Batman v Superman director Zack Snyder opens up about his feelings about his truncated plans for the DCEU, as well as his interests in making a Dark Knight Returns film.
In an interview with Variety, Snyder was pretty honest about leaving mid-production from the Justice League movie. Originally, Snyder planned an epic two-part story with the Justice League versus Darkseid. However, plans changed due to studio feedback from Batman v Superman and also Snyder dealing with the personal tragedy of his daughter’s death at the time.
Zack Snyder on Joss Whedon’s ‘Justice League’
Since then the filmmaker admitted he still has not seen the Joss Whedon-directed theatrical cut of the movie.
The circumstances around [being let go of ‘Justice League’] were so particular. It just kind of crawled over me. What was happening with me and my family was so intense.
‘It was so loud — that part was so loud — that, in retrospect, asking, “How’s the movie going?” And they go, “Oh, it’s fine! They’re doing some reshoots.” And I go, “Oh, OK. F— it.” So, Debbie went and watched the Joss [Whedon] version of the movie, and to have her come back to me and say, “You can never see that movie,” and to realize then that it was 60 pages of rewrites that they did for it… I’ve never seen the movie, so I don’t know.
I’ve never seen [Whedon’s version]. There was a point when the movie was released that was a low point for me because the pile-on effect was so insane. Not only did I lose my daughter, but also they’ve released this version of the movie that I had nothing to do with and my name is on a movie that I didn’t make.
Zack Snyder even went so far to say that he has not seen James Gunn’s recent Superman or the newly-released Supergirl.
I haven’t seen the movies. It’s a little bit too personal for me. Too soon, I guess you could say. I do like James [Gunn]. And I do have an appreciation for his [vision].
Why is Now a Great Time for a ‘Dark Knight Returns’ Adaptation
One thing that Snyder has repeatedly expressed interest in was making a film adaptation of the Frank Miller graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns. He cited how now is a great time for a deconstructed take on Batman since multiple generations of people have been familiar with the genre tropes from superhero movies.
The reason why it’s “The Dark Knight Returns,” if anyone would ever let me do it outside of the DC Universe since it’s a novel that just happens to have superheroes in it, is if I could do “Watchmen” and “Dark Knight Returns,” those two books next to each other, to me, represent the complete cycle of the superhero comic book medium. You can do no more than those two books. “Watchmen” came at the beginning of the superhero movie phase, so it would be super fitting to have “The Dark Knight Returns” come now, at what I would say is possibly — I don’t want to call it the twilight, but we’re down the road of the superhero movie genre, and I think audiences would understand the why of it. Let’s not forget: “The Dark Knight Returns” was written for a comic book audience that was very exhausted by comic books in the same way that “Watchmen” was, so having that movie written now for people who are exhausted by comic book movies would be a good time.