Warner Bros. and DC Films have had a crazy week. Last week Rodrigo gave us a breathless recap of the latest goings on in the DCEU. A Joker spinoff movie was in the works, with Todd Phillips directing and Martin Scorsese executive producing, with DC Films saying it would be part of a new strand of non-continuity DC pictures. Then we learned about a Joker and Harley Quinn movie coming from writing/directing team Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (“Crazy Stupid Love,” “Focus” and “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot”), with Jared Leto and Margot Robbie back in their respective roles. The movie would follow “Suicide Squad 2,” which is apparently being fast-tracked, but still has no director. Phew, DC, slow down a bit.
We also learned of the crazy reshoots the WB/DC were doing on “Justice League” for its November release and it seemed like they were axing Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor from the project entirely. The “Justice League” reshoots have been a source of controversy for the WB, who had to contend with Zack Snyder leaving post-production for personal reasons and Joss Whedon (“The Avengers“) taking his place to finish the movie. Whedon went on to service a remolding of the film, with the aforementioned reshoots, after WB execs reportedly deemed a rumored first cut unwatchable. That is if you believe the swirling and rampant rumors in the first place. Damage control was inevitable and the WB have been pushing back on the negative rumors.
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In case you didn’t notice, this week’s Rolling Stone cover features Wonder Woman herself, Gal Gadot. In the cover story she talks about her life in Israel, her present-day stardom, but also tries to defend the recent reshoots by saying the tone of “Justice League” couldn’t change that much because the movie was already shot; Also, she confirms that Whedon was Snyder’s first choice:
“Look, Joss, to my understanding, was Zack’s choice to finish the movie. And the tone can’t be completely different because the movie was already shot. Joss is just fine-tuning.”
It’s so easy to get caught up with all this talk about reshoots, but, at the end of the day, what has always laid toxic movie rumors to rest was the finished product itself turning out great. Yes, it is concerning to read rumors about allegedly “unwatchable” movies, but let’s see how “Justice League” turns up when it is released on November 17th before passing judgement. [Rolling Stone]