Ben Affleck Outlines How Zack Snyder And Joss Whedon Approached Justice League Differently

When Justice League descends into theaters on November 17th, it’ll bring an end to a long and at times convoluted saga involving far-flung story rumors, heated speculation, and two seasoned filmmakers in Joss Whedon and Zack Snyder.

Earlier this year, the latter was forced to vacate the director’s chair to tend to a personal tragedy, leaving Warner’s DC mega-movie in the capable hands of Whedon, who’s no stranger to Hollywood’s superhero scene having launched both Avengers and its sequel, Age of Ultron – two films that helped shape and mold the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

But when Whedon answered the call, he traded Marvel for DC, and though the filmmaker won’t receive a director’s credit on Justice League, we understand he’ll be accredited for his contribution to the story, one that was fine-tuned alongside Chris Terrio (Star Wars: Episode IX). Also of note, Christopher Nolan will be listed among the credits as an executive producer.

It won’t be too long before moviegoers get a glimpse of the final product, either, and with November 17th fast approaching, SFX Magazine (via Twitter) caught up with Ben Affleck to discuss what it was like to work under two fairly different directors.

Joss just brought to the movie what good directors bring, which is good taste. A sense of what’s gonna work in the story and what isn’t. An instinct for realism and for finding the humanity in the characters and the humanity in the conflict, then making it accessible and relevant. I think that’s one of the things he did so well with Avengers, frankly. He really defined the tone, and it felt like a lot of the movies after that sort of fell into that tone that he created.

It was a very tricky dance where you have all these people who can do all these fantastic things that are completely absurd on the face of it, and yet, a good storyteller like Joss brings us in, makes us identify with them, makes them seem real, and makes it interesting. A lot of guys know the comic books, a lot of people have that knowledge base. What Joss really has is talent.

When it comes to Joss Whedon, in particular, Affleck had nothing but praise for the filmmaker, noting his ability to ground a superhero conflict within a “compelling human drama.” So not unlike the first Avengers movie, then?

Per SFX Magazine:

I wish I had the gift that he has for identifying what’s the most compelling human drama in the context of superhero conflict. But he has a very sharp mind for it. He knows exactly what he wants, almost with a surgeon’s kind of precision. He focuses in, beat by beat, on how he’s telling the story, exactly where he’ll be editorially. What the tenor of delivery of a line should be like. He gives you comfort because you feel like he has a very clear idea of what he wants, what he expects and, most importantly, what he thinks will work.

Justice League opens in theaters across the globe on November 17th.