According to Justice League producer, Charles Roven, Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan could potentially return to helm new films in the DC universe. No stranger to comic book movies, Roven has credits on DC films dating back to 2005’s Batman Begins. Now, even with all the changes that have taken place in the DC landscape in recent years, he remains a fixture behind the scenes and is even a creative force behind James Gunn’s newly released DC project, The Suicide Squad.
Snyder and Nolan both hold distinctions as the guiding voices behind the big screen DC universe at various points in time. Nolan inarguably redefined the superhero genre with 2005's Batman Begins, 2008's The Dark Knight, and 2012's The Dark Knight Rises, and he then stepped back to a producer role when Snyder stepped in to helm 2013’s Man of Steel. Snyder’s tenure as a director in the DCEU was rockier than Nolan’s, contending with critical backlash and box office underperformance on 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and a departure from Justice League following a family tragedy in 2017. Joss Whedon stepped in to finish Justice League, but Snyder eventually released his 4-hour version of Justice League, which debuted earlier this year on HBO Max.
At this point, many fans assume that Snyder and Nolan have largely moved on from DC projects. However, Charles Roven’s recent comments in an interview with THR clarify that doors in Hollywood never really close. Read what Roven said when asked about the potential for the directors to return to DC below:
I’m going to give you a Terry Gilliam quote. Terry Gilliam and my first wife [late studio executive Dawn Steel] fought bitterly about the Baron Munchausen cut. And he was sure he would never, ever be involved with anything having to do with Dawn Steel. And then I offered him Twelve Monkeys and he laughed and he said, “Well you really can’t ever burn a bridge in Hollywood, can you?” The fact of the matter is, I would never say never about anything when it comes to entertainment, different ideas, ways of coming back around.
Nolan and Snyder both have unique filmmaking styles that made their respective DC works stand out. Nolan’s take on Batman took a real-world approach to the character and attempted to ground Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne in a world reminiscent of post-9/11 America. By contrast, Snyder’s DC tenure started out with a somewhat grounded, Nolan-esque take on Superman in Man of Steel, but eventually, it grew far more bombastic and comic accurate with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and the eventual release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Given how unique each of their approaches are, a return for either filmmaker would be interesting, if for no other reason than to see how they meld their styles with the direction in which the DCEU is going.
It’s unlikely that fans would react lightly to the notion of Snyder or Nolan returning for new projects in the DC universe. Michael Keaton’s reprisal of the Batman role in The Flash and Sam Raimi’s return to the Marvel world with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness both generated widespread excitement among fans. One can imagine that Snyder or Nolan returning to the fold would be met with just as much excitement. For now, audiences can get their fill on the latest DCEU outing with The Suicide Squad, which just hit theaters and HBO Max.
Source: THR
