What I would have given for a ticket to the recent Zack Snyder: The Director’s Cuts event. Over the course of three days, the director’s cuts of Dawn of the Dead, Watchmen and Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice were screened, with Snyder appearing in person for lengthy Q&As after each one. Over these, we learned a hell of a lot about his plans for the DCEU, including confirmation of fan theories and some surprising (and controversial) new revelations. We even got word on the Snyder cut of Justice League, which is apparently closer to completion than anyone previously thought.
But one of the smaller and more welcome insights from the event came when he discussed his feelings towards the MCU, with the filmmaker saying the following:
“The thing with comic book movies is… you know I’m a fan. I go and see them, and I love them. I don’t have a… you know, I go and see all the Avengers movies, and I go, and enjoy them. I love it. You don’t have to not enjoy them, but you also have to be open to other things as well.”
Understandably, the comment was greeted with applause from the audience. To those familiar with Snyder though, this won’t come as a shocking revelation. The guy has always worn his fanboyism on his sleeve and his passion for superheroics means he’s obviously going to be checking out the MCU. But perhaps most interesting is his comment that fans should be “open to other things as well.” This is a clear and slightly barbed reference to fans that he at least was trying to do something different with his DCEU movies, consciously pushing back against the quip-filled and formulaic MCU.
Don’t get me wrong, the MCU template is something I’m not tired of yet, but love or hate Zack’s films, at least they were ambitious. Here’s hoping that we can one day enjoy the fabled Snyder cut of Justice League.
Published: Mar 26, 2019 05:06 pm