WarnerMedia’s Justice League is preparing to undergo reshoots…again…some time in the near future, as THR reports that Zack Snyder apparently needs some new footage to fully bring the (*insert mental screaming here*) four-hour “Snyder Cut” of the 2017 film to life. Said filming will apparently take place in October, and will reportedly involve stars Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Henry Cavill, and Ray Fisher—the latter’s inclusion at least a little surprising, in so far as the actor is currently in the middle of a feud of sorts with Warner Bros. Pictures, the film’s studio.
The Fisher issue is a messy thing, in that the stuff he’s been very publicly (if also kind of vaguely) upset about—Joss Whedon’s behavior after taking over Snyder’s movie, and Warner Bros. execs’ alleged support of same—is one of the festering wounds that HBO Max’s decision to run the Snyder Cut next year is presumably meant to close. Fisher’s accusations against the company—including his assertion that DC Films president Walter Hamada has gone out of his way to protect fellow executive Geoff Johns from any consequences for the events of the movie’s shooting—got pointed enough that Warner Bros. Pictures pushed back with a statement of its own a few weeks ago, accusing Fisher of refusing to meet with an independent investigator that he himself called for.
Given that Snyder’s cut is expected to amplify (or maybe we should say “restore”) Fisher’s place at the “heart” of Justice League, the conflict between studio and actor has created some awkward optics for all involved. (So far, only Jason Momoa has come out openly supporting Fisher’s take on what happened during filming, although he, too, has yet to be specific about what Whedon is alleged to have done.) In any case, things are apparently going smoothly enough for Warner to pay to bring Fisher (along with Affleck, Gadot, and Cavill—no word on Momoa or Ezra Miller) back on set to flesh out Snyder’s long-delayed vision for the film. That’s also interesting because, when the decision to revive the film was first announced, it wasn’t clear whether Snyder was going to end up filming new material at all, although Warner chairman Bob Greenblatt did say at the time that it was going to cost a lot of money to add in new effects shots and to get various union clearances to re-edit and re-work the film into its destined place. Back then, Greenblatt didn’t come out and say how much this was all going to cost, but he did laugh at the idea that it was “only” going to be $30 million.
The Snyder Cut is expected to run some time next year, on HBO Max, It’ll arrive in 4 one-hour installments.