Just days ago, Warner Bros. stormed Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con by giving us an incredible new Justice League trailer that may be even better than the first. Seriously, I’ve already watched it several times now thanks to its witty dialogue and dynamic visuals that may be the most impressive that a movie of this kind has offered to date.
Still, it’s hard for the analytical mind to take it all in without wondering how much has been a product of reshoots. Truth be told, many of the iconic shots – especially those with Batman – are likely Zack Snyder’s handiwork, but a lot of the exchanges between the heroes kind of sound like they were written by Joss Whedon.
Of course, we’ve all known about Whedon stepping in to finish the project for some time now, with some reports suggesting that the reshoots have been rather extensive. While some have called that into question, according to the latest report by Variety, that’s indeed what’s going on.
You see, reshoots are not uncommon in Hollywood, usually lasting about a week or two, thereby adding an additional $6-10 million to the budget. But according to the latest chatter, these new sequences being shot throughout the summer have amounted to $25 million, which is equivalent to what’s typically spent on mid-budget flicks for their entire production.
If you were to ask me, it’s about time for Whedon to get co-directing credit. But despite there being word on the street saying that he will, Variety is hearing just the opposite. Still, he may be granted a screenplay or producing credit.
Per the industry trade, all this jazz has been in an effort “to punch up the dialogue” and that “the set pieces Snyder shot are said to be usable, but Whedon has been working on ‘connective tissue’ that was needed to link sequences.” Admittedly, this isn’t a bad thing because although I liked Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice more than the next guy, I’ll confess that a few transitions even in the Ultimate Edition were rough around the edges. Really, all any of us can hope for is the best movie possible.
As for the stars having to venture back to the set, well, that’s where it really gets interesting. In typical cases, the brevity of reshoots doesn’t make for nightmarish scheduling conflicts, but due to the enormity of what’s going down here, it’s giving headaches to the film’s stars, who are heavily in demand.
Luckily, Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot are said to be otherwise unoccupied and Ezra Miller is working on another WB picture in the form of the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them sequel, thus his scheduling easier, but the fates haven’t been as kind to Henry Cavill.
As it turns out, Cavill is having to go back and forth between shooting Justice League and the next Mission: Impossible movie. What’s especially funny about the situation is that he grew out a mustache for the latter, therefore it’ll have to be removed digitally in post-production so that Superman doesn’t look like a basketball coach in blue tights.
Taking all that into account, we’ll just have to trust the cast and crew before witnessing the final product when Justice League arrives in theaters on November 17.
