Ben Affleck was one of many cast members to voice his support for the release of Zack Snyder's cut of Justice League during a massive campaign back in November 2019, and now he explains his stance on the film in more detail. Ever since the release of the theatrical cut and the full extent of the rewrites and reshoots under Joss Whedon was revealed, fans have been clamoring for Warner Bros. to release Zack Snyder's Justice League.
Driven primarily through the rallying cry of #ReleaseTheSnyderCut on Twitter, support for Snyder and his DC team-up vision has grown over the last two years, culminating in a massive event on the movie's 2-year anniversary where the hashtag trended worldwide and drew support from numerous celebrities and social media influencers in addition to the list of cast and crew who had already come out in favor of Snyder's original cut seeing the light of day.
After Justice League, Ben Affleck went trough some personal troubles and took some time off from filmmaking, but with his new movie, The Way Back, he's finally front and center, meaning he's also getting questions about his time in the cape and cowl again. In an interview with Cinemablend, Affleck voiced his support for Snyder and his original Justice League vision.
I didn’t know about it. Zack was like, ‘Hey, they are doing this thing.’ And I said, ‘Zack, I love you, and I support you. However I can help you. I do think that movie, you know, having two directors is a very weird thing. And for Justice League, the director had family tragedy. … and so you have a kind of cow’s body with a horse’s head a little bit with two directors a lot of times, for better or for worse. I do think Zack’s cut should be available.
As a multiple Academy Award winner and major figure in Hollywood, Affleck's support for the release of Zack Snyder's Justice League cut is a big deal. Of course, Affleck's portrayal of Batman suffered significantly from rewrites and reshoots, so it's certainly in Affleck's best interest as well to let audiences know there was more to his version of the Caped Crusader than the awkward jokes ill-fitting batsuit from Justice League reshoots.
Affleck also recently suggested his decision to step down as the caped crusader was linked to the production woes he experienced on Justice League. After being elevated to a producer on the movie, Affleck was supposed to have more of a say in the movie's creative direction and have a hand in the editing room, but the decision to have Joss Whedon add nearly 80 new pages to the script and reshoot massive chunks of the film, drastically changing the story and tone and producing a Frankenstein's monster of a movie (not to mention Henry Cavill's equally monstrous CGI upper lip) would have trampled on Affleck's artistic sensibilities nearly as much as Snyder.
At this point, the only members of the cast that haven't spoken out in favor of the Snyder Cut on the record are Ezra Miller and Henry Cavill, although Miller (who isn't on social media) has always been an enthusiastic supporter of Snyder and even recently worked with him on a music video for his band, whereas Henry Cavill has actually downplayed the Snyder Cut when he's been asked about it in a few interviews.
It's not clear if Affleck's vocal support will be enough to push it over the edge, but at this point it's hard to see Zack Snyder's Justice League staying locked away forever, and support from major figures like Affleck will be one of the keys to Snyder and the powers that be reaching an agreement for the completion and release of the cut.
Source: Cinemablend
