JUSTICE LEAGUE's Theatrical Cut Was So Bad, It Made The Movie's Original Cinematographer Cry

JUSTICE LEAGUE's Theatrical Cut Was So Bad, It Made The Movie's Original Cinematographer Cry

In a new interview, original Justice League cinematographer Fabian Wagner has revealed that sitting down to watch the theatrical cut of the movie brought him to tears. Hit the jump for more details...

By JoshWilding - Aug 28, 2019 02:08 AM EST
Filed Under: Justice League
Justice League cinematographer Fabian Wagner has confirmed that he would also like to see the "Snyder Cut" released by Warner Bros. During a recent interview, he explained that while he can't comment on how much of the final product he filmed and how much of that was reshoots, a big part of why that was is because the theatrical cut made him cry!

Before we get to that, though, Wagner does explain in the video below that he was unable to return for that additional photography (helmed by Joss Whedon) because he was busy with another project. The last he saw of Justice League, Zack Snyder was color-grading the trailers.

"I have, unfortunately," Wagner said when asked if he'd seen the finished film. As for the differences between the Snyder and theatrical cuts, he laughed: "It’s really hard to say because I was watching it and I think I was crying all the way through. So it’s hard for me to say exactly how much was changed, but a lot was changed. It looked very different."

"It’s sad for me because I loved working with Zack; I had the best time of my life. There were many other things on that movie that made it so good apart from the fact that I was working with Zack and the whole gang. I met my wife on that job. There [were] a lot of other things. It was just a great shoot, and so it was a shame to see the film the way it turned out to be."
 
You have to remember that this must really hurt Wagner as all the work he did was essentially undone by Whedon (fans have noticed that the final battle was recoloured, for example). 

The version of Justice League we got also wasn't the one he signed up for. "You can just see, if you watched the first trailers you can see how the film should have looked and how the film did look when we were shooting it," he concluded.

Make sure to watch the interview to hear more.



Hit the "View List" button to check out Zack Snyder's most
revealing "Snyder Cut" posts from his Vero account!

 

Iris West was originally set to make a cameo appearance in Justice League in a sequence featuring Barry Allen rescuing her from a car accident. That was scrapped for reasons which aren't entirely clear, but Snyder did share a photo of what Kiersey Clemons would have looked like as the character.
 
 

In the theatrical version of Justice League, Steppenwolf was sucked up through a Boom Tube after being defeated by the team, but that shot of Wonder Woman destroying the villain's sword was actually intended to show her chopping off his head and bringing a permanent end to the bad guy. 
 
 

Mera's role in Justice League was drastically altered, as she was originally meant to visit the surface world. However, it seems like this movie would have shown Arthur finding his classic comic book armour in Atlantis rather than being given some random pieces by Mera after he asked for it. 
 
 

In Justice League, the Flying Fox is introduced in the Batcave hangar as something Bruce Wayne is working on. In the Snyder Cut, it seems as if there would have been a little more to that as these early storyboards show the hero seemingly stealing it alongside Diana Prince from one of his hangars.
 
 

It's no secret that the actors who have played Batman and Superman have been made to audition in costumes from the past and when Henry Cavill first tried out for Man of Steel, he donned Christopher Reeve's classic suit. He wasn't massively bulky here, but still looks every bit the superhero. 
 
 

This awesome photo of the League assembled confirms that Snyder was the one responsible for shooting this memorable moment. However, Whedon was obviously the one responsible for adding those lines about how beautiful the alien looking flowers were which most fans have ridiculed since!
 
 

The "Ultimate Edition" of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was awesome, and a prime example of why fans are so anxious to see the "Snyder Cut" of Justice League. Zack Snyder revealed this poster for that version of the movie featuring stunning shots of the DCEU's Trinity. 
 
 

Another deleted scene from Justice League. It seems as if Aquaman was originally going to part ways with Bruce Wayne by catching a ride in the back of a local's truck rather than ditching his jacket and heading into the ocean. Now, it's hard not to wonder how differently his arc was going to be.
 
