Friend of the show, Zack Snyder, shares some details about Justice League and Army Of The Dead.
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00:00um i i love this i was looking on uh our next guest uh twitter account and he's got a uh tweet
00:07from ryan reynolds yes it says uh excited to see the snyder cut but ahead of its debut
00:13and with the aid of a good amount of aviation gin tonight at 6 p.m i'll do something i've never done
00:19actually watch the green lantern happy saint bad fix day that was sent to zach snyder ladies
00:26gentlemen we're very fortunate to have this gentleman on uh he was gracious enough to give
00:30us this wonderful interview at the camp out for hunger it was fantastic so cool and we're stoked
00:35on the day that this big event that we've long awaited that he is joining us this morning is
00:41very very cool i mean the stuff that so many people thought would never happen and here it is
00:46please welcome zach snyder this morning zach hey guys hey how you doing man doing great doing really
00:55great this morning uh it is an exciting day uh for a lot of people including most of all you and
01:02the first question i want to get into zach is just to remind everybody how did this come to be where did
01:09this idea start that this movie needed to to go back and be redone and and added all this extra footage
01:17i think it was it was fan-based was it not 100 fan-based um i don't know it's uh it's a long saga
01:25of what what happened um during the film um you know people might not know that i i the original
01:33justice league that was released in theaters that um i've never seen the movie i left the project
01:39um due to a family tragedy that we had and uh so i never i never completed the film they and they
01:46brought in another guy to finish it um but um and they made a couple changes in my absence um
01:54and so um you know i guess the there was a hashtag that circulated called release the snyder cut
02:02um and that hashtag started on november 17 2017 which is the day the movie was originally released
02:09wow there was a guy who walked out of the theater and just i'm like nope and and just
02:17and tweeted that and since you know it's been tweeted millions of times um and uh you know the
02:25studio finally was like okay well i guess we have to do this it's and um it's miraculous it is it is a
02:31miraculous thing when you stop and think about it so the actual release itself zach the actual movie that
02:36it's in existence the way you originally envisioned it but now the story of it has become hollywood
02:42legend as well how this actually was executed so something that i'm sure that would have to
02:48frustrate any artist and any guy and i consider you a visionary president i we all love your work
02:53i mean we're massive fans and and to think okay i guess i have to cast that one into the dustbin of
02:59you know that's it and then to be able to go back and then you're getting things like ign
03:04saying zach snyder's justice league is a vindication for the director and the fans that believed in
03:10his vision that's got to be awesome on this day to hear stuff like that yeah it's really it's really
03:16cool um and just the fans have been so amazing you know our big cause um is suicide prevention and
03:26mental health awareness and you know the fans have raised now like you know six hundred thousand
03:34dollars just you know in the little fan community um because every time they did an activation like
03:42if they bought a billboard half the money would go to afsp and the other half money would be like
03:46a billboard or like whatever that whatever they do they half of the money goes to you know afsp
03:53and you know for suicide prevention and mental health awareness and it's just an incredible
04:00you know i i've said a hundred times like well if there was no movie what the fans have done is
04:05incredible especially during this pandemic where like you know there's a lot of you know a lot of
04:11people suffering you know through through some hard times you know on top of the you know this virus
04:19there's also just the impact on all of us as people and i think that they've really been just
04:25amazing and and you know tip of the spear in that way and i really i'm just proud of the community well
04:31you participated in our camp out for hunger and just to put into um you know perspective what happened
04:37that ended up when we thought we were fighting you know the battle of sisyphus there pushing the
04:40boulder up the hill uh it ended up being by far by leaps and bounds our most productive camp out
04:46ever you know and again thanks in part to to you and the other people who did it so uh the the
04:51generosity is not gone and for anyone who's going to enjoy uh you know and has been excited for this
04:55event that we're going to we'll put the link up i'm sure nick probably already has to direct money
04:59for people want to make donations to uh this this charity which has touched your life and is sadly
05:04touching so many lives right now uh and then you know turn a a negative into a positive but uh i have
05:11to ask you so there is so much that initially i was unaware after having seen the movie in the
05:17theater and having loved the way you had progressed this story uh you know with uh the with man of
05:22steel and batman v superman dawn of justice it was to me it seemed very wagnerian and very operatic
05:28and i love it i love that whole thing and uh while justice league definitely has its moments it the
05:34tone was different uh and uh and so now that i realized there were huge chunks that were excised
05:43preston and i loved the character of cyborg and just you could just feel he had been shorted so much
05:50screen time that has been corrected correct cyborg is really the it's his movie in a lot of ways i i think
05:58when you see it you're going to be very much um you know you're basically seeing cyborg story in a lot
06:05of ways it's his origin you know and that was always when chris and i chris terrio and i were working
06:10on the story our our intent was always to have cyborg it was his time you know we thought this movie
06:17was going to be all about cyborg and and and and and frankly justice league really takes that character
