Charles Roven, the producer of the entire series of comic book adaptations of DC, who is responsible for building the existing film universe equally with director Zack Snyder and his wife Deborah Snyder, shared some of the hidden details of the “Justice League” movie, and also clarified the prospects of a sequel to the scandalous project, and assessed the chances of returning Snyder and Christopher Nolan. Excerpts from the producer’s interview with The Hollywood Reporter are below.
- What was the most challenging moment working on the DC Cinematic Universe?
It was more than a moment. It just all seems related to the fact that Zach left the project because of the family problems he had and everything that followed. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I’ll be frank, it was more than that, because when your director leaves a film he’s directed before extensive additional filming has even begun, I don’t want to call it a “moment.” As usual, the most important thing is hidden from view, and it’s much more than the tip of the iceberg. Not only that, but we also had to deal with the fact that the tone of the film and some of the story lines had to be revised during the re-shooting process. We also had to deal with the fact that Gal Gadot had just had back surgery because she injured it on the set of “Wonder Woman” and injured it again while working on “Justice League.” So, after the surgery, she couldn’t travel. We wanted to shoot as many additional scenes as we could in the UK, but we couldn’t do all of that because we needed Gal to do it.
On top of that, we were dealing with very difficult scenes. They were extremely complicated in terms of structure and shooting problems, and of course we were hoping Henry Cavill could shave off his mustache and beard. We were very worried that we couldn’t do it with the graphics in a seamless way. And in fact, we were right. Starting the film as Superman and making his face look funny, I wouldn’t say that was one of the good decisions. But it was a decision that was made because of many other circumstances. We needed to keep the release date, because the plans of all our promotional partners, were related to that date, all the theaters had reservations for that release date. IMAX, for example. Plus, it was Christmas Day ahead, which would have meant a lot of revenue for Warner Bros. at that particular time. They just didn’t have another large-scale, blockbuster movie to replace it.
- How is the collaboration with Warners/DC structured? Are you automatically attached to all the Suicide Squad sequels? Do you have a certain number of DC movies that you’re attached to?
If it was a Superman movie involving Henry, I’d be involved at least a couple more times. If it was a Batman-related project, such as “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” or “Justice League,” I would be involved in those. “Suicide Squad”-I’d be involved in those up to a point. I’m not affiliated with Aquaman. That’s Peter Safran territory. I have nothing to do with the “Shazam!” movies. But I still have a commitment to Suicide Squad, which I’m excited about. I hope that James (Gunn), when he has some time, will come back and see if he can do any more of this, because he’s already done such an amazing job. I would definitely be a part of that. Probably another “Justice League,” although I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon.
- You’ve had a lot of experience with Snyder and Nolan. Do you see a reality in which either of those two would come back and make a DC Comics movie? Snyder could do a lot more, but are there any such plans? And Nolan doesn’t seem to be interested in doing any more DC movies or working with Warner at all. What do you think?
I’m going to give you a Terry Gilliam quote. He and my first wife fiercely argued over his version of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. And he was sure he would no longer be associated with anything having to do with our studio. And then I offered him “Twelve Monkeys,” and he laughed and said: “Really, you could never burn bridges in Hollywood all the way.” The thing is, I would never say “never” about anything when it comes to entertainment, different ideas, ways to get back.