Justice League Cinematographer Echoes Plea For A Director’s Cut

You’re not the only one crossing your fingers in the hope that Warner Bros. will release a director’s cut of Justice League.

Fabian Wagner, cinematographer on the pic and one of the DPs currently working on Game of Thrones season 8, has encouraged WB to dive through the archives and piece together all of those scenes that were allegedly left on the cutting room floor. Indeed, one need only look over Justice League‘s trailer campaign to identify all those shots that didn’t make the final cut.

Rumor has it that Warner imposed a two-hour mandate on Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon’s blockbuster, which goes some way to explaining the truncated runtime – at only 119 minutes in length, Justice League is undoubtedly one of the shortest superhero films in recent memory. Hell, it even took Wagner by surprise:

This one was even shorter than I expected, so there are scenes that aren’t in there. I really hope we get to see a director’s cut, which will give us everything that we shot that didn’t make it in. What I love about his [Snyder’s] director’s cuts is they are long, but he takes his time to tell the story. I’ve never watched any of his directors cut and thought ‘This is long.’ Whether they are three hours long, or three hours and ten minutes, they always seemed to go quick.

Prior to his work within the DC Extended Universe, Fabian Wagner was known for tackling some of Thrones‘ most ambitious episodes – namely “Hardhome” and “Battle of the Bastards” – so it’s small wonder why Zack Snyder brought him on board.

He and I had been talking about what we’ve been doing, and he knew some of the style we’ve been going for. It was great to have someone I know and who knew the film beforehand and could come in and give it continuity.

It’s a portfolio that Wagner hopes will lead him to Flashpoint, and even if Justice League fell flat in the eyes of critics, the DP will always cherish the opportunity to shoot DC’s finest.

There were so many days I came on set and I thought, ‘Wow, I can’t believe I’m shooting Batman, or shooting Superman.’ Both Zack and [visual effects supervisor John ‘D.J.’ Des Jardin] said to me that they want me to do a lot of interactive lighting, and create some sort of visual language that we could use to portray Flash’s speed.

And though Justice League has only just hit theaters (our review), Warner Bros. is reportedly staring down the face of a $50m-$100m loss no thanks to the film’s exorbitant production costs. It’ll need to clear $750 million just to turn a profit, though the latest forecast claims Zack Snyder’s mega-movie will finish its theatrical run just shy of $700 million.