JUSTICE LEAGUE: Zack Snyder Was Told To Make The Movie Funnier By WB; Was Originally "Darker And Weirder"

JUSTICE LEAGUE: Zack Snyder Was Told To Make The Movie Funnier By WB; Was Originally "Darker And Weirder"

Justice League director Zack Snyder has reflected on being pressured by Warner Bros. into adding more humour to the movie, admitting jokes weren't exactly among his and Chris Terrio's expertise as writers.

By JoshWilding - Apr 19, 2023 09:04 AM EST
Filed Under: Justice League

Long before Zack Snyder was replaced as Justice League's director, we'd heard rumblings about issues behind the scenes. The negative critical reaction to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (along with a record-breaking weekend-to-weekend box office drop) prompted Warner Bros. to change course with David Ayer's Suicide Squad, reshaping it in pre-production to be much lighter in tone.

During a recent conversation with the Russo Brothers as part of their Pizza Film School podcast, Snyder admitted that Warner Bros. similarly tried to push him into lightening Justice League's tone by adding more humour. 

"The script for Justice League did evolve out of that," the filmmaker said of the notes he received from studio higher-ups. "I'll be honest, the script, what happened with 'Justice League,' because we had a very...the original script was much darker and weirder, and then 'Batman Vs. Superman' came out, and the studio was like, 'It's not funny enough, people want funnier movies, they want funny stuff in it.'"

"We did go back and did a...lightened the movie overall. And I would say my cut of ‘Justice League’ is a sort of in-between," Snyder continued. "We had done the changes for the studio and I’ll be frank, Chris [Terrio] and I are not the funniest guys in the world, we’re not like awesome joke writers...I’m just 100% honest about that [Laughs]."

"We had Ezra and he’s pretty funny, that was kind of his role, to be the Flash, and be young, and be a little irreverent and in awe of Batman and Superman. And he did a great job, and that part was great."

The odds were stacked against Snyder from the start, and it appears we'll never get to see his true vision for the franchise. We'd like to think DC Studios will capitalise on the SnyderVerse's popularity with an animated movie or comic book adapting his original scripts, but there's been no indication that's the plan.

Elsewhere during the conversation, Snyder also confirmed that there were indeed talks about releasing Zack Snyder's Justice League as a six-part series on HBO Max, only for it not to happen due to some undisclosed "legal rules."

You can watch the conversation between the Russo Brothers and Snyder in the video below. 

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marvel72
marvel72 - 4/19/2023, 9:18 AM
Funny? I liked it because it wasn't,Marvel movies have funny moments, sometimes they worked but then they go over the top with the likes of Thor:Love And Thunder, Thor should be serious.
FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 4/19/2023, 9:28 AM
@marvel72 - Thor comics ain’t that serious though. He literally got turned into a frog in his most revered run.
marvel72
marvel72 - 4/19/2023, 9:32 AM
@PlusUltra - Yeah he did but read Aaron's Gorr The God Butcher run and then watch Thor:Love And Thunder.
FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 4/19/2023, 9:36 AM
@marvel72 - There was a fair amount of humour in that run too, especially from Young Thor, and the later Mighty Thor stuff of Aaron’s run the movie was mainly based on. Thor isn’t this serious character you’re making out, and neither are his comics. They’ve always had lots of humour.
Mrcool210
Mrcool210 - 4/19/2023, 9:21 AM
Oh god you've opened the floodgates. Snyderbots are now gonna be going about how this isn't Snyder's original vision either. *sigh* and yet this is a better movie than the last two with that suggestion from the studio. The madness will never end.
Shivermetimbers
Shivermetimbers - 4/19/2023, 9:44 AM
@Mrcool210 - #cutthesnyder
TheHumanSpider2
TheHumanSpider2 - 4/19/2023, 9:22 AM
#ReleaseTheCutOfTheCut
HAILHYDRA
HAILHYDRA - 4/19/2023, 9:27 AM
Honestly, Snyder should’ve never been put in that situation. It would be like Marvel giving Taika the keys to the entire MCU. His style works for one corner of the universe, but he should not be the guy influencing the universe at large. The same with Snyder.
FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 4/19/2023, 9:30 AM
@HAILHYDRA - Snyder’s style was never right for any of it. He turned Superman into the mopey protagonist of a disaster movie.
GhostDog
GhostDog - 4/19/2023, 9:31 AM
SnyderBots after hearing this:
DrReedRichards
DrReedRichards - 4/19/2023, 9:45 AM
@GhostDog -

Please, do let them come. I'm having a bad enough day, so might as well.
bobevanz
bobevanz - 4/19/2023, 11:18 AM
@DrReedRichards - Adam Driver ftw lol
DrReedRichards
DrReedRichards - 4/19/2023, 11:23 AM
@bobevanz -

Posted this comment before the news, lol. That casting did manage to make my day a bit better.
TheClungerine
TheClungerine - 4/19/2023, 9:38 AM
His best DC movies are the ones where he had some kind of collaboration (Nolan on MoS & the studio with TSC). when left alone Snyder goes off the deep end with his story ideas.
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