The press tour for the upcoming “Justice League” director’s cut has to be a bit of a victory lap for filmmaker Zack Snyder. After years of dealing with the fallout of Warner Bros. handing the film to Joss Whedon to heavily reshoot it when Snyder left the production, the director has largely remained silent about his thoughts on the situation.
Instead, his fans and their #ReleaseTheSnyderCut campaign picked up the slack, taking on WB and anyone that would badmouth Snyder or his vision for the film. And as you might expect, this ruffled quite a few feathers, with people calling it part of toxic fandom, as the Snyder Cut faithful would take over all avenues of WB social media demanding the studio give the filmmaker a chance to do his version of “Justice League.” And now, with “Justice League” arriving in March, Snyder is opening up about the social media campaign and why he defends his fans against accusations of being toxic.
In an interview appearing in the upcoming book, “ Release the Snyder Cut: The Crazy True Story Behind The Fight That Saved Zack Snyder’s Justice League” (via CinemaBlend), Snyder talked about the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement and why it’s not a “win” for toxic fandom.
“I just think that’s sour grapes. There’s really no other way to say it,” he said. “We know the people who were the architects of that narrative, and it’s pretty obvious what their agenda is. Those are people that I’ve been held back from confronting, by wiser people in the room. Because I’d love to get at some of these characters. Some direct conversation would be nice. Just to say, one, you don’t know shit about what you’re talking about. And we can break down everything they’ve ever [said]. I can make a list. There’s a few of these guys where I could just get a list of everything they’ve ever said, that they thought was right, and [I could tell them] every single thing they’ve said is wrong.”
Snyder also commented on the people he dubbed “fakers” that would post information, claiming it was insider knowledge, when they were, in fact, not aware of any of the behind-the-scenes happenings.
“And so, in what world do you have any credibility anywhere, to anyone?” Snyder said. “I would love the opportunity to just say to the world, and to fandom in general, who these fakers are and what should be done to them, or with them. It’s just a bunch of BS. In regards to that toxic fandom, or it’s ‘a win for toxic fandom,’ again, in what world does this ‘toxic fandom’ raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for suicide prevention? How is that toxic fandom? They’ve probably achieved more than any other fan base, [and done more] good than any other group. So I don’t understand.”
Due to Snyder’s departure from “Justice League,” largely because of the death of his daughter by suicide, there have been multiple #ReleaseTheSnyderCut-backed fundraisers for charity. So, he’s not wrong there. However, much like the rest of fandom discussion on social media, there are definitely instances of Snyder Cut folks acting pretty shitty. But if you’re Zack Snyder, you really can’t badmouth the people that got you to this point, as there’s no denying the persistence is a key contributor to why the director’s cut of “Justice League” is even happening.
Zack Snyder’s version of “Justice League,” which recently earned an official R-rating, is coming to HBO Max on March 18.