Justice League Dark has been having a bit of a hard time getting off the ground. Once set to be directed by Guillermo del Toro, the project eventually fell into Doug Liman’s lap, at which point, it looked like things were good to go. However, the Edge of Tomorrow helmer shocked us all a few months back when he announced that he’d be walking from the film, citing scheduling conflicts as the reason for his departure.
Currently, Warner Bros. has yet to find a replacement, but from what we understand, the studio is aggressively searching for someone to fill the director’s chair and whoever they bring on board will “play a major role in the new” DC cinematic universe. For a while there, it sounded like It director Andy Muschietti and Argentinian filmmaker Damián Szifron were the top choices to replace Liman, with a few other contenders coming into contention as well, but now we have another update and it seems as if things have changed.
According to former IGN editor Jeremy Conrad who, admittedly, has a so-so track record with scoops, the studio may be looking to bring in a big gun to take charge of Justice League Dark. And we do mean a BIG gun. Check out Conrad’s Tweet below and see if you can put two and two together.
What director has a horror background, has a history with WB/New Line, can deliver a big PG-13 movie with darkness, and has an Oscar? Imagine if such a director were to walk out on stage in Hall H in SDCC?
Yup, he’s clearly talking about Peter Jackson here. Or at least, it’s very likely that he is. While the above Tweet should be more than enough to give it away, Conrad also mentioned in a follow-up message that the individual in question has done “six big movies” for the studio. Couple that with what he said initially, and Jackson is probably the only one who meets all the criteria listed here.
Admittedly, it’d be pretty surprising if WB was able to snag the Lord of the Rings director for the DCEU, let alone for a smaller project like Justice League Dark, but stranger things have happened and it’s not like Jackson is doing much these days anyways now that he’s completed his trip to Middle-earth. Plus, when you consider that he got his start with films like Dead Alive and Heavenly Creatures, it’s easy to begin to see how the supernatural superhero pic may actually be right up his alley.
That being said, we’ll still file this one in the rumor cabinet for now. Conrad’s been right before, to be fair, but he’s also been way off in the past, so until we get a firm confirmation on his latest scoop, we’ll hold off on getting too excited. It would really be something though if WB were able to grab Peter Jackson for Justice League Dark and it’d be just the thing they need to finally get the project off the ground and into production.
