in business models that serve the customer successfully and also serve everyone else who participates in the value chain,” he said. “And that may prove to be a little challenging for subscriptions in this space because people do consume video games differently than they consume linear entertainment.”

Zelnick said the average American household spends around 5 hours each day and 150 hours per month consuming linear programming like TV and movies. For interactive entertainment like video games, the average American home spends 1.5 hours daily or 45 hours monthly playing games, he said. A subscription service makes sense with TV and film content because people largely watch many different programs or movies that they can roll through quickly and move on to something new. This makes an all-you-can-eat model like Netflix appealing, Zelnick said.

But with video games, which people spend relatively more time with, a subscription model might be a tougher sell, Zelnick said.

“In the case of video games, it is possible that the average user in those 45 hours might be playing 1, 2, maybe 3 titles; certainly not 70 titles,” he said. “In that event, if you play 1, 2, or 3 titles and you play them for months in a row–which often happens in [the video game world]–then a subscription model may not be such a great deal for the customer.”

Zelnick went on to say that he is no soothsayer, and overall, Take-Two wants to release games where the consumer is. “This all remains to be seen; we’re open-minded,” the executive explained. “We want to be where the customer is. But I don’t think it is a foregone conclusion that subscription will be as massive for interactive ent as it has proven to be for music and motion pictures and television. But we’ll see.”

In regards to streaming services like Google Stadia, Zelnick said the ability to play AAA games without a console could be a significant opportunity for Take-Two, as it would (theoretically at least) expand the size of the gaming audience overall.

“We’re very optimistic about the notion of streaming technology bringing our titles to consumers who currently do not have access to them,” he said. “The promise of being able to sign on to a service with virtually no barriers; without a box in between, and being able to play our games on any device whatsoever around the world and to do it with low-latency, well, that’s very compelling if that can be delivered. The folks at Google minimally have said it will be delivered, and it will be delivered in relatively short order. Conceptually, we want to be where the consumer is. We’ll support new entrants. We are a believer in streaming services. We need to have business models that make sense for us, but so far we’re pretty optimistic.”

In addition to Google Stadia, Microsoft is working on an Xbox game-streaming service of its own under the working title xCloud. Sony has for years already operated its PlayStation Now service, while companies like Amazon, Verizon, and Wal-Mart are all reportedly preparing their own game-streaming services to come.

Cloud-based gaming is a fairly new and complex technology; be sure to check out our detailed explainer on everything you need to know about cloud gaming.

For more from Take-Two’s earnings report today, you can check out the stories below:

Disney’s Maleficent sequel, Mistress of Evil, is coming to theatres in October. A new trailer has arrived that provides a fresh look at the spooky film starring Angelina Jolie in the lead role.

Take a look:

Mistress of Evil takes place “several years” after 2014’s Maleficent. “The film continues to explore the complex relationship between the horned fairy and the soon to be Queen as they form new alliances and face new adversaries in their struggle to protect the moors and the magical creatures that reside within,” reads a line from the film’s official description.

The film also features a lot of other big names, including Elle Fanning as Princess Aurora and Michelle Pfeiffer as Queen Ingrith.

Mistress of Evil is directed by Joachim Ronning, who directed Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge for Disney in 2017. The movie comes to theatres in the US on October 18.

Wolfenstein: Youngblood continues the rebooted Wolfenstein story, but transitions the narrative away from series’ stalwart BJ Blazkowicz in favor of his twin daughters, Jessica and Sophia. A different set of protagonists isn’t the only change being implemented in Youngblood though. The game is also leaving behind the fairly straightforward structure of previous Wolfenstein games for a more open-ended Dishonored approach.

“I think players will see a lot of similarities to level design in the Dishonored games, so in that sense it can be a little bit different as an experience but it can be for the benefit of the game, especially when it comes to finding different ways of approaching a combat scenario or a mission in general,” Youngblood executive producer Jerk Gustafsson told Official PlayStation Magazine.

“Regarding game length, it’s hard to say,” MachineGames senior producer John Jennings wrote in a Reddit AMA. “We’re doing a much more open-ended/branching gameplay structure on this one so, while there’s a golden path to finish the main story, if you want to play all of the side missions you’re easily looking at a length more similar to [Wolfenstein: The New Order or Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus] than [Wolfenstein: The Old Blood].”

In that same AMA, Jennings also spoke about how it was to work with Arkane Studios, the developer behind Dishonored, Dishonored 2, and Dishonored: Death of the Outsider. “It was great working with [Arkane]; they’re a really awesome team,” Jennings wrote. “We certainly learned some things from them and I’d like to think they learned some things from us too. It’s really nice being part of the Zenimax/Bethesda family; there are so many studios you can talk to and share experiences with. Our past collaborations have been mostly with [id Software] in the past though, so it’s been great to work with Arkane directly for the first time.”

