There’s an incredibly tragic situation update on the Warner Bros. Pictures’ upcoming superhero film Justice League, director Zack Snyder has stepped down due to a personal tragedy.
In March 2017, Zack Snyder and his wife, producer Deborah Snyder lost their daughter, Autumn to suicide, while he initially planned to focus on his work, he has now decided to take a break and spend time with his family.
According to THR, Snyder will be replaced by Joss Whedon, who is currently signed on to write and direct, a Batgirl movie. He will oversee the post-production of Justice League and direct the re-shoots.
“In my mind, I thought it was a cathartic thing to go back to work, to just bury myself and see if that was way through it,” said Snyder in an interview in his office with Deborah.
“The demands of this job are pretty intense. It is all consuming. And in the last two months I’ve come to the realization…I’ve decided to take a step back from the movie to be with my family, be with my kids, who really need me.
They are all having a hard time. I’m having a hard time.”
WB offered to push back the release date of the film, but both Zack & Deborah declined and decided to let another filmmaker take control of the project and complete it for the planned November 2017 release.
Whedon will step in to complete the project and maintain Snyder’s vision: “The directing is minimal and it has to adhere to the style and tone and the template that Zack set,” said WB’s president, Toby Emmerich.
“We’re not introducing any new characters. It’s the same characters in some new scenes. He’s handing a baton to Joss but the course has really been set by Zack.
I still believe that despite this tragedy, we’ll still end up with a great movie.”
Snyder adds “Here’s the thing, I never planned to make this public. I thought it would just be in the family, a private matter, our private sorrow that we would deal with.
When it became obvious that I need to take break, I knew there would be narratives created on the Internet. They’ll do what they do. The truth it…I’m past caring about that kind of thing now.”
It is an heartbreaking tragedy and props to Warner Bros. Pictures and Whedon for supporting Snyder’s as they take a break from a film they have been working on since years now.
Our condolences and thoughts to Zack, Deborah and their entire family during this very difficult time.
Justice League is scheduled to be released on November 17, 2017 in 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D.