“Zack Snyder’s Justice League” director Zack Snyder and producer Deborah Snyder discuss their upcoming DC film in this interview with CinemaBlend Managing Editor, Sean O’Connell, and CinemaBlend Head of Video, Hannah Saulic. Find out who wrote the dialogue for the Snyder Cut’s additional photography, the story behind the film’s AFSP Easter egg, the message for the #RestoreTheSnyderverse community and more.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00 So I was just curious if you maybe repurposed
00:02 any Superman footage for Justice League.
00:05 - Hmm.
00:07 - We live in a society
00:12 where honor is a distant memory.
00:16 - All right, I'm gonna kick us off.
00:18 So Sean and I have a weekly show
00:19 where we've been discussing all things Snyder Cut
00:22 and a lot of people are super excited
00:23 about the additional photography.
00:25 So I have to ask who wrote the dialogue for that
00:28 because I think the internet needs to know
00:29 who to thank for the Joker's "We live in a society" line.
00:33 - I wrote the dialogue for it,
00:35 for the scene, for that scene.
00:38 But, you know, it was,
00:43 I had sent it over to Chris, you know,
00:45 when I was getting ready to just see if he had any tweaks
00:47 and he seemed, he thought it was pretty cool, so yeah.
00:51 - Isn't that right?
00:52 Batman.
00:55 - Zack, I'm curious, over the three years
00:58 when everybody was discussing the rumored cut,
01:01 how many times do you estimate that you busted it out
01:04 and screened it for friends and family
01:06 in that theater room that you had?
01:08 - Oh, maybe less than a dozen times, probably.
01:12 Not that much, you know, it was,
01:15 you know, frankly, I was,
01:18 it was a thing that, you know, first of all, it was long
01:23 and, you know, my type group,
01:28 the group that I'm with most of the time,
01:30 they kind of know the story,
01:33 they're kind of knee deep in it.
01:34 So the last thing they wanted was to, you know,
01:37 it's like that, you're like, I'm like that crazy guy
01:41 that's like, "Come look at my movie, it's awesome."
01:43 You know, so they're, so I think in that sense,
01:46 you know, it was like a handful of times,
01:49 but, you know, it was really interesting, you know,
01:52 to do it because, you know,
01:54 people would always be like, "Holy cheese,
01:56 like, this is crazy, like, what is this?"
01:59 - It's my legacy.
02:01 - Hey, Sean and hi, Hannah, how are you?
02:03 - Wonderful, thank you.
02:04 So happy to get some time with you.
02:06 I have to start here, watching the film,
02:09 I noticed the AFSP Easter egg that you included in,
02:12 the billboard with the message telling people,
02:14 "You are not alone."
02:15 And I was hoping you could just talk to us
02:16 about the decision to include that
02:19 and how you guys decided where to put it.
02:22 - Well, you know, I think this journey for us,
02:27 I think, towards Zack Snyder's Justice League
02:30 really, you know, started with the fans
02:33 and them taking on a cause that obviously, you know,
02:37 is near and dear to us.
02:40 But I also think like today, you know,
02:43 with the year we've had,
02:45 with so many people losing their jobs or losing loved ones,
02:48 mental health is so important.
02:51 So we wanted to continue the work to support AFSP.
02:55 And a lot of the things we're doing
02:57 at the release of the film are also, you know,
03:00 fundraising, you know, for money for them,
03:03 but also I think to generate awareness
03:05 because I think mental health, so many times,
03:08 there's still such a stigma, you know, against it.
03:12 And people are afraid to talk about it.
03:14 They're embarrassed to talk about it.
03:16 And when we made the decision to come forward about,
03:19 you know, our tragic loss of Autumn,
03:23 we did so, you know, very thoughtfully,
03:25 but also feeling like maybe out of such a horrible thing,
03:30 we can at least, you know, tell our story
03:34 and tell people that there's help out there
03:37 and kind of, you know, spread that word
03:41 that it's okay to talk about it
03:42 and there is support out there.
03:44 So, you know, I think it's been amazing
03:47 to see this fan community embrace this cause.
