Justice League is set to premiere November 17th, and not until then will rumors stop swirling around the DC Extended Universe's flagship team-up movie. The current rumors have ranged from speculation around Ben Affleck's future with the franchise to potential changes to the film's ending, and even the suggestion that nearly the entire movie is being reshot. We've already extensively covered why many of these rumors are highly suspect and should be taken with a grain of salt, but a new report from Mark Hughes on Superhero News has provided some much-needed clarification to the behind the scenes situation, specifying that the Joss Whedon-led Justice League reshoots have not deviated significantly from the original plans laid forth by Zack Snyder.

Related: Justice League Reshoots: What Was (& Wasn't) Changed

Of the numerous claims made about the reshoots, restructuring, and othertonal adjustments going on in the wake of Snyder's departure, the oldest and most prominent rumor has been that the movie has basically been reshot twice, or at least seeing some sort of massive overhaul due to additional photography. These rumors usually cite the fact that the reshoot schedule is much longer than movies typically take for additional photography, but Hughes' sources say this is definitely not the case, and the delays are due to complicated scheduling, not to the significance of the reshoots:

"As of right now, despite the fact that there's been some extended time and it's like 'ok, if this is still - why are they still doing shoots on this,' there's been a lot of downtime in between shooting because of people's schedules - they have not been shooting this entire time. The amount of content that has been shot and is being shot is still pretty much what they expected and figured was going to be happening. They haven't said 'oh, we need to add additional - we need to do a whole bunch more,' or anything like that at this point, so, the footage and the amount of footage in the film, as of right now, the majority of the footage that you're going to see on the screen is still the footage that was previously shot during principal photography... I know I've seen people worried and say 'why is it taking so long,' it's because this is post - this is reshooting and filming that requires people's schedules to line up, getting things in order, so it has not been as easy as they expected it to be when this was all being planned months ago."

This lines up with previous reports stating that because Jason Momoa is working on Aquaman in Austrailia, Ezra Miller is working on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2, and Henry Cavill was working on Mission Impossible 6 and couldn't shave the mustache he had grown for that part, necessitating that WB remove said facial hair in post production. Sure, Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot had much more open schedules, but since it was difficult to get all six actors in front of the camera at the same time, it only makes sense that there would be large gaps in time between shooting days, potentially contributing to Snyders' decision to sit the process out.

Another major misconception Hughes clears up is the nature of the additional photography. "Reshoots" tends to be a catch-all term in most reporting for any kind of shooting that occurs after the end of principal photography, but the word "rehoots" naturally denotes a redo, suggesting the footage that had been previously shot is unusable. However, there is an important distinction to be made in the vocabulary surrounding additional photography, specifically between "reshoots" and "pick-up scenes," and in the case of Justice League, the difference is very important to note.

Related: Geoff Johns: There's Nothing to Change' About DCEU Characters

As was reported after Joss Whedon stepped in, Zack Snyder already had a screening of the movie shortly after principal photography wrapped in October 2016 - more than likely the one that's reportedly "unwatchable" (as most projects are at that stage) - and Snyder determined some more scenes needed to be written. The scenes were said to create more connective tissue, and Snyder commissioned Whedon to write these scenes for him, which is likely the reason he also asked Joss to be the one to shoot them for him. Some rumors have claimed the reshoots have moved beyond these simple pick-up scenes, but Hughes is quick to emphasize that most of the additional photography has indeed been these pick-up scenes, not a redo of Zack Snyder's work as has been heavily speculated:

"...it's mostly new footage, the reshoots - and some people insist the terminology doesn't matter and that "reshoots" is common, well no, the terminology does matter to people that make movies and know what these things are, and it matters if you're saying something's a "reshoot" when it's not a reshoot - that matters, but to the extent that that's just a technicality, the shoots and reshoots combined that are happening and then the also pickups to fill some stuff in is not going to be the majority of the film and it's not going to be some huge vast portion of the movie. "

This description of events definitely strays from what seems to be the narrative of many DCEU detractors, but as we've pointed out in the past, many of the rumors that support that narrative - that Joss Whedon was brought in to de-Snyder the DCEU - only line up with the roadmap laid by Snyder himself during the Justice League set visit last June, when he affirmed that Justice League was already supposed to be light, but was getting even lighter in response to Batman v Superman, and that Justice League was a stand alone movie that wouldn't end in a cliffhanger to set up Justice League 2, and etc.

Joss Whedon Lighten Justice League

It's understandable how the combination of a divisive critical reception and a director change late in production could lead to this narrative, but Justice League cast and producers have repeatedly mentioned that Joss Whedon's participation was intended to help complete, not replace, Snyder's original vision, and even if Whedon and WB wanted to override the story and tone the director established in principal photography, the Directors Guild Basic Agreement would side with Snyder, should he exercise his right to be involved in post production, which he is.

Related: How Much Input Does Zack Snyder Have On Justice League's Final Cut?

Given the chaotic nature of DCEU news, this likely won't be the definitive take on events for long, but as Mark Hughes and Sean Gerber mention at the end of the Superhero News show, it's not even physically possible to doctor Justice League to the extent many rumors have claimed, and if that was the case, then the giveaway would be a change in release date, which hasn't happened - and almost certainly won't with only a few short months left.

That doesn't all mean the situation with Justice League is all sunshine and rainbows (tonally or behind the scenes). A director change and a complicated schedule for reshoots is a difficult situation to navigate, but given the actual reshoots were minimal and most of the time was spent on the additional dialogue and connective tissue ordered by Snyder, the finished product is likely to be a little more cohesive than people fear. It'll be difficult to judge the movie's true quality until it hits the big screen, but it sounds like it will at the very least please existing DCEU fans. Whether it will see the same critical reception and box office success of Wonder Woman, however, will be the big question come November.

NEXT: Why The DCEU Shouldn't Change To Please Critics

Source: Superhero News

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