#ReleaseTheSnyderCut Movement Begins With A Timeline And Emotional Tribute
THE CRACKS
March 5th, 2017: Zack post a photo on Vero with the Batmobile talking about upgrades.
March 6th, 2017: Geoff Johns roll on Wonder Woman explained.
March 7th, 2017: Zack post a photo of Aquaman with the green screen because people were wondering if Jason Momoa was CG or not when it was just his hair that was CGI.
March 23rd, 2017: Zack reveals the Official Justice League Poster on Vero.
March 25th, 2017: Zack releases the first trailer for Justice League on Vero.
March 30th, 2017: Zack and Jon Berg joke about the cut of Justice League being 3 hours.
April 12th, 2017: Zack post a Justice League Poster “Unite The League” on Twitter
May 11th, 2017: Zack acknowledges BvS moving into All-Time Best Selling Blu-Ray list.
May 15th, 2017: Zack travels to China to promote Wonder Woman on Vero.
May 15th, 2017: Extensive reshoots are said to be added.
- “How significant?” we asked.
- Speaking on a condition of anonymity, they said that in the 17 months between the start of principal photography and the final cut arriving in theaters in November that the film will have essentially been “remade…twice.”
May 22, 2017: Zack steps down from Justice League. The narrative sounds like it was his call but looking back at it, we can see it probably wasn’t. Whedon was being talked to about coming in to rewrite scenes before hand but we learn that later on.
- The filmmaker’s daughter died by suicide in March, prompting him to take a break from work and hire Joss Whedon to finish the Warner Bros. superhero pic: “I’ve decided to take a step back from the movie to be with my family, be with my kids, who really need me.”
- Stepping in to shepherd the movie through post and the shooting of some additional scenes will be Joss Whedon, the Avengers filmmaker and creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. With Whedon’s help, the movie is still on track for its Nov. 17 release date.
- Zack Snyder says he initially was eager to return to the film, which stars Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa and Ezra Miller.
- “In my mind, I thought it was a cathartic thing to go back to work, to just bury myself and see if that was the way through it,” said an emotional Snyder in an interview Monday in his office on the Warner Bros. lot, with Deborah sitting by his side. “The demands of this job are pretty intense. It is all-consuming. And in the last two months, I’ve come to the realization … I’ve decided to take a step back from the movie to be with my family, be with my kids, who really need me. They are all having a hard time. I’m having a hard time.”
- One of the first things the studio floated was the possibility of pushing back the release date of the movie, but the Snyders decided against that. Warners also extended Snyder’s first-look deal to give him time to work on other planned projects when he returns to work.
- Snyder, after screening a rough cut of Justice League for fellow filmmakers and friends, wanted to add additional scenes, so he brought Whedon on board to write them. But as he prepared to shoot the scenes in England, Snyder realized it was not the time to leave home. “The directing is minimal and it has to adhere to the style and tone and the template that Zack set,” says Emmerich. “We’re not introducing any new characters. It’s the same characters in some new scenes. He’s handing the baton to Joss, but the course has really been set by Zack. I still believe that despite this tragedy, we’ll still end up with a great movie.”
- The internet and comic book movie fans being what they are, Snyder already is anticipating what some DC loyalists may think.
- “Here’s the thing, I never planned to make this public,” he says. “I thought it would just be in the family, a private matter, our private sorrow that we would deal with. When it became obvious that I need to take a break, I knew there would be narratives created on the internet. They’ll do what they do. The truth is … I’m past caring about that kind of thing now.”
May 23rd, 2017: Zack post a picture of the sun set on Vero
May 25th, 2017: Charles Roven, while at the Wonder Woman Premiere, talks about reshoots:
- “Well, I think you’ve seen some things out there, right?” Roven responded when asked if he could tease Justice League. “We’re excited about the film. Of course, we were saddened by the events that caused Zack Snyder and Deborah Snyder to have to leave and turn the reins over to Joss Whedon,” Roven continued. “He was already working with us on some of the scenes for the additional photography that we’re gonna be doing shortly, and it was fortunate that Zack convinced him, and he agreed to step in and finish the movie, help Zack finish his vision, and we’re excited about that.”
