DCEU Review Series
Justice League/Zack Snyder's Justice League
2017/2021
Director: Joss Whedon/Zack Snyder
How do we tackle this installment in the DCEU? There are two versions. The half Zach Snyder/half Joss Whedon version and the all Zach Snyder version which came out years later. The internet is on fire with all the theories surrounding how this fiasco happened and the news changes regularly every few years. Let’s try to sum it up as simple as we can knowing the Hollywood politics backstory could become dated within minutes of this posting.
Zach Snyder who tortured us with the turds Man of Steel and Batman vs Superman was slated to direct the Justice League movie. Justice League (JL) is DC’s big superhero team-up comic. All the big DC Comics players are in the JL roster. During the making of JL Zach Snyder’s daughter tragically kills herself. And depending on which story you believe, he either steps away from the film to focus on his family or DC uses it as an excuse to force him out of a film they don’t have much confidence in. At that point Joss Whedon who had massive success with Marvel’s Avengers (Marvel’s big team-up comic) steps in to complete the film.
These are two directors with totally different styles. Therefore Whedon is tasked with taking a bleak depressing director and trying to recraft his work into a Whedon styled film. The result was a huge factor in ruination of Joss Whedon’s career. Actors in the film clashed with the new director. The most public instances were with Ray Fisher (Cyborg) and Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman).
It’s hard to shift through rumor and fact when it comes to Whedon. The consensus seems to be he’s a jerk. Most Hollywood folks are. Fisher publicly called Whedon unprofessional after the film was released. Some could argue it was sour grapes since his character’s storyline cut down to almost nothing in Whedon’s version. Other’s see it as retaliation from a tyrannical director who had a vendetta against the actor. It didn’t help Whedon’s stance when Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel actress Charisma Carpenter revealed Whedon’s horrible treatment of her during their time together on the show that made him famous. Her fellow castmates from the show supported her claims and Whedon’s career was destroyed in matter of days.
The other incident involves Whedon writing a joke where The Flash crashes into Wonder Woman and lands on her breasts. Gal Gadot refused to film the gag. Whedon got pissed at her and threatened to ruin her career or tie her to a train and run her over or something. Whedon blames it on a language misinterpretation, Gal Gadot refutes that claim and says she completely understood the context of what he was saying. At that point top Warner Brother executives had to get involved to diffuse the situation. None of that is good for filmmaking. Top brass do not want to be mediating arguments between its stars and directors. Whedon eventually reworked the shot to use her stunt double. Given the type of human being Ezra Miller turned out to be, no one can blame Gal Gadot for wanting to limit contact with him.
It appeared there was a bit of a cast revolt when Whedon agreed to take over the film. Whedon agreed to write a new film around what was already filmed and complete the project in 60 days. Cast members loyal to Whedon were disappointed they were now making a film they didn’t sign up for. The back-office Hollywood politics and sympathy for Snyder’s loss, Whedon came onto the set with a deficit. His overall demeanor and work style did not help ease tension and probably made the entire situation much worse. The amount of stress placed on him from the studio must have been exponential and he’s dealing with a cast and crew who aren’t receptive to this change. If Whedon had approached the cast and crew with a more open and upbeat attitude, basically if he wasn’t a huge jerk, the movie might still have tanked but he might have salvaged his reputation as a filmmaker. The lesson to learn from Whedon in this scenario is if you’re an established filmmaker, do not take over another director’s film unless he dies or he personally asks you too.
Joss Whedon’s Justice League is released, it’s hated by fans and critics, makes more than double its budget back. It’s forgotten fairly quickly after that. As the years go on Zach Snyder starts a campaign among his fans for a push to finish his version of the film. Rumors have it that Snyder had paid bots flood the internet to manipulate social media algorithms that would trend people wanting his version. It thus tricked the executives into thinking there was a demand for his version of the film. Warner Brothers caved and dropped another $70 million dollars into completing the Snyder version and these two cuts of the film now exist. Neither version is good and it’s Snyder’s fault. Whedon had to work around what was made which resulted in an uneven film. Snyder had complete control over his version of the film and with an extra two hours, did nothing to make it better. Since the Snyder version is not considered canon in the DCEU it’ll get reviewed at the same time we review “Josstice League” instead of its chronological release placing in the DCEU. Sadly we’re stuck watching the same crappy movie twice in a row for a total of 6 hours.
Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com
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