The Hollywood Reporter recently caught up with filmmaker Zack Snyder to take a deep dive into his ambitious Rebel Moon plans. However, talk inevitably turned to his time overseeing the DC Extended Universe for Warner Bros.
After helming Man of Steel, the director took charge of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and later assembled the DC Universe's greatest superheroes in Justice League. That movie was later taken from him and placed in the hands of The Avengers helmer Joss Whedon, resulting in a strange mashup of styles which fans rejected.
"We cared deeply about what we were doing," Snyder says of the time he spent fighting for his vision. "We weren’t trying to make an Avengers movie. We weren’t. We didn’t know how, quite frankly. They brought someone in that did. I’ve never seen the [Whedon version], but it wasn’t the answer."
The aforementioned fans never let Snyder's vision go and campaigned relentlessly for Warner Bros. to #ReleaseTheSnyderCut. Their cries fell on deaf ears, but the filmmaker has revealed that, on Ann Sarnoff's first day as chairwoman and CEO of Warner Bros., she walked into her office to find dozens of bouquets and fruit baskets...from Snyder Cut supporters.
One read, "Welcome to Warner Bros., now release the Snyder Cut," and Snyder says there was, "One after another after another...She didn’t even know what it was. She wasn’t even aware of the saga. When she told me the story, she was like, ‘This is the job? Managing this? I didn’t know it was a thing.’ Now it was the thing."
Zack Snyder's Justice League was eventually released on HBO Max, though damning reports followed about toxic fans sending abuse, death threats and even enlisting bots to fake the groundswell of support the director's cut had achieved.
"I’m not going to comment on the details of whether they are good or bad, whether they are toxic or bullying," Snyder responds when this is put to him. "That’s in every chat room. It’s what comes with the internet. But I do know that the work they did on some level was good. I can say for a fact that they did good. That is undeniable."
As for those alleged bots, "The truth is? It doesn’t matter. The movie got made. If they were smart enough to employ bots in this thing, then they won. That movie has no business existing - and it does."
Snyder finished by sharing his belief that the superhero genre "has not evolved" and admits "I don’t have the excitement for it that I used to have." He's done with comic book movies for now but admits that, if DC Studios' co-CEO James Gunn calls, he'd be open to helming a comic-accurate take on The Dark Knight Returns but only if it's "a true representation of the graphic novel."
On the Marvel side? Well, the door may be open there as well as he'd be open to taking charge of a Daredevil and Elektra movie adapting Frank Miller's Elektra Lives Again.
"But that’s it," he insisted.
Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire arrives on Netflix on December 22, 2023.