During the AMA, Jennings also spoke about game development crunch culture, and how MachineGames is trying to eliminate it. Wolfenstein: Youngblood is expected to launch this July for Xbox One, PS4, Switch, and PC. Pre-ordering the Youngblood Deluxe Edition nets you a pretty nice bonus, allowing you to more easily play through the campaign’s optional co-op mode with a friend without needing to buy two copies of the game.

With Daenerys Targaryen gone full Mad Queen in Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 5, “The Bells,” the question on everybody’s mind is simple: Who can possibly stop the Dragon Queen in the show’s final episode ever?

Will Arya kill Dany, fulfilling the final part of Melisandre’s “brown eyes, green eyes, blue eyes” prediction? (Dany should have purple eyes, based on the books, but actress Emilia Clarke’s eyes are, indeed, green.) Will Jon kill Dany for her crimes during the Fall of King’s Landing, and assume his rightful role as king? Or will something more surprising happen–a twist, involving Varys and his little birds, that seems extremely likely in light of some quiet scenes early on in Episode 5?

Here’s what everybody missed as we became absorbed in Varys’s execution, Dany’s massacre of the smallfolk, and Cleganebowl (the hype was real): Varys and his young spy, Martha, were actively trying to poison Dany before she cut his scheming short.

In the episode’s opening scene, Varys was very clearly writing letters explaining Jon Snow’s true identity, presumably to send to everyone with a pair of eyeballs in Westeros in order to justify Jon seizing the throne. Although he’s still doing this later in the episode when Grey Worm comes for him, it’s unclear whether he actually sent any ravens–if he did, it happened offscreen. My money’s on yes, but that’s beside the point, for now.

When one of Varys’s “little birds,” Martha, enters the room, they have a brief exchange in which Martha tells Varys that “she won’t eat” (“she” presumably being Dany), and Varys replies that they’ll “try again at supper.” Martha believes Dany’s soldiers are watching her, and Varys attempts to reassure the little girl by reminding her that big risks garner big rewards. At the end of the scene, Varys sends Martha back to the kitchen, where she apparently works.

“The greater the risk, the greater the reward.” What’s a bigger risk than attempting to poison the Targaryen queen?

It’s a very Varys-like move; the Master of Whispers is always plotting, and frankly, his arc this season has felt uncharacteristically dumb. His plan was to approach Jon and Tyrion directly, and if they didn’t go for it, he’d just die? That’s not the Spider we used to know. But openly defying the queen–a classic, if risky, misdirect–while he secretly plots to poison her from the shadows? Now that’s more fitting.

That isn’t all, though–there’s one other scene that hints at the poison plot, and might even give us a clue to how Dany will go down in the finale.

When Varys hears Grey Worm and the Unsullied marching down the hall toward his room, he burns the letter he was writing–and removes his rings. The camera lingers in an extreme close-up as he twists one briefly, pulls it off, and drops it into an empty chalice on his desk. The rest soon follow.

This could be nothing, or it could be everything: When Olenna Tyrell poisoned Joffrey at his wedding, she plucked the poison–appropriately dubbed “the strangler”–from Sansa’s necklace, which had been given to her by the fool Dontos at Littlefinger’s behest, and dropped the false crystal into Joffrey’s cup, where it presumably dissolved and became undetectable.

Zooming in on Varys’s rings and brightening up the image doesn’t reveal any conspicuous blue crystals. In fact, the ring we get the best look at seems to have represented Varys’s loyalty to the Targaryen queen–it appears to be this ring from jewelry retailer Mey’s official partnership with the show. The retailer calls it an “allegiance ring,” and their site claims that Varys, Tyrion, Jorah, and Grey Worm have all worn one since Season 7. It was designed to look like a dragon spine. In taking it off, Varys is symbolically shedding the symbol of his loyalty to Daenerys.

But Varys is still loyal to Jon, who he now knows is also a Targaryen. Even though we didn’t see the obvious blue poison crystal as Varys removed all his rings, the show seemed to focus on their removal just long enough that it might be important in the finale. That scullery maid, Martha, may still be skulking around, after all, and her master’s death at Dany’s hands could inspire her to continue attempting to carry out his final wish: To see the Dragon Queen dead, no matter the method.

Just in case, I’ll be watching out for any sign of Martha in Game of Thrones‘ Season 8 finale.

Photo: HBO/Helen Sloan

Game of Thrones Season 8 spoilers ahead!