Zack Snyder's Justice League – the director's new cut of the superhero team-up – has almost arrived. The theatrical cut, which was shaped by Joss Whedon, will soon be a distant memory for everyone – well, except for Snyder himself, who has never seen Whedon's version of the movie.
"Because I’ve never seen the theatrical version of Justice League, I don’t know exactly what from my movie is in that movie," Snyder tells Total Film in the latest issue of the magazine. "But I have heard from people who were on my crew and then continued on [with Whedon], there was about an hour of reshoots. So I guess they used about an hour of my footage, and they pretty much touched every shot, whether it was for ADR or whatever. I think my movie is a chance to get into the characters and the story beats a lot more."
Snyder's new version will be a lot longer, clocking in around four hours compared to the theatrical version's two hours. Within the new runtime, fans can expect two brand new scenes, shot last year, and the rest were filmed during initial photography and have new VFX. That first shoot was not easy for Snyder – the filmmaker reveals that the studio put pressure on him to make it funnier.
"[The original plan] was absolutely being twisted during production, but y'know, I was there to fight them," Snyder recalls. "Even though there was pressure on me to make it funnier and lighten it, I would persist as much as I could to keep the tone as much as I could. I added a bunch of things for them, and I was always careful to make sure I covered things both ways, so that it didn’t affect the movie story-wise. It was my hope that, in post-production, I'd be able to force my will upon them."
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Whedon's cut did have a few funny lines, yet Snyder's will undoubtedly have a more serious tone. The new cut also features two new scenes, filmed last year, one of which adds Jared Leto's Joker to the movie. Hopefully, the reviews will be kinder to this new version of Justice League.
Zack Snyder's Justice League is scheduled to stream on HBO Max in the US (take a look at our guide to the latest HBO Max prices) and on VOD services in the UK from March 18. For much more on the film – plus exclusive on-set coverage of Godzilla vs. Kong – pick up a copy of the new issue of Total Film magazine when it hits shelves (real and digital) this Friday, March 5. Check out the new covers below:
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