Following the feedback from fans and critics regarding Batman v Superman, WB took a more hands on approach to Zack Snyder’s filming of Justice League. Snyder says the studio pretty much sent someone to “babysit” each day on set. Either Geoff Johns or Jon Berg had to be on set. The studio also nixed a few ideas the director had for the movie. One of those ideas involved Bruce Wayne falling in love with Lois Lane after the death of Superman.
“The intention was that Bruce fell in love with Lois and then realized that the only way to save the world was to bring Superman back to life,”
Snyder goes on to say
“So he had this insane conflict, because Lois, of course, was still in love with Superman. We had this beautiful speech where [Bruce] said to Alfred: ‘I never had a life outside the cave. I never imagined a world for me beyond this. But this woman makes me think that if I can get this group of gods together, then my job is done. I can quit. I can stop.’ And of course that doesn’t work out for him.”
Snyder also says the studio mandated that Justice League only be two hours. Snyder fought with the studio over the length of the film saying “make it shorter”
“How am I supposed to introduce six characters and an alien with potential for world domination in two hours? I mean, I can do it, it can be done. Clearly it was done,”
Zack also says that he never asked Joss Whedon to help with the movie. Geoff Johns was planning the Batgirl movie with Whedon and recruited him to do the rewrites for Justice League. WB ended up giving Whedon more and more power, pretty much pushing Snyder out. Whedon reshot about three quarters of Justice League says Zack Snyder. WB was not too keen on what Whedon had done either.
“When we got to see what Joss actually did, it was stupefying, The robber on the rooftop—so goofy and awful. The Russian family—so useless and pointless. Everyone knew it. It was so awkward because nobody wanted to admit what a piece of shit it was.”
WB also agreed at first to release the SnyderCut but only wanted to release what “raw” footage that Snyder had on his laptop.
“I was like, ‘That’s a no, that’s a hard no,’”
In the end HBO Max stepped in and gave fans what they wanted and agreed to release Zack’s vision of Justice League. He has also reshot the ending that will include a cameo from a hero that will blow hardcore fans mind. He also plans to release the film in the 4:3 format so it can be seen on IMAX screens.
It has been 4 years nearly since Justice League was released and in the end as a fan I am thrilled that we are finally getting to see the movie that Zack Snyder envisioned all those years ago.
Check out more of what all went on including how Zack is dealing with the loss of his daughter Autumn, Army of the Dead and more at Vanity Fair.
DC Fanboy! Superman is the greatest comic book character of all time. Favorite movies are Man of Steel, Goonies, Back To the Future
