Zack Snyder’s ‘Justice League’ Was ‘Unwatchable’ and ‘Joyless’: Report

• Zack Snyder’s first cut of “Justice League” was deemed “unwatchable,” according to Rolling Stone.
• The publication reported that “Avengers” director Joss Whedon was brought in to help the film.
• Whedon ended up directing the final cut, which was slammed by critics.

Zack Snyder’s first cut of “Justice League” was deemed “unwatchable,” according to a new report by Rolling Stone.

Snyder was the original director of the 2017 superhero movie but left the project after his daughter’s death. “The Avengers” director Joss Whedon stepped in to oversee reshoots and recut the movie for its November 2017 release, however, the final product was slammed by critics and fans.

Soon after the film flopped, fans started an online campaign for Snyder’s version of the movie to be released, until Warner Bros. caved in 2020. “Zack Snyder’s Justice League,” released last year, was roughly four hours long and contained new footage that was shot to fit Snyder’s vision.

However, according to Rolling Stone, executives were not impressed with Snyder’s original cut of the movie.

The publication said that Snyder’s first cut, shown to executives at Warner Bros. on February 27, 2017, was described as too long and too convoluted.

With a runtime of more than two-and-a-half hours, those in the room deemed the movie “a disaster” and “full-on failure,” per Rolling Stone.

A source also told the publication that this was when Whedon was brought in as a writer and a consultant.

Nine days later, Snyder presented a second cut, which was still over two hours, and which Whedon gave notes on, the report said.

After Snyder’s daughter died in mid-March, he reportedly continued working to cut the film down in time. At the same time, the studio had Whedon work on making the film’s tone less dark and serious.