Writer Chris Terrio Calls the Theatrical 'Justice League' an Act of Vandalism
The writer behind The Snyder Cut speaks out.
Getting Zack Snyder back in the director's chair to finish his movie was a huge piece of news last month, but how did the writer of the script feel? Vanity Fair sat down with Chris Terrio to hear his side of the story, and he didn't hold back.
“The 2017 theatrical cut was an act of vandalism,” Terrio told Vanity Fair. “Zack may be too much of a gentleman to say that, but I’m not.”
In the rest of the interview, Terrio describes the trouble he had working with Warner Bros. on Batman v Superman and then on Justice League. He was supremely disappointed that the studio seemed like it was cutting character development scenes in favor of others, but he stayed on to try and make the movie work.
Now Terrio is happy we can see the intended outcome, and not just for himself.
"I am so happy and relieved that all these thousands of artists and craftspeople all over the world finally can have their work seen by the public, and all the work that Zack and the actors put into this can now be seen," he told the magazine. "It’s sort of a gift that we got from HBO Max, because it wouldn’t have been possible a few years ago."
Terrio liked Snyder, and he liked his work. He stayed on to do Justice League even after the repercussions of Batman v Superman.
"After Batman/Superman, many of my Hollywood friends just stopped talking to me because they sort of thought that somehow I was complicit in this very public failure of a studio film," he said. "You learn pretty quickly who your real friends are and who your air-kiss Hollywood friends are. Zack could not have been more supportive and never stopped believing that together, we were going to create this big, epic DC world."
So why did he keep working within the franchise?
Terrio said, "I agreed to write Justice League because I wanted the chance to write these characters with love and hope after getting through the darkness of Batman v Superman. The end of my version of Batman v Superman includes Bruce seeing the error of his ways and promising to change. It’s the return of conscience after an ethical nightmare. And in Justice League, Bruce does do better."
But as we all know, the movie didn't turn out the way any of them wanted. By the time Whedon came on, Terrio was no longer on set. He was told they didn't need him, so he went on his way, with no idea how the movie would finish or what would play out.
The rest of the interview goes in-depth into what Terrio is doing now and how he felt betrayed by the studio. But I think this is interesting to see how a writer brought on to tweak characters wound up steering the ship for a while, as the studio reacted to negative reactions to Batman v Superman, he had to change and work with people in real-time to respond to notes. It's an interesting look at how blockbusters are made.
What did you think?
Source: Vanity Fair
