A little over two weeks out from the debut of Zack Snyder’s four-hour “Justice League” director’s cut, the filmmaker has confirmed that the movie will end as he originally intended – on a cliffhanger.
Speaking to IGN over the weekend, he was asked about those photos of Jared Leto’s Joker that he’s released so far – including the ‘straight jacket’ and the infamous ‘Joker as Jesus’ shot. Snyder explained the looks fit into what he originally planned for potential “Justice League” sequels:
“What inspired [Joker’s] look was the sort of post-apocalyptic world that I’m a huge fan of and, really, the idea was that as the movies progressed, the next movie – if there ever was one, and it doesn’t seem like there ever will be – but if there was, it would exist primarily in that world with them trying to set it right. [The sequence] doesn’t overstay its welcome but it definitely does what I needed it to do for the story and for us. Beyond that I think it’s a spoiler.”
The long held belief has been that Snyder’s original “Justice League” plan was to encompass two films in total. However here he says it was actually going to be three which is why the first film ends the way it does:
“Well, [the original ‘Justice League’ plan] was meant to be two more movies… [The Snyder Cut] hints, as you would, at a potential other world. I’d plant the seeds as I had wanted to of what would come in the later films, so that’s in there, but as far as those stories that would be to come – if ever that happened, which it does not look like it would – but I think it’s easy to speculate based on that and we can talk about that for quite a while… The movie ends in a massive cliffhanger.”
Composer Junkie XL (“Mad Max Fury Road”) has also spoken about the film recently. In a discussion with Film Junkee Vodka Stream, he says this was the biggest project he ever worked on resulting in over four hours worth of music. Almost all the characters score redone or new themes, including Cyborg who has a “15 minute origin story” with very little dialogue and lots of music.
“Zack Snyder’s Justice League” will be released via HBO Max in the United States and on other services worldwide on March 18th.
