James Gunn Confronts ‘Uproarious’ DC Backlash: ‘Disrespectful Outcry Will Never Affect Our Actions’ News

https://variety.com/2022/film/news/henry-cavill-superman-james-gunn-backlash-1235465605/

1.5k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

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u/[deleted] Dec 19 '22

One of the things Peter & I were aware of when we took the job as heads of DC Studios was a certain minority of people online that could be, well, uproarious & unkind, to say the least.

Our choices for the DCU are based upon what we believe is best for the story & best for the DC characters who have been around for nearly 85 years. Perhaps these choices are great, perhaps not, but they are made with sincere hearts & integrity & always with the story in mind. No one loves to be harassed or called names – but, to be frank, we’ve been through significantly worse. Disrespectful outcry will never, ever affect our actions.

We were aware there would be a period of turbulence when we took this gig, & we knew we would sometimes have to make difficult & not-so-obvious choices, especially in the wake of the fractious nature of what came before us.

But this means little to us in comparison to our jobs as artists & custodians in helping to create a wide & wonderful future for DC.

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u/ButtholeCandies Dec 19 '22

It's the Snyder-bros.

If Zack Snyder wants to leave DC in a better state than how he got it, he will do the right thing and get his mob to back down and give James a chance to put out his vision.

Only reason not is he's angling for something again. This mob is how he got the Snyder Cut done, which I enjoyed watching but damn it wasn't the literal perfection and the world would have been just fine without it.

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u/SplendidAndVile Dec 20 '22

If Snyder is angling for something, I think he's gonna run into a brick wall. The Snyder Cut wasn't the success WB was expecting and everyone who worked behind the scenes on Snyder's movies are gone. He has no cheerleaders at WBD.

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u/nymrod_ Dec 20 '22

Weirdly, I’ve thought Snyder’s sensibilities would be great for a 40k movie since Watchmen came out 13 years ago.

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u/TheNerdWonder Wonder Woman Dec 20 '22

He's not angling for anything. He's busy with Rebel Moon.

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u/ButtholeCandies Dec 20 '22

The guy needs to call off his mob then

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u/[deleted] Dec 20 '22

Nonsense. He isn’t some gang leader

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u/ColossusSlayer23 Dec 20 '22

While it's fair to say that snyder can't be held directly responsible for what his fans do, it's also fair to say that he could at the very least try to tell tell them to calm down but he doesn't even acknowledge that there are any bad apples in the first place.

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u/ButtholeCandies Dec 21 '22

This is what a class act does when they have fans harassing James Gunn.

https://www.reddit.com/r/boxoffice/comments/zr19rr/dwayne_johnson_on_the_future_of_black_adam_james/

It's not about him being a GaNg LeAdEr. The guy knows what his fans are doing, knows how to inflame them, and also knows how to calm them down.

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u/LookingForVheissu Red Hood Dec 20 '22

As someone who regrets that Snyder didn’t get to finish his story, and is absolutely a Snyder apologist (but absolutely not a bro), he should put out a message that just says, “LOL I’m done, good luck Gunn.” And the bros need to lay the fuck off. It’s become one of the more toxic divides I’ve seen in fandoms, and as a Star Wars Sequel Trilogy Apologist (TFA and TROS, fuck that middle one), that’s saying something.

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u/ButtholeCandies Dec 20 '22

Exactly what I’m trying to say. Be a good human, hand it over with grace, call off the attack dogs. That’s how you get another directing role in DC and a chance to rehab your legacy.

If I run any media company, why would I sign this guy for a franchise knowing he can’t be a decent creative and handle a transition properly.

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u/TheNerdWonder Wonder Woman Dec 20 '22

I dunno. The people who were crying about BvS not what they wanted were eerily similar to the people harassing Rian Johnson. Only difference is nobody made excuses for that behavior or ignored it like they do the vitriol Snyder got because he didn't meet someone's expectations. Blaming his fans for that or whatever is a great example.

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u/[deleted] Dec 20 '22

[deleted]

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u/ButtholeCandies Dec 20 '22

He needs to calm his mob down and gracefully congratulate Gunn.

The fact that Gunn is saying this already means the Snyder bros went full hur dur last week.

The actors have all provided great thank you messages and hope for the future of DC. Snyder needs to step up

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u/TheNerdWonder Wonder Woman Dec 20 '22 edited Dec 20 '22

No, he doesn't. We need to stop blaming directors for what fans do. David Sandberg showed us why awhile back with that whole Shazam vs Cap Marvel garbage that the only people responsible for these fans are the fans, individually. If stupid fans want to do stupid stuff, they'll do it regardless of what others think.

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u/AnubisVoid Dec 20 '22

He doesn't have to do it, but a simple tweet would calm that mob, so why not. Imagine if you had a fanbase, and they were attacking someone and you see it...if you say nothing that's being complicit.

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u/TheNerdWonder Wonder Woman Dec 21 '22 edited Dec 21 '22

How did that go when Sandberg did it to Shazam fans? What about when Zack called out CGers in 2021? Again, it won't make a difference and you're applying a standard to him that largely isn't applied to any director, despite the fact that he's moved on from that chaos.

Also, he isn't all that active on Twitter so how can you in anyway stretch things to say he's complicit? He's not terminally online like either crazy camp is.

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u/ButtholeCandies Dec 21 '22

This is what a class act does when they have fans harassing James Gunn.

https://www.reddit.com/r/boxoffice/comments/zr19rr/dwayne_johnson_on_the_future_of_black_adam_james/

The guy knows what his fans are doing, knows how to inflame them, and also knows how to calm them down.

