WarnerMedia’s Ann Sarnoff is not making any friends today. The exec sat down with Variety for an interview about DC’s future – one they plan to move forward on without Zack Snyder . She also says WarnerMedia has no plans to release David Ayer’s true vision for Suicide Squad. [insert BOO! gif] Sarnoff also weighed in regarding the Joss Whedon investigation and Ray Fisher’s comments about Walter Hamada. When asked about the claims Fisher made about racism during the filming of 2017s Justice League and Walter trying to impede the investigation, Ann had this to say when it came to finding evidence of such
No. Our investigator, Judge Katherine Forrest, has issued statements specifically about [DC Films president] Walter Hamada, saying that there was no evidence of interference by Walter in the investigation. She said that the cuts made in the Joss Whedon version of “Justice League” were not racially motivated. We took it very seriously, so we hired one of the top investigators out there and gave her a tremendous amount of leeway.
Sarnoff also says she is not aware of any NDA that would prevent Ray from sharing the details of what happened during filming. When it comes to Hamada, Sarnoff adds that he was not even running DC Films in 2017
Walter had nothing to do with “Justice League.” He was not running DC Films in 2017 when “Justice League” was completed and released. He wasn’t put in charge of DC Films until the following year. About a year ago, Walter, [Warner Bros. Pictures Group head] Toby Emmerich, me, [former WarnerMedia chairman] Bob Greenblatt, [former HBO Max content chief] Kevin Reilly, and [HBO Max original programming head] Sarah Aubrey sat around the table with Zack and greenlit the Snyder cut. That cut includes Ray Fisher’s entire story as Cyborg, which is something that he had been disappointed had been cut from the Justice League movie three years ago. Perhaps we’ve lost the plot a little bit which is that Toby and Walter were part of the green-lighting that allowed Zack’s vision to come to life, which includes sharing the full story about Ray’s character. There really was nothing that Walter did against Ray, in fact he offered him a role in the Flash movie.
Walter was promoted recently. I am fully supportive of Toby and Walter and their visions. I truly believe they are great executives. Walter happens to be a person of color, so he knows what that feels like. He is bringing in diverse voices at an accelerated pace, more than anyone has in the past.
Ann was also asked about some of the “toxic” fans behind the SnyderCut. Here is what Ann Sarnoff had to say about fans toxic behavior
We’re not tolerating any of that. That behavior is reprehensible no matter what franchise you’re talking about or what business you’re talking about. It’s completely unacceptable. I’m very disappointed in the fans that have chosen to go to that negative place with regard to DC, with regard to some of our executives. It’s just disappointing because we want this to be a safe place to be. We want DC to be a fandom that feels safe and inclusive. We want people to be able to speak up for the things they love, but we don’t want it to be a culture of cancelling things that any small faction isn’t happy with. We are not about that. We are about positivity and celebration.
You can read the full interview with Ann Sarnoff here.
What do you think about the comments made today? Are you disappointed that WB does not want to move forward with Zack? What about Ann’s comments when it comes to Ray? A>E
DC Fanboy! Superman is the greatest comic book character of all time. Favorite movies are Man of Steel, Goonies, Back To the Future
