LOS ANGELES: Zack Snyder, the director behind the coming Warner Bros. movie “Justice League,” said Monday that he would step away from the megabudget superhero project to cope with the recent suicide of his daughter.
Warner said the director Joss Whedon will take over “Justice League,” which is slated for release on Nov. 17 and still requires some substantial additional shooting and extensive postproduction work. Whedon is best known for directing “The Avengers” and its “Age of Ultron” sequel for Marvel Studios, Warner’s most serious competitor.
Snyder’s wife, Deborah, a producer on “Justice League,” will also step away from the film.
“What they are going through is unimaginable, and my heart — our hearts — go out to them,” Toby Emmerich, the president of Warner Bros. Pictures, told The Hollywood Reporter on Monday. In the same article, Snyder said, “I’ve decided to take a step back from the movie to be with my family, be with my kids, who really need me.”
Warner and Snyder declined to comment further.
Autumn Snyder, who was 20 and attending Sarah Lawrence College, died in March. Snyder said he tried to return to work but realized the load was too much. “In my mind, I thought it was a cathartic thing to go back to work, to just bury myself and see if that was the way through it,” Snyder told The Hollywood Reporter.
“I know the fans are going to be worried about the movie, but there are seven other kids that need me,” Snyder added, referring to his family. “In the end, it’s just a movie.”
Although there is precedent for directors stepping away from major live-action movies in the middle of production — “The Wizard of Oz” and “Gone With the Wind” are two examples — it is extremely rare. And it almost always happens because the studio is not happy with the project’s direction.
There was enormous pressure for “Justice League” to be a hit for Zack Snyder and Deborah Snyder, a longtime producer who has credits on nearly all of her husband’s films, including “300” and “Man of Steel.” Their last film, “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” took in $873 million worldwide but was considered a creative misfire — in many ways making “Justice League” a careers-hanging-in-the-balance endeavor.
“Justice League” has a production budget of roughly $250 million. Global marketing can easily add $150 million in costs. -- NYT