June 2nd, 2017: Zack post “Proud” with a picture of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman on Vero.
June 7th,2017: Geoff Johns and Kevin Feige talk about Donner’s Superman influences and Honor him for his film achievements
- Among the numerous stars and directors paying tribute, were two comic book movie kingpins, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige and DC Films co-chair Geoff Johns. Both got their start at The Donners’ Company, the production company Richard starting with his wife, noted X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner.
- During their turn to speak, Feige remarked, “Superman, the movie is still, to this day, the archetype of the perfect superhero film origin story. I hope you don’t bemoan the fact that that film has inspired all of these movies.“
June 14th, 2017: Danny Elfman replaces Junkie XL. JXL Says “It pains me to leave the project, but a big thanks to Zack for asking me to part of his vision, and I wish Danny, Joss and Warner Bros all the best with Justice League.” Read into that all you like, but it sounds clear to me that something isn’t right. Especially considering how many times we hear the John Williams Theme of Superman in Justice League.
- The hiring comes just as additional photography, with director Joss Whedon standing in for Zack Snyder, for the movie gets underway in London. Whedon is overseeing the new shoot and postproduction work on Justice League after Snyder stepped aside to deal with a family tragedy.
June 15th, 2017: Geoff Johns makes joke towards a tweet about him remaking Justice League. While also liking another tweet about Justice League still being Snyders.
- When a fake Joss Whedon Twitter account thanked Johns for asking him “to reshoot the entire Justice League movie,” Johns couldn’t help but throw back a witty retort: “Did I mention we’re going to put Spider-Man and Scooby Doo in it?”
July 16th, 2017: Zack Snyder changes Twitter header and picture from Justice League to nothing. I’m afraid I didn’t see it because I wasn’t looking.
July 22nd, 2017: SDCC for Justice League (Ray Fisher dons a I <3 ZS shirt and also the first time Snyder does not attend Comic Con)
- The cast makes light of reshoots by saying they’re brief and that Zack picked the right guy to hand over the film to.
- First signal that we’re working with a Whedon joint: the new trailer opens on Wonder Woman taking on a machine-gun-wielding group of heavies. Sure, Warners would be fools to not harness the power of the highest-grossing movie of the summer, but don’t forget that badass heroines are kind of Joss’ thing—or at least one of them. Considering that he started work on the movie before Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman opened, chances seem good that he moved Gadot’s character into the forefront. The fact that she’s positioned as the rational, together one throughout the rest of the proceedings feels very Whedonesque as well.
July 24th, 2017: Johns talks about his view on Kevin Feige.
- Johns, by comparison praised his former co-worker’s body of work saying “What you’ve done is insane and I love watching it because it’s so phenomenal. And I love it all.” He even reminisced about how Feige built a shed on top of his apartment where he safely kept all his action figures – proving the Marvel boss’ passion for the geeky genre.
July 24th, 2017: Reshoots start causing major concern.
- Then there is the question of crediting. Joss Whedon has now spent months overseeing the project, but he will not receive a co-directing credit, according to an insider. Whedon stepped in to handle the reshoots and finish the film this spring after director Zack Snyder publicly excused himself from the project, following his daughter’s suicide in March. Whedon won’t just be rewarded with a fat paycheck. He may also get a producing credit or a screenplay credit. There’s some precedent. Tony Gilroy, who stepped in for director Gareth Edwards to oversee reshoots for “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” earned a screenwriting credit.
July 30th, 2017: Johns has an interview where he makes the comments:
- “I work with so many talented people. So there’s people that love it, and understand it, and embrace it, and then there’s people that don’t know that and you want to help them learn it, and you want to tell them why a certain storyline for a certain character might not work. Or why a take on a character might not work, or what Superman really should be. But the whole thing is to craft and shape the story and the tone to fit the character. And to celebrate the character, instead of deconstruct the character. I think you want to celebrate the character, because you’ve got to celebrate something and build it up, I think, to really make it into something that represents who that character truly is.”