10 Directors Who Quit Movies During Filming

9. Zack Snyder - Justice League

Fast and Furious quit
Warner Bros.

The production of 2017's original Justice League film was, to be kind, an unmitigated nightmare.

Though original director Zack Snyder actually completed the initial seven-month shoot, the film languished in post-production as Warner Bros. mandated extensive reshoots to craft a more crowd-pleasing two-hour revision of Snyder's more epic take on the material.

But Snyder then made the shock announcement that he wouldn't be returning to shoot the new material due to a "personal tragedy," which turned out to be the sudden death of his daughter Autumn.

Warner Bros. swiftly turned to Joss Whedon, who had already been brought aboard to help write material for the reshoots, to also film the new scenes and oversee post-production, creating an entirely new edit of the film.

Whedon's version of Justice League, often referred to as "Josstice League," significantly altered Snyder's vision, from including almost exclusively reshot material to lightening the film's colour grade.

Despite this, Snyder was the sole credited director of the film, which went on to received wildly mixed reviews and under-perform at the box office.

In the years that followed Snyder downplayed his involvement with Whedon's version of the film, while co-writer Chris Terrio later admitted he tried to have his name removed from it entirely.

In an unprecedented move, though, Snyder's vision was eventually restored, with Warner Bros. paying $70 million for him to complete post-production on his original four-hour Justice League movie, including shooting an additional epilogue sequence.

Zack Snyder's Justice League went on to receive considerably more positive reviews than Josstice League, with most critics deeming it a vindication of the filmmaker's original vision.

Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.