 

Cyborg got something of a happy ending in Justice League, but was originally going to be torn in half in order to set up the sequel. That wasn't the only trauma Victor Stone would have faced, though, as this photo reveals that his father was actually going to be killed in some sort of explosion. 
 
 

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice's "Knightmare" sequence got everyone talking, and in this behind the scenes photo, Snyder shared an amazing Easter Egg in which we could see that the Dark Knight had attached one of The Joker's playing cards to his gun as some sort of bizarre trophy. 
 
 

We know that Darkseid was going to be Justice League 2's villain, and that he would have appeared in both those flashback sequences and through a Boom Tube during the final battle. Here, we get an idea of just how much the villain was set to factor into the Snyder's original plans. 
 
 

While Steppenwolf was the focus of the theatrical cut's flashbacks to that epic battle in the past, Darkseid was meant to appear in his Uxas form. Sadly, he was nowhere to be seen and the movie instead explained that Steppenwolf was the one who led that quest for the Mother Boxes on Earth. 
 
 

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League were originally set to delve much further into Victor Stone's transformation into Cyborg, and these photos show us revisiting his time as a football player before that fateful accident led to him becoming more machine than man. 
 
 

Justice League featured a scene in which Barry Allen and Cyborg dig up Superman, but Aquaman and Wonder Woman were also part of this sequence once upon a time. How that would have changed it is hard to say, but the Man of Steel's return in general was probably once quite a bit different. 
 
 

It feels like a long time ago now, but those reveals of characters like Wonder Woman and Batman from Zack Snyder and photographer Clay Enos generated a lot of excitement at the time. Here, we get a behind the scenes shot of sorts as the Trinity comes together for the first time.
 
 

Poor Cyborg was left almost entirely on the cutting room floor by the looks of it, as this photo shows that the hero would have visited his own grave and vented his frustrations after his accident. As it stands, his story arc was short changed and mostly forgettable in theaters. 
 
 

You may recall some shots of Cyborg in what appeared to be World War II Germany, and thanks to these storyboards, we know that he was simply explaining the history of the Mother Box left on Earth to his fellow heroes. What significance that would have had to the plot is hard to say, though! 
 
 

Steppenwolf was a terrible villain, and not just because of his awful CGI appearance or Ciaran Hinds' generic voiceover work. However, this fantastic image shared by Snyder shows that it would have been Darkseid leading that attack on Earth thousands of years ago. Much better, right? 
 
 

Snyder is clearly good friends with Ray Fisher after essentially discovering him, and the filmmaker is obviously disappointed by how Cyborg has been given the short end of the stick. This sequence was going to show Darkseid trying to tempt Cyborg to join him by promising to return him to his old life. 
 
 

It seems fitting to end with Justice League's post-credits scene, right? While it's thought that Joss Whedon was the one who added those lines setting up the formation of the Injustice League, the belief is that this sequence was actually meant to set the stage for The Batman instead. 
 
 
 

