Zack Snyder Is Re-Shooting ‘Justice League’ Scenes For His Director’s Cut

The fan and cast demanded Zack ‘Snyder cut’ of Warner Bros. 2017 superhero cross-over film Justice League is underway  — and we’re now learning that the director has locked in a week of re-shoots with the A-list cast, despite earlier reports that they’d be working with existing footage.

Snyder is credited as director on Justice League, but he stepped back during production due to the death of his daughter. Joss Whedon took over uncredited and created a very different film to what Snyder envisioned. He cut the film’s length considerably, lightened the film’s tone, and removed much of the plot surrounding Cyborg, who Snyder considered the “heart” of the film.

Both critically panned and commercially unsuccessful, Justice League was a failure for Warner Bros., who were hoping the film would cement the DCCU alongside, rather than behind, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Instead, the failure moved Warner away from an interconnected universe, instead focusing on individual, loosely connected superhero films.

Since its release, DC fans have campaigned long and hard for a ‘Snyder cut’ of the film — something which crew and cast has shown support for over the years, including the likes of Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman) and Ben Affleck (Batman). Fans even crowdfunded for their campaign to fly planes with banners and purchase billboard space in Times Square.

What once felt impossible — why would DC risk more money on this flop? — became official this May, with Warner announcing the Snyder cut would come to HBO Max in 2021 in two forms: a four-hour film, and a four-episode miniseries. It’s believed the post-production edits will cost up to $30 million, though that estimate was before plans to re-shoot scenes were publicly known.

“It will be an entirely new thing, and, especially talking to those who have seen the released movie, a new experience apart from that movie,” Snyder told The Hollywood Reporter in May. “You probably saw one-fourth of what I did,” he added, though he himself never saw the theatrical release.

And now, Gadot, Affleck, Henry Cavil and Ray Fisher, who plays Cyborg, are expected to begin re-shoots this October. Fisher’s involvement is somewhat surprising, as the actor is currently in a fairly public dispute with Warner over his treatment on-set of Justice League, claiming Whedon was abusive and that the studio did little to assist him, with two now-departed executives allegedly ‘enabling’ Whedon’s behaviour.

There’s currently an internal investigation underway into the claims, though DCCU has claimed Fisher wouldn’t work with them on it —  something Fisher denies, sharing screenshots of emails that suggest he has been cooperative.

It was also previously unclear whether what Warner Bros. intends to do with Flash, played by Ezra Miller, who appears in Justice League and is on track to get his own solo film in 2022. Earlier this year, a video circulated of Miller choking a fan, prompting calls for them to be fired from any future DCCU films, Press rumours circulated that Warner may move ahead without them, though it appears they are moving forward with Miller.

Given DCCU’s ongoing turbulence, it’s one to keep an eye on. For now, it’s slated for a 2021 release, with Warner planning to release the film theatrically in markets that don’t have HBO Max, such as Australia.