Zack Snyder decided to step away from Justice League after the tragic death of his daughter, but even before he left the project in Joss Whedon's hands, it's clear that Snyder and Warner Bros. had very different ideas about how the DC Comics super-team should be depicted.
During an interview with Total Film, Snyder reiterated that he hasn't actually watched the theatrical cut of the film, but was told about some of the changes made during reshoots by members of his crew that continued on with Whedon at the helm.
"So I guess they used about an hour of my footage, and they pretty much touched every shot, whether it was for ADR or whatever," said the filmmaker. "I think my movie is a chance to get into the characters and the story beats a lot more."
Snyder then went on to confirm that the studio would often put pressure on him to lighten the tone and add more humor.
"[The original plan] was absolutely being twisted during production, but y'know, I was there to fight them," he recalls. "Even though there was pressure on me to make it funnier and lighten it, I would persist as much as I could to keep the tone as much as I could. I added a bunch of things for them, and I was always careful to make sure I covered things both ways, so that it didn’t affect the movie story-wise. It was my hope that, in post-production, I'd be able to force my will upon them."
This obviously turned out to be a smart move, since Snyder was able to go back and utilise these alternate scenes to complete his director's cut of Justice League.
It remains to be seen how this darker, 4-hour version of the movie turns out, of course, but, for better or worse, we're glad Snyder will get the chance to share his original vision for Justice League with the world on March 18.
In Zack Snyder's Justice League, determined to ensure Superman’s (Henry Cavill) ultimate sacrifice was not in vain, Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) aligns forces with Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) with plans to recruit a team of metahumans to protect the world from an approaching threat of catastrophic proportions. The task proves more difficult than Bruce imagined, as each of the recruits must face the demons of their own pasts to transcend that which has held them back, allowing them to come together, finally forming an unprecedented league of heroes.
Now united, Batman (Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gadot), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Cyborg (Ray Fisher) and The Flash (Ezra Miller) may be too late to save the planet from Steppenwolf, DeSaad and Darkseid and their dreadful intentions.