UPDATE: Riesman has since clarified his comments on Twitter, saying that when he spoke to Nelson she expressed “no ill-feeling towards Snyder.”
Ever since we got our first look at Justice League with last year’s Comic-Con trailer, there’s been a lot of talk about the production having being reworked from top to bottom after the mixed reception to Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. These rumours only intensified when we learned that Joss Whedon was replacing Zack Snyder as the movie’s director for its extensive reshoots.
In particular, it was often said that Warner Bros. were looking to make the film lighter and funnier, so as to get away from the gloomy tone of BvS that proved so controversial. Not only that, but as a new quote that’s surfaced today reveals, the studio simply didn’t agree with Snyder’s vision for the franchise.
While chatting on the Batman-On-Film podcast this week, Vulture writer Abraham Riesman spoke about a recent interview he did with DC Entertainment President Diane Nelson, where she told him, “we are a director-driven place and Zack had a vision that didn’t necessarily sync up with what our vision of these characters is, but we respect that he wanted to go for that and that’s part of our philosophy.”
Though not terribly shocking to hear, this is still an interesting remark from Nelson and indicates that Snyder likely won’t be welcomed back into the franchise. At least, not unless he’s willing to drastically change his vision for these characters and their stories. Given that that’s unlikely to happen, we probably shouldn’t expect to see Zack back at the helm of a DC film ever again.
Truthfully, that’s probably not the worst thing in the world, but it would have been nice to see this all end off a bit better for him. Sure, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice was rubbish, but at least it was good looking rubbish and I still nurse a soft spot for Man of Steel, Dawn of the Dead and the criminally underrated and deeply misunderstood Sucker Punch.
Whether Joss Whedon coming in to finish off Justice League will result in a better film remains to be seen, but it’ll certainly be interesting to watch how the world reacts to it once it touches down in theatres on November 17th.
