The scene is the most substantial new filmed piece for Zack Snyder’s Justice League, the four-hour cut that arrives at HBO Max on Thursday. Snyder wrote the scene during the quarantine at his home.
“It was based on a lot of ideas that I had over the years. I was planting a lot of Easter eggs in other films that I thought it was time to harvest in this scene,” says Zack Snyder.
After writing the scene, he had to get Leto’s membership. It took a while to guarantee the Oscar-winning actor, who appeared in 2016 Suicide squad and I hadn’t played the character since.
“Zack and Jared talked for a while,” says producer Deborah Snyder. “Before we approached the studio, he wanted to make sure they were interested. At first, it was like ‘No’ and then it was like, ‘Well, maybe’, and then Zack said, ‘You want to see the scene where I worked? ‘”
In the end, Affleck and Leto ended up filming separately due to scheduling problems, with the scene completed in three days last year.
Snyder was open about big plans for the Justice League sequences that he wanted to do before leaving the film in 2017. A sequence would have happened entirely in the post-apocalyptic world and, therefore, it was important for the director to provoke this in his version and show the Joker and Batman together.
“Zack wanted to honor what David [Ayer] had done, but also make it yours, “says Deborah Snyder.” And it was post-apocalyptic, so we tried a lot of different looks and everything. After making the drawings, it took a few days [of Joker]. “
For other characters, like Batman and Amber Heard’s Mera, the production removed the costumes from storage, and some of them were worse for wear.
“Fortunately, it was post-apocalyptic, because we passed through the three hoods that were in good condition,” says Deborah Snyder. “At one point, suddenly, Ben put it on, and it just tore it up. Because everything was falling apart. Our costume people were like, trying to tape it.”
Zack Snyder adds: “The fantasies were definitely falling apart. But we held them together with some tape and baling wire and we moved on.”
The line “We live in a society” was just one of many moments that stormed social media in preparation for the launch of Snyder’s cut.
On February 22, it was speculated that Ryan Reynolds would appear in the new version, reprising his 2011 role Green Lantern, after Vanity Fair reported that there would be a special appearance in the film. Reynolds himself even addressed the speculation, confirming that he was not in the film.
What fans didn’t know at the time was that Snyder really dreamed of including Reynolds in the film, although it doesn’t seem like his dreams have gone very far.
“I had another idea for Green Lantern that was not Ryan, so I thought that if we had walked the path of Green Lantern, we would have to have Ryan as the additional Lantern,” said Zack Snyder. “Filling the Lantern Corps a little more than, say, just a Green Lantern.”
Over the years, the Snyders have received encouragement from fans, as well as friends and collaborators, such as Christopher Nolan, executive producer of Justice League. When THR spoke to the Snyders last week, Nolan had not yet seen the cut, but they were planning to show it soon.
Deborah Snyder says, “I’m excited for the world to see it. Who thought anyone would see this version of the film?”
Zack Snyder’s Justice League debuts on HBO Max on March 18.