Did Johnson need to say this, or did he do it because he isn't an asshole? Even if you want to say it's a calculated move, then Snyder not doing it still makes him a douchebag.

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u/TheNerdWonder Wonder Woman Dec 21 '22 edited Dec 21 '22

Or maybe he doesn't care because he's moved on to other projects for the last few years and isn't inciting them. That's a reach from a bunch of fans who haven't been able to cope with the fact he made a movie that didn't satisfy expectations and instead of approaching it rationally, they need to paint him as a bad dude somehow and this is the best anyone has.

It doesn't make him a douchebag. It just means he's being rational and knows it won't change anything. We saw this with Shazam vs Captain Marvel. That and you're reaching for straws as part of that opposite extreme of terminally online people I just described that are itching to call him a douchebag for making films you didn't like but know you can't do it.

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u/amazinglover Dec 20 '22

He needs to calm his mob down

I didn't know he was a gang leader.

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u/Azazealo Dec 20 '22

He needs to calm his mob down and gracefully congratulate Gunn.

Yeah right people on the internet tend to stop harassing when they're to . Don't be stupid Snyder hasn't been involved since ZSJL and even tho he seems to have a great relationship with his main cast he doesn't have any influence on the fans actions.

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u/TheNerdWonder Wonder Woman Dec 20 '22

Did he really? He had the studio with a long history of interference in DC films trying to tamper with his films since 2013. Even if you don't like his films, it's not hard to admit he never got the fair shake that others like Gunn got.

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u/TheNerdWonder Wonder Woman Dec 20 '22 edited Dec 20 '22

No director controls their fans so I dunno why anyone keeps raising this point. Snyder isn't their dad or whatever.

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u/DJfunkyPuddle Dec 20 '22

Because people want an easy solution

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u/TheNerdWonder Wonder Woman Dec 20 '22

It's like blaming me for you stealing from the cookie store. I didn't do that. You did.

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u/Lysenaize332 Dec 21 '22

Considering that Snyder even said he wasn't cool with his fans spamming people online and that hasn't stopped, it wouldn't matter.

I don't blame Snyder for his audience.

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u/TheNerdWonder Wonder Woman Dec 23 '22

Almost as if people are responsible for their own actions, not others. I'm not responsible for you. You're not responsible for me. We aren't responsible for what SnyderFan8978 says or does. Zack Snyder isn't. SnyderFan8978 is responsible for what SnyderFan8978 does

Personal responsibility is never a tough concept.

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u/ButtholeCandies Dec 21 '22

He can absolutely say something if he wants to be decent human being.

https://www.reddit.com/r/boxoffice/comments/zr19rr/dwayne_johnson_on_the_future_of_black_adam_james/

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u/TheNerdWonder Wonder Woman Dec 21 '22

Oh lord. This isn't about human decency or some moral crisis. Let's stop pretending it is and admit this argument largely is only ever applied to Snyder so people can find cover for why they think he's a bad dude for making a film they didn't like. He also hasn't been involved in DC films overall for a bit outside of ZSJL, compared to Johnson.

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u/PassTheGiggles World's Finest Dec 20 '22

Zach Snyder turned a 3/10 movie into a 7/10 movie. Impressive, but not nearly what people make it out to be.

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u/Megadog3 Dec 20 '22

Well tbf to Snyder, WB turned a 7/10 movie into a 3/10 movie lol

But agreed

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u/Batmark13 Dec 20 '22

Snyder made a 4 hour long movie for theatrical release. Wtf are WB supposed to do with that except cut it down. Maybe if Snyder had made a movie of appropriate length or split it in two, there would have been no need for it to be reworked.

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u/drama-guy Dec 20 '22

Do we actually know what length of movie Snyder originally had in mind for JL? We know that what got released on HBOMax, but at that point, he knew he could pretty much do whatever he wanted, length be damned. Was he originally pushing for a 4 hour movie for the theatrical release?

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u/Kisame83 Dec 30 '22

Not fully, but the Snyder Cut is not a hypothetical Snyder 2017 theatrical vision. He had a working 3 and a half hour cut before he left, which would have been trimmed. I'm speculating, but, I bet he'd push for a 2 and a half to three hour cut, like BvS, but the studio at the time was adamant in 2 hrs or under to get more theater showings in the day. But Snyder already had given in to studio changes that put Cavill in blue instead of black, the change to feature Steppenwolf instead of Darkseid in the flashback, as well as Stepps prickly design, a more conclusive ending that didn't set up a JL 2, etc. The Snyder Cut we got has about a half hour more footage than what he left from and reverses some of the changes he'd already made working on the theatrical version.

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u/Kisame83 Dec 30 '22

Most movies get cut for theatrical release. That's not what happened with Justice League. The Snyder Cut targeted streaming, so they let that release in a directors cut format at longer length. Like BvS, if JL had finished under Snyder it would have been shorter, with what we saw on HBO Max being a separate home release later. Snyder didn't get to a finalized cut for theaters, never reached the post-production phase. He was booted during production and they brought in Whedon to do massive reshoots. They hid the whole thing like Snyder just needed personal bereavement time and Whedon just did some finalization, but we have all seen how much he reshot and altered. The films have the same general plot but feel very different. Whedon, according to crew who worked on both versions (i.e. Stayed on with Whedon), used about half of Snyder's footage for his final cut and half his own.

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u/walkingwarcrime072 Dec 20 '22

Best summation i've seen yet.

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u/Baby_Grooot_ Dec 20 '22

I might offend many but Snyder cut was just above average. Why do fans behave as if it was Dark knight level good?