Ladies and gentlemen, Zack
“I would set the movie on fire, I’d destroy it before I used a single frame that I did not photograph” Snyder.
He still hasn't seen the theatrical cut, as far as we're aware.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter:
Zack Snyder Pulls Back Curtain on His 'Justice League' Cut
Snyder admitted that he still hasn’t seen the theatrical cut of Justice League and won’t, while also assuaging fears that any of the material Whedon shot would appear in his cut. “I would set the movie on fire, I’d destroy it before I used a single frame that I did not photograph,” Snyder said. While Snyder never spoke Whedon’s name directly, he did say that following his decision to
step down as director of
Justice League, after a family tragedy, the replacement director was chosen by the process of committee.
Even before he stepped down, Snyder ran into opposition from studio execs who wanted the film to be “hilarious.” He received a significant amount of pushback in wanting to see Superman return in a black suit as he famously did in "The Return of Superman" (1993) comic book storyline. Execs feared the black suit Superman would be “too scary,” but Snyder wasn’t interested in making Superman’s return into a joke. “I want Superman in full volume, in the full spectrum of emotion, not a one-note boy scout.”
I've found while trawling through the internet for Snyder Cut news, is that studio interference has gone beyond what happened to Zack Snyder and his movies, as evidenced by interviews with Patty Jenkins, insider knowledge from Warner Media, and what David Ayer has revealed on Twitter of his own cut of the story.
Fandango:
‘WONDER WOMAN’ Director Patty Jenkins On How the Film's Most Memorable Scene Almost Didn't Happen
“I think that in superhero movies, they fight other people, they fight villains,” she said. “So when I started to really hunker in on the significance of No Man's Land, there were a couple people who were deeply confused, wondering, like, ‘Well, what is she going to do? How many bullets can she fight?’ And I kept saying, ‘It's not about that. This is a different scene than that. This is a scene about her becoming Wonder Woman.’”
The Hollywood Reporter:
'Suicide Squad's' Secret Drama: Rushed Production, Competing Cuts, High Anxiety
A source with knowledge of events says Warners executives, nervous from the start, grew more anxious after they were blindsided and deeply rattled by the tepid response to BvS. "Kevin was really ****ed about damage to the brand," says one executive close to the studio. A key concern for Warners executives was that Suicide Squad didn't deliver on the fun, edgy tone promised in the strong teaser trailer for the film. So while Ayer pursued his original vision, Warners set about working on a different cut, with an assist from Trailer Park, the company that had made the teaser.
Sadly [Harley Quinn's] story arc [in Suicide Squad] was eviscerated. It was her movie in so many ways. Look I tried. I rendered Harley comic book accurate. Everything is political now. Everything. I just want to entertain. I will do better.
— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies)
Apr 10, 2020
[Harley being an accomplice to Jason's murder] broke my timeline. Johns added it.
— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies)
Jun 4, 2020
ScreenRant:
Suicide Squad: Every Trailer Scene NOT in The Film
CBR:
Suicide Squad: What We Know About the David Ayer Cut
MovieWeb:
Harley Quinn and Deadshot Hooked Up as a Couple Before Suicide Squad Reshoots
The bafflement about Superman's black suit, Wonder Woman "fighting bullets", and everything around Ayer's cut of Suicide Squad is definitely a Geoff Johns and Joss Whedon thing (also Kevin Tsujihara, but I only found his name in an unsourced "open letter" calling Wonder Woman "a mess"). Let's not even get started here on Joss's infamous Wonder Woman script.
While Zack has had a "dark" take on Superman, he's at least trying to portray
Superman. No different than Red Son, Kingdom Come, and other interpretations. Patty Jenkins did a Wonder Woman movie. Ayer intended an understandably dark take on the "Worst Heroes Eva". What Johns and Whedon seem to like doing across the movies they have influence on, though, is insert
their personal drama and opinions into the characters, butchering the character in service to what they want to do.
Johns ruined Green Lantern by inserting Daddy Issues and his personal hate for Batman into Hal Jordan (read also: the Emotional Spectrum). Hal Jordan coming back to begin with, along with Barry Allen taking priority over Wally West and other speedsters, was Johns fostering nostalgia wank. He didn't even grow up with Barry Allen as the Flash, he grew up with West.
Whedon also has his own history of morphing characters so he can express his frustration over his Successful but Still Oppressed Nerd status, summed thus:
'When I was running Buffy, I was surrounded by beautiful, needy, aggressive young women. It felt like I had a disease, like something from a Greek myth. Suddenly I am a powerful producer and the world is laid out at my feet and I can't touch it.' So he's stuck inserting these pathetic nerd characters in the proximity of buxom women and bonus points if the nerd falls on the pretty lady's boobs, because funny.
And screw it, I'm gonna say it. His Wonder Woman script was awful. It was basically Diana being called nasty things from men being
unequivocally sexist towards her, and Steve telling Diana to Check Her Privilege. Plus Whedon's foot fetishism. Plus WW dirty dancing to get men's attention, described in-script as "
sensual, ethereal, and wicked sexy". Plus basically the story arc of Thor 1, "God gets powers stripped because of arrogance, learns to navigate the world without abilities", Genderbent Strife (changed from goddess to god), and did I mention Steve telling Diana to Check Her Privilege?
I'm just saying Snyder, Jenkins, and Ayer were out to tell stories and DC/WB ruined it to varying degrees. Hoping that
Zack Snyder's Justice League is the beginning to directors not having their works hijacked by people who are out of touch.
