Director Zack Snyder gave his contemporary, Christopher Nolan, a private IMAX screening of Justice League’s 4-hour cut. This weekend sees the Netflix release of Snyder’s Army of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead’s (2004) spiritual sequel. Following the latter’s revitalization of the horror/zombie genre, Snyder made a name for himself bringing comics to life—from his adaptation of Frank Miller’s 300 to Watchmen, the director’s signature style and visuals being comparable to moving panels.
Nolan, who famously resurrected big-screen Batman with The Dark Knight trilogy, hand-picked Snyder to do the same for Warner Bros’ Superman reboot in 2010. After the success of Man of Steel (2013), Snyder was anointed as the visionary who would spearhead the DC Extended Universe. However, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) was hampered by studio interference and critically panned. Snyder’s “darker” version of its follow-up, Justice League, never made its way to theaters. Following a family tragedy, Snyder was forced to depart as director, and Joss Whedon stepped in to reshoot the project to be more Marvel-esque. Thanks to overwhelming fan support, the Snyder Cut of Justice League was recently released on HBO Max. Snyder’s Justice League is now universally hailed as superior to its theatrical counterpart—something Nolan advised Snyder never to watch.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Snyder alluded to his friendship with Nolan; in particular, their relationship as coworkers, creatives, and contemporaries. Late last year, Nolan invited Snyder over to watch Tenet, and then, a few weeks ago, Snyder showed Nolan his 4-hour cut of Justice League – accompanied by a 15-minute interval – at a private IMAX screening. Read what Snyder said about that experience below:
Chris has been involved in this thing since Man of Steel, so I think it was as cathartic for him to see it as anybody,” said Snyder. “We had a long conversation afterwards about how it feels in its four-hour format in the theatre, and he said he thought it had regained its epic sensibility – that mythological aspect that I thought was inherent to the story I was telling all along. Now, I haven’t seen the other version” – the 2017 Whedon Cut – “but there is apparently a way to wring the mythological aspects of it. But for me, that’s the single thread that when you pull it out, the whole thing unravels. So we were both very glad to see it stitched back in.
Snyder’s Justice League represents the culmination of a story that began in Man of Steel and redemption for the DCEU. It contains and fleshes out more characters than its theatrical version and teases what the Snyder-Verse would’ve become, from Knightmare future to Martian Manhunter, had WB not abandoned it. Despite viral campaigns to #RestoreTheSynderVerse, it appears the studio has to intention of doing so. On top of that, Snyder appears to be at peace walking away from his time with WB’s DC Universe. Nolan’s long partnership with WB, which has handled the domestic and international distribution of all his movies since Insomnia (2002), has become similarly strained following the studio’s decision to release their entire 2021 slate on HBO Max the same day as theaters.
Nolan's Tenet was slated to be WB's major summer tentpole in 2020 before its release was derailed by the coronavirus pandemic. Therefore, it premiered exclusively in theaters last September in the hopes that it would revive the theatrical experience, something of which Nolan—who films large portions of his films specifically for IMAX—is a huge proponent. Unfortunately, Tenet struggled at the box office, illustrating the risks of releasing expensive theatrical releases and influencing WB's HBO Max decision. Now, it doesn’t seem like Nolan or Snyder will be working with WB any time soon. Aside from its “epic sensibility,” one can only wonder what else the pair discussed while watching Snyder's Justice League.
Source: The Telegraph
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