No Laughing Matter: Your first look at Jared Leto's all-new Joker from the #SnyderCut of Justice League. https://t.co/IuqLYQYf4k
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) February 9, 2021
The inclusion of Leto’s Joker wasn’t actually part of
Snyder’s original vision for the DC film in 2017. However, when Snyder was
given the opportunity to conduct additional photography for his Justice League
cut, Leto’s Joker was the only thing he wanted to add to the upcoming HBO Max
film.
“The Joker is really the only thing that I thought of in
retrospect,” Snyder said in an interview the outlet. “But I will say that it
was always my intention to bring Joker into that world.”
Justice League will be hitting HBO Max solely as a four-hour
movie on March 18. It was originally revealed at DC FanDome that the movie will
release on HBO Max in 2021 by being broken up into four one-hour parts that
will also be released as one four-hour film, but Snyder’s new comments seem to
indicate it will solely be released as the one-off film instead of the
four-part series. In an informal Q&A with the director via the comments,
Snyder also revealed that there will be no after-credits scenes, the release
date is still set for March even as potential competition Godzilla vs. Kong
just moved to the same month and its runtime is four hours prior to the
credits.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League has reportedly cost around $70
million in order to properly finish the editing and visual effects of the
director’s original vision, as well as the additional photography. The original
post-production crew is also expected to return along with the cast members to
record additional dialogue for the cut.
Fueled by the hero’s restored faith in humanity and inspired
by Superman’s selfless act, Justice League sees Bruce Wayne enlist the help of
his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together,
Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans
to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this
unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg, and The
Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of
catastrophic proportions.
Justice League, which features a screenplay from Chris
Terrio from a story by Snyder and Terrio, stars Ben Affleck as Batman, Henry
Cavill as Superman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Ezra
Miller as The Flash, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Willem Dafoe as Nuidis Vulko, Jesse
Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, Diane Lane as
Martha Kent, Connie Nielsen as Queen Hippolyta, with J.K. Simmons as
Commissioner Gordon, and Amy Adams as Lois Lane.
Released in November 2017, the film earned mixed reviews
from critics and audiences alike, praising the action and performances from
Gadot and Miller while criticizing every other aspect of the film, namely the
inconsistent tone that many fault Joss Whedon (The Avengers) for after taking
over directorial duties from Snyder. With a large budget of $300 million and a
break-even point of $750 million, the film is considered a box office bomb
having grossed only $658 million.