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IronDean2099
IronDean2099 - 8/28/2019, 2:38 AM
#ReleaseTheWagnerCut
Hapok
Hapok - 8/28/2019, 6:35 AM
@IronDean2099 - #ReleaseTheSnyderCut
Draximos
Draximos - 8/28/2019, 6:43 AM
@IronDean2099 - #ReleaseTheSnyderCut
Draximos
Draximos - 8/28/2019, 6:50 AM
tmp3
tmp3 - 8/28/2019, 2:42 AM
Justice League was a Frankenstein monster hobbled together by a hack film-maker and a creep brought in to do reshoots. The epitome of soulless, corporate film-making by committee, where executives were the one's deciding on the run-time. No idea why Snyder was ever given the keys to DC in the first place, considering his track record's terrible.
Fabian's a pretty good DoP though, I liked his work on GoT (an example of where corporate oversight may have been needed considering how bad D&D got with no supervision)
dracula
dracula - 8/28/2019, 2:43 AM
Seriously people act like this is the holy grail of movie cuts.
Man of Steel got mixed reaction with people either loving it or hating it
BVS got mixed reaction with it leaning more towards mostly negative
What makes people think this would be any different.
The DCEU is better off without Snyder.
dracula
dracula - 8/28/2019, 2:45 AM
If Joss Whedon had done a Justice League movie on his own it would have been much better, they got two completely different film makers for this movie, of course it was going to turn out bad
FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 8/28/2019, 2:47 AM
Regardless of what any of us think of Zack’s DC movies, it’s undeniably obvious at this point the guy is a blast to work with. Nobody that’s worked with with him has single negative thing to say about the man.
Kurne
Kurne - 8/28/2019, 2:50 AM
Its funny, because I thought that first trailer Snyder showed at SDCC (before his cut was even butchered) looked terrible.
Kumkani
Kumkani - 8/28/2019, 2:52 AM
@PlusUltra - Yea there's no denying that the guy must be really professional and friendly, regardless of whatever he's said or done to upset fans (including myself).
Kumkani
Kumkani - 8/28/2019, 2:53 AM
I still can't believe the first Justice League movie we got was such a messy production. It's a goddamn shame. Theatrical cut or Snyder cut, the Justice League deserved way better than this shit.
tmp3
tmp3 - 8/28/2019, 2:56 AM
@PlusUltra - James Cameron is meant to be a nightmare to work with, that doesn't make Terminator 2 any less good. It doesn't matter how nice these guys are if they're failing at their job, which Snyder was, considering there's so many talented film-makers not getting these kinds of opportunities.
ThePott
ThePott - 8/28/2019, 3:00 AM
At this point even if the Snyder Cut is outstanding, there's no way it can ever live up to the hype and lip service that has been paid to it.
FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 8/28/2019, 3:12 AM
@tmp3 - The point of my comment flew right over your head and you didn’t even try catch it.

His job was bigger than making a movie. He was responsible for creating a healthy workplace environment, which, besides his shortcomings as a filmmaker, is something he consistently succeeds in doing. There’s more to the film industry than award ceremonies and film festivals, pal.
bkmeijer2
bkmeijer2 - 8/28/2019, 3:12 AM
Even if the snydercut is released, I don’t think its better than the movie we got already (judging from how bad BvS was)
Darkknight2149
Darkknight2149 - 8/28/2019, 4:19 PM
@MalseMarcel -
Given that the "Snyder Cut" is just a rough cut with green screen and unfinished FX, I honestly wouldn't expect it to be.
MosquitoFarmer
MosquitoFarmer - 8/28/2019, 3:19 AM
Even though I enjoyed the movie, and despite the fact I'd rather have seen Snyder's vision either way, I'm just gonna post a George Carlin gif.

tmp3
tmp3 - 8/28/2019, 3:22 AM
@PlusUltra - Having a healthy work requirement is the bare minimum to ask from a film-maker. It's what you should be expecting from them, so when someone achieves that while coming short of everything else I'm not sure why they'd need special congratulations. You can be a nice guy and still perform poorly at your job.
tmp3
tmp3 - 8/28/2019, 3:29 AM
*environment
FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 8/28/2019, 3:36 AM
@KingCipher @tmp3 - I wasn’t commenting on his ability as a filmmaker though, so you’re arguing against a point I never tried to make, let alone defend. And creating a healthy workplace environment might be the bare-minimum, but considering so many directors and producers fail to so in this industry, it’s not exactly common. But more than that, Zack doesn’t just create a healthy workplace, he builds an environment that his crew actively love working in and want return to again, which is why everyone he works has nothing but the best to say about the man.

It’s easy to shit on Snyder for his shortcomings, but I thought today I wouldn’t echo for the millionth time what he didn’t get right, but recognise what he clearly, consistently does, and sprinkle some positivity in a thread that is bound to be mostly a negative one.
GhostDog
GhostDog - 8/28/2019, 3:37 AM
It’s officially a soap opera now
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