When a family tragedy resulted in Zack Snyder deciding to step away from Justice League, Joss Whedon was brought in to take the helm of the movie's reshoots. While it was reported at the time that he would be sticking to Snyder's style of filmmaking, it's inevitable that the movie is going to look different to what was initially conceived and the cast of the movie has now weighed in on those changes.
Ben Affleck's comments are arguably the most interesting, though, as the Justice League executive producer and star has nothing but praise for what Whedon brought to the table for those reshoots.
"Joss just brought to the movie what good directors bring, which is good taste. A sense of what’s gonna work in the story and what isn’t. An instinct for realism and for finding the humanity in the characters and the humanity in the conflict, then making it accessible and relevant. I think that’s one of the things he did so well with Avengers, frankly. He really defined the tone, and it felt like a lot of the movies after that sort of fell into that tone that he created. It was a very tricky dance where you have all these people who can do all these fantastic things that’s completely absurd on the face of it, and yet, a good storyteller like Joss brings us in, makes us identify with them, makes them seem real, and makes it interesting. A lot of guys know the comic books, a lot of people have that knowledge base. What Joss really has is talent."
Affleck handed over directing duties on The Batman to War for the Planet of the Apes helmer Matt Reeves and went on to make it clear that it takes a very specific sort of filmmaker to focus on finding the human side of the heroes who don colourful costumes in the highly anticipated ensemble.
"I wish I had the gift that he has for identifying what’s the most compelling human drama in the context of superhero conflict. But he has a very sharp mind for it. He knows exactly what he wants, almost with a surgeon’s kind of precision. He focuses in, beat by beat, on how he’s telling the story, exactly where he’ll be editorially. What the tenor of delivery of a line should be like. He gives you comfort because you feel like he has a very clear idea of what he wants, what he expects and, most importantly, what he thinks will work."
As for how Justice League differs to The Avengers (a comparison which is inevitable thanks to Whedon's involvement), Affleck added: "I think that they were focused on the characters and the story and they allowed that to dictate style. Naturally, they both have strong senses of style [and are] slightly different. But, nonetheless, both make for compelling movies." We'll have to wait and see if that proves to be the case but things certainly seem to be looking up for the DC Films Universe!