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Film auteur Zack Snyder gave a sprawling interview to Wired published Tuesday in which he addressed a number of topics associated with his polarizing style of filmmaking — including his controversial Snyder Cut legion of fans.
The question came up about Snyder's thoughts on the fact that his “name now is associated with the downsides of extreme fandom.”
As the interviewer explained, “These days, internet shorthand for aggressive bullying in fandom is, like, ‘Snyder Cut fans'—many of whom actually were harassing people and posting vitriol online.”
That was referring to the fervency with which fans of the DC Extended Universe were pushing for a re-cut of the Justice League film following its much-maligned 2017 studio release. Zack Snyder, the film's director, was forced to leave the project during post-production after his daughter Autumn tragically committed suicide. At that time, Warner Bros. hired Joss Whedon to take over directing duties during post production and to oversee re-shoots.
Fans were not happy with Whedon's cut of the movie, feeling that it didn't adequately capture Snyder's style, and began an aggressive online campaign of arguing for a director's cut spearheaded by Snyder himself.
Snyder emphasized that the strong fan response is part of what helped him deal with his grief and led him back to filmmaking. “The fan movement of wanting to know what Justice League was supposed to be, that was cathartic,” he explained. “Because [the making of Justice League] was that exact same thing that had betrayed me. And then being able to dedicate the movie to Autumn.”
But in response to the idea that “Snyder cut fans” is now a term for fans engaging in aggressive online bullying, Snyder didn't mince words: “Look, there’s tons of toxic fans, and I don’t condone that behavior. But for every toxic fan, there were legitimate and ridiculous and really, incredibly dark attacks on me, my family.”
Snyder continued, “I’m not justifying any bad behavior, but also, I’m in this conversation with this fandom, where I have tried to make the work as best I can.”
The four-hour Snyder's cut of Justice League certainly changed the relationship between fans and filmmaking, but Snyder's words are a reminder that toxic words and behavior can be damaging even to the mightiest of superhero filmmakers.
