Chris Terrio: The 2017 [Justice League] Theatrical Cut Was An Act of Vandalism.

Following the success of the “Snyder Cut” version of Justice League, director Zack Snyder has remained relatively quiet about Joss Whedon’s version. However, that is not the case with the writer of Justice League, Chris Terrio.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Terrio went into some detail about his time working on the doomed project and for Whedon, with whom he said “vandalized” the movie with his rewrites.

The 2017 theatrical cut was an act of vandalism. Zack may be too much of a gentleman to say that, but I’m not. When those personal touches were removed from the film in the 2017 version, I was silent because I couldn’t really say anything, but of course it hurt. All that remained was a dinosaur skeleton of what had been a great, lumbering beast. It might’ve been a big, unruly beast, and obviously it’s four hours and the movie is maximalist and it’s operatic and, sure, it’s a little crazy, but I think the movie is crazy in the best way. I didn’t realize how much of the film was going to be changed—or vandalized, in my opinion. It became clear as I spoke to various actors that it was a wholesale dismantling of what had been there before. I did not hear from anyone who said it was a pleasant experience.

Whedon, of course, was replaced Snyder as the director of the film. Snyder had been clashing with Warner Bros executives over the vision of the film. Whedon had been given more and more power and at the same time, tragically, Snyder’s daughter Autumn took her own life. He left the movie shortly thereafter with the keys handed over to Whedon. The studio wanted a lighter film than the one Snyder wanted to create and Whedon did just that, reportedly re-writing nearly 75 percent of the film which led to sloppy and hurried reshoots.

Not surprisingly, the movie tanked in theaters and was ripped by critics and fans, as well as cast and crew in some subtle ways. In addition, accusations of an abusive working environment against Whedon by Amy Adams and Gal Gadot did nothing to endear folks to Whedon or his work on the movie. Chris Terrio seems to feel the same way.

Fortunately for fans and many who worked on the movie, the 3+ year campaign to #ReleaseTheSnyderCut paid off as “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” was released last month on HBO MAX.