The DC filmmaker opens up about his departure from the superhero movie back in 2017, admitting he 'lost the will to fight' for the film following daughter's tragic death.
- Feb 23, 2021
AceShowbiz - Filmmaker Zack Snyder "lost the will to fight" for his version of the "Justice League" movie after struggling to come to terms with the tragic death of his daughter.
Snyder stepped down as director of the 2017 superhero blockbuster after his adopted child Autumn committed suicide and, although he was already deep into the post-production stage of the project, he didn't have the strength to challenge the changes his replacement, Joss Whedon, made to his original vision.
Discussing why he and his production partner and wife Deborah walked away from the film, he said, "We just lost the will to fight that fight in a lot of ways. All of us, the whole family, we're just so broken by (losing Autumn) that having those conversations in the middle of it really became... I was like, 'Really?' "
"Frankly I think we did the right thing because I think it would've been either incredibly belligerent or we (would have) just rolled over."
Whedon's final release was poorly received by fans and critics alike, and now, Snyder is preparing to unveil his own super cut of "Justice League".
He admits he has no plans to check out Whedon's version because he was warned against doing so by both his wife and his director pal Christopher Nolan, who had viewed the film at a private screening before its original release.
"They came and they just said, 'You can never see that movie,' " Snyder told Vanity Fair.
Now he's been given the opportunity to premiere his take as a four-hour movie on U.S. streaming service HBO Max next month (Mar21), but Snyder didn't want to release his cut without additional finishing touches.
The reworked "Justice League" also concludes with a tribute to his late daughter, the only one of Snyder's eight kids to share his love of sci-fi and mythical creatures - and he credits her for inspiring his latest work.
"At the end of the movie, it says 'For Autumn,' " Snyder said. "Without her, this absolutely would not have happened."
