Zack Snyder is planning to shoot new scenes for his cut of Justice League. When the director stepped away from the production of Justice League in 2017, Joss Whedon took over and proceeded to reshoot a large chunk of the movie. The result from pretty disastrous. Whedon’s tone is considerably brighter than Snyder’s somber, darker deconstruction of DC’s marquee characters. The theatrical cut was a Frankenstein’s monster of a movie hastily cobbled together from mismatched parts. Understandably, Snyder petitioned hard to restore his vision. Against insurmountable odds, Snyder (thanks in large part by fans) gets to release his cut of Justice League on HBO Max sometime next year.
It seems Snyder continues to get his way. In May, HBO Max told Snyder he could have money for post-production, special effects, scoring and ADR, but there would no funds for reshoots. Now, this seems to no longer be the case.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Snyder will begin filming new scenes in October, and among the cast returning is Ben Affleck as Batman, Henry Cavill as Superman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, and Ray Fisher as Cyborg. There’s no word if Ezra Miller and Jason Momoa will join them as Flash and Aquaman respectively, but the shoot is only expected to last a week.
At this stage, it’s uncertain if the reshoots are minor tweaks (Snyder has repeatedly said that there is hours of footage already shot that will make it back into the HBO Max cut of Justice League), or he’s going to make significant changes to repair the damage done to his vision by Whedon. HBO Max has reportedly already allocated upwards of $30 million on the Snyder Cut, but it’s unclear how much more Snyder will get for reshoots.
What is interesting about this report is Ray Fisher’s involvement. Fisher is currently involved in a very public, and heated, dispute with Warner Bros. He alleges Joss Whedon treatment of Justice League’s cast and crew was “gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable.” In addition, Fisher claims producers Jon Berg and Geoff Johns made “a thinly veiled threat” about the future of Fisher’s career after he made his complaint. Jason Momoa has recently leaped to Fisher’s defense publicly stating the behavior that occurred during Whedon’s reshoots “needs proper investigations.”
So, the beleaguered production of Justice League is ongoing and is compounded further by the logistics of shooting amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter