Back when “Justice League” was deep into post-production, reports came out that Zack Snyder had left the film and that Joss Whedon was going to take over planned reshoots for the film. At the time, it was reported that Snyder’s exit involved a family situation (the death of his daughter), but there were rumblings that there could have been more to the story. Well, there appears to be some truth to those initial reports.
READ MORE: Zack Snyder Says His ‘Justice League’ Director’s Cut Is A Movie, No Longer A Series
According to an upcoming book, “Release the Snyder Cut” (via CinemaBlend), Snyder talked about the reasons why he stepped away from “Justice League.” For context, it’s important to realize that the version of the superhero film that arrived in theaters carried Snyder’s name in the credits but judging by comments after the fact, Whedon basically rewrote and reshot most of the film and cut out a lot of what the original filmmaker envisioned. This was thought to be a studio mandate to make the film more like a Marvel movie.
And when you hear Snyder tell the story, it seems as if there is truth to that rumor, but there is also the real situation involving his personal life that drove the decision.
“I just was kind of done with it,” explained Snyder. “I was in this place of [knowing] my family needs me more than this bullshit, and I just need to honor them and do the best I can to heal that world.”
He continued, “I had no energy to fight [the studio], and fight for [the movie]. Literally, zero energy for that. I really think that’s the main thing. I think there’s a different world where I stayed and kind of tried. And I’m sure I could have . . . because every movie is a fight, right? I was used to that. But I just did not have the [energy]. There was no fight in me. I had been beaten by what was going on in my life and I just didn’t want to, I didn’t care to . . . that was kind of where I was.”
Obviously, as the title of the book implies, Snyder is back in the editing room working hard on the finishing touches for his director’s cut of “Justice League,” which will be released on HBO Max sometime in March (allegedly). Thanks to his legions of fans, who are very comfortable with tagging WarnerMedia executives in thousands of tweets, Snyder was able to come back to “Justice League” years later and spend another $70 million to bring his original vision to life.
So, in the end, while he didn’t want to “fight” the studio back then, his fans did the fighting for him this time and secured him the chance to finish what he started.