03:50 And even when they were trying to get the movie made
03:52 all along, they were still raising money
03:55 and raising awareness for AFSP.
03:58 So there was this billboard and we had something else on it.
04:01 And Zach was like, "I think this would be a great place
04:04 to kind of incorporate it in the movie."
04:07 - I'm not broken.
04:08 And I'm not alone.
04:11 - There's a shot of Superman in "Justice League,"
04:13 and I won't say where, but it looks very similar to me
04:15 to a shot that we see in "Man of Steel."
04:18 So I was just curious if you maybe repurposed
04:20 any Superman footage for "Justice League."
04:23 - Hmm, I wonder.
04:26 Yeah.
04:28 - That's it?
04:29 (laughs)
04:30 - I mean, listen, we're in a pandemic,
04:31 so, you know, it was a very,
04:34 doing the, finding the shots and performance
04:40 was challenging, but we were able to figure it out.
04:43 - You have been to the art of deception
04:45 as Mozart to the harpsichord.
04:47 - I wanna switch gears a little bit.
04:49 I think a lot of female-forward films,
04:51 especially in this genre,
04:53 struggle to convey a feminist message
04:55 without being a little bit cheesy or too on the nose.
04:58 And in "Justice League," there's a moment with Wonder Woman
05:01 that I thought could have fallen into that trap,
05:03 but it didn't.
05:04 So I was just curious if that was something
05:05 that you guys were conscious of.
05:07 - Well, I think there's two moments for me
05:11 with Wonder Woman.
05:12 You know, Wonder Woman, it's always been important
05:14 to have this balance of femininity, but also of strength.
05:18 And we have to look like the root of her character,
05:21 you know, was born with, you know, in feminism.
05:25 So I think striking that balance was really important.
05:29 But I love the fact when the little girl,
05:32 after she saves all the kids and she says,
05:35 "Can I be like you one day?"
05:36 And she says, "You can be anything you wanna be."
05:38 Because I think we're all Wonder Woman, right?
05:41 That's the message there.
05:43 And then I do love when in the tunnel battle,
05:47 when Steppenwolf says, "This one is mine."
05:49 And she goes, "I belong to no one."
05:52 And I just think that it's such a powerful moment, you know?
05:57 So, and that's what I love about her
06:00 in this version of the film.
06:02 We really get to see her as a warrior,
06:04 but we also get to see too the struggle with her,
06:07 of her missing her family, you know,
06:10 because I think that's the thing,
06:11 like as a woman and seeing women in comics and in action,
06:15 I want them to be dimensional.
06:17 You know, you don't have to be just one thing.
06:19 You know, you can be vulnerable and sensitive
06:23 and you can also be tough and strong at the same time.
06:26 - Show him your fear!
06:27 - Show him your fear!
06:30 - Obviously, you know, over the course of this whole thing,
06:32 you encouraged the release of "Snyder Cut Family."
06:35 You keep fighting for this version of it.
06:36 Now that there is a "Restore the Snyderverse" campaign,
06:40 I'm wondering if you have a message for those folks.
06:43 - Listen, you know, I said, I really,
06:46 I really appreciate the support.
06:47 It's unbelievable.
06:48 And I couldn't, you know,
06:51 I think it's just a testament in a lot of ways
06:53 to the way we approach these characters
06:56 and the way I feel about them.
06:58 And I think the way I feel about them is similar
06:59 to the way a lot of the fans feel about them
07:01 in the sense that, you know, they really,
07:03 they take this seriously
07:04 and they believe in this mythology
07:06 and they, you know, they want, you know,
07:08 to know that they want to go on that journey.
07:11 And so, you know, all I can say is that
07:14 we didn't think we'd be here making this movie,
07:19 releasing it.
07:19 That's for sure. I didn't.
07:21 So, you know, I just,
07:24 I'm happy to talk with the fans anytime they want about,
07:27 you know, about the universe.
07:30 And yeah.
07:31 (dramatic music)
07:32 - The time
07:33 is now.
07:36 (dramatic music)
07:40 (dramatic music)
07:43 (dramatic music)
07:45 [BLANK_AUDIO]