I am of the thought that when a studio hires a director, they are hiring the director’s vision. Filmmaker Zack Snyder has a distinct directorial style and tone for the films he crafts, and he brought his skill set with him to create his portion of the DCEU. But it seemed as if, even though they used him for several other films, a wave of amnesia washed over WB and they were surprised when Zack Snyder took the darker, Frank Milleresque interpretations of the DC characters of Batman and Superman.
So, after two (and a half) of films following his vision, WB wrested the reigns from his hands and is trying to mesh his vision with the Marvel formula for filmmaking. Even if we do wind up getting the Snyder Cut of Justice League (and I really hope we do, Batman v Superman: Ultimate Edition is still my favorite comic book film) his five-film arc for Superman and his Super Friends has derailed faster than a locomotive.
I’m still a little sad over the whole ordeal. As a fan of the comic books, Superman: For Tomorrow, Kingdom Come, and Superman: Peace on Earth, along with Frank Miller’s Batman, I wanted to see more of Snyder’s vision portrayed on the silver screen. But now that Snyder has moved on, so should I, and so should the DCEU. With that, here’s a couple of things I think WB can do moving forward:
Let the Directors Direct the Films you Hired them to Direct
This one’s pretty self-explanatory, and I already summarized it earlier with the main example of how they treated Snyder. Unfortunately, Snyder isn’t the only director they’ve done this to. David Ayer’s Suicide Squad – or as my friends call it: Oscar Award Winning Suicide Squad (OAWSS, I’m in the military, so I love acronyms) – received the same tender treatment of butchering a filmmaker’s work as Snyder did.
When a studio hires a director, they need to know what they’re in for – that’s it.
Create an Elseworld or Black Label Sandbox for Directors
It’s that simple. Instead of trying to go the Marvel route with interconnected storylines which all lead into a big team-up every four to five years, treat it more like the comics.
First, I do hope they continue the character arcs through the first five films of the DCEU. I’m fully invested and want to see where they go, especially Wonder Woman and Aquaman, and I’m already endeared to Shazaam! because of David F. Sandberg’s horror roots and nerdy charisma Zachary Levi of Chuck fame brings to the role.
However, as with the comics, the DCEU needs to have its own Elseworld or Black Label category of films that are treated more as a sandbox where different directors can pitch their ideas and interpretations of beloved characters. Who wouldn’t want to watch a live action version of Justice League: The New Frontier, or watch Batman and Spawn team up to defeat demonic foes, or better yet, watch what happens when Batman breaks bad after the Joker goes sane in White Knight?
And they may be doing something along those lines already. The new Joker film scheduled to release in 2019 (for my reasons why I think Phoenix will rise to the occasion, click here) looks like it won’t be connected to the overall franchise. And I hope that’s the case. Continue to do so. I’d love to see some of my favorite director’s takes on classic comic book heroes and villains.
Matt Reeves has a great filmmaking philosophy, which WB can easily transpose onto a Black Label or Elseworld section. He says he presents a studio with his unique vision for a film or series of films, and if they like it then sign him on and let him make the film his way with little to no interruption. Using that same logic, WB can set up a way in which directors can come to the studio with their ideas, then the executives can approve or reject them on a case by case basis.
Perhaps even then they could pull Guillermo Del Toro’s Justice League Dark out of developmental purgatory (one can dream). As long as WB understands that historically, comic book movies are niche films and don’t always have the returns of Infinity War or Black Panther, they could carve out – as they did with the horror genre – a sequence of stunning, spectacular films crafted by some of the best directorial minds today, which also happen to make a good amount of money along the way.
