Zack Snyder hated a mandate WB gave him for Justice League

Warner Bros. loves two things: short films and humor. Unfortunately for veteran director Zack Snyder, this seemed to be a touchy subject when he was working on his version of Justice League.

It was a mandate that Snyder understood was necessary. However, the director is known for his slow style of world building and pushing things to extreme levels through macro shots and a linear plot. Well, Snyder was pretty frustrated when Warner Bros. ordered him to complete the entire film in two hours.

Zack Snyder had two mandates he hated to follow

With Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher and Jason Momoa in the lead roles, it was difficult to wrap the whole thing up in two hours.

While this could be done, Snyder said that for the sake of the storyline alone, he would have to ignore the comedic scenes, minor subplots, and some of the larger world-building elements he planned to keep in the film.

When personal tragedy struck, Zack Snyder had to leave the project which was later overtaken by Marvel director Joss Whedon. In an interview with Vanity FairSnyder recalled his frustration with WB and how he didn’t like mandates at all.

Tsujihara had requested that the film be two hours long.

He further continued,

How am I supposed to introduce six characters and an alien with the potential for world domination in two hours? I mean, I can do it, it’s possible. Obviously this was done (referring to Joss Whedon’s version).

In 2017, Autumn Snyder, the daughter of Zack Snyder committed suicide and 300 the director had to move away Justice League be with family during this time.

Although they were taken out of the picture, Snyder wanted to see his version of the film come to life. The director remembers having a conversation with Joss Whedon during the whole ordeal. After that, he was simply done.

Zack Snyder was mentally broken to get back on track

It was a difficult time for the director. Having lost his daughter, Snyder had heard that Joss Whedon was going to take over the project and finish the film on time. He was not happy about it but the director also felt that he no longer had a choice.

During times of sorrow and consolation, the director often received calls about his next film. As much as he wanted to bring his vision to life, Snyder was also losing a mental battle.

Needing a break, Zack and Deborah Snyder (his wife) decided to call it quits with the production company. According to his interview with Vanity Fair, he was unable to get back on track.

We have simply lost the will to fight this fight in many ways. All of us, the whole family, we’re so broken by (Autumn’s loss) that having these conversations in the middle of all of this really became… I was like, ‘Really?

He further continued,

Frankly, I think we did the right thing because I think either it would have been incredibly belligerent or we just turned around.

But the fight was not over. After overwhelming support from millions of fans, the hashtag #ReleaseTheSnyderCut went viral and the studio was forced to bring the director back and see his vision come to life.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League became a 4 hour film and the world fell in love with it. Released in 2021, the film currently has a rating of 7.9/10 on IMDb and 71% on Rotten Tomatoes. The iconic film is available to stream on Max in the US