06:24you know all the way i love it i can't wait for you to see it but i was suggesting that you guys
06:29leave the studio right now oh zach was actually giving us a pass and suggested and i suggested we
06:35ran the show from like the time of live aid and it was probably right yeah it wouldn't work out but
06:39yeah yeah that we so we're going to tell our bosses you've given us the pass right now actually on
06:44social media and and there are people responding who are just who are just loving it um you know and
06:50you've always dealt with people who just summarily just don't buy into what you're doing i've
06:54from the get-go has had legions bought into it and and you you're you like long movies we talked
07:00about this last time at the camp out for hunger and and if you're telling a story how you like it's
07:05like i was looking at the run time initially when justice the first iteration of justice league was
07:09released like how are you what is this what was this filmed in a photo booth i mean how does this
07:14how are you getting this this these huge stories compacted the movie i think the run time of the
07:21movie is it's two hours with credit so i think an hour and you know 40 you know or 50 minutes yeah
07:30total i mean i think that's that's you know not even half of the movie that i that i've just
07:39finished so i i yeah if you're ready for a deep dive into um into into into into some justice league
07:48characters if you're ready to really go all the way clear that this is what it's all about uh zach
07:53you know uh mentioning a long film and for those who maybe have a hard time uh consuming something
07:59that's four hours long i did read this uh this morning that it is kind of broken up into 30 minute
08:04chapters is that the case yeah you know when i originally finished this cut of the movie i
08:09finished in um january of uh 2017 um so i've been working on even 2016 so let's say and i had this
08:20idea then that i should divide the movie into chapters and so it's really easy to i think it's
08:27look as a stream when you're streaming it and you know this is a great hbo max thing that's happening
08:35um in that when you sit on your sofa if you sort of think about it psychologically like you're about
08:40to binge uh basically seven half hour episodes of a giant you know summer 40 minutes and whatever but
08:49i think you really in that sense it's really easy to watch and you can always pause it at the chapters
08:54and go get your chips or go to the bathroom or you can come back the next day but it's really
09:00i think in that way it's um it's the right sort of platform for it we did finish an imax version of
09:06the movie as well which hopefully when the theaters um kind of uh open up more we can um we can put up
09:14an imax for you guys because uh we want to do that from charity you know in the fall oh we'll be there
09:19we'll promote it yeah we'll absolutely do that and just to let people know and it's my understanding that
09:22the um they might be thrown off as you watch it as everyone will watch it today and then donate
09:27to to zach's charity as well uh that the the the aspect ratio that you'll see at home is a little
09:32bit different correct yeah it's like the opposite of letterbox so everyone took a while to get rid
09:38of to get used to letterbox format which is uh you know when you have black bars on the top and bottom
09:44the kind of wide screen look this is the opposite it has it's in academy or it's in full app so it is
09:52uh shot in the sort of imax format which is like a big square so so you'll have you'll have some bars
09:59on the sides of the screen so don't worry about that that's part of i was seeing side-by-side
10:03comparisons and i listen i i love from you know to you see more you see more stuff going on you need
10:08to see the bat signal obviously i have my batman here with me uh uh but i mean the fact that all
10:13of that is going on and just the the color changes that you've done uh steppenwolf got a badass makeover
10:21uh and i mean with what you did and hbo max gave you some money but what you've been able to do and
10:27i haven't i've just seen still so i'm very excited uh but everything looks fantastic uh cheers yeah you're
10:33gonna get to see dark side i i don't know if you know anything about dark side is he's the king
10:39daddy bad guy of the the dc universe and he's uh he's not he's not messing around now he's come he's
10:47he's not he's not he doesn't play nice you know he's just here to to mess everything up yeah that's
10:54every single thing up all right let's hope to just let's hope to just don't give it away so so with
11:02that i'm saying i hope i hope okay where are there are there other actors who were initially
11:07on the cutting room floor that are now getting you know uh their treatment uh in this film listen i
11:14don't know a hundred percent uh because as i said i haven't seen the theatrical cut you might have to
11:19do that analysis but um i do know that ryan choi uh the character of ryan choi who's the who plays
11:24who would eventually become the adam um his character was cut and kirstie clemens who plays iris
11:32um she was cut um uh and so anyway she's in the sequence mom she's in the sequence with i think
11:40the flashes it gets a lot more um uh time on the screen ezra miller we know there's a new flash
11:46movie that is in the works we get to see a bit of what the speed force uh you know concept looks like
11:52which is very cool uh cyborg's dad uh uh silas joe morton we see a little bit more of him and what i love is
12:00that steppenwolf has a really amazing arc yeah sorry no no no problem steppenwolf um like in in
12:06that version didn't it was like what why are you so pissed off what is this about with dark side in
12:12the mix you you i guess from what i understand and what i've read is that uh steppenwolf comes
12:17off more as a um he's just trying to please his boss and he's he's easy is that correct family issue
12:24yeah he has a lot of like he has a lot of i mean kieran heinz who voices him is amazing and i think
12:31you know brings this amazing gravitas and and i would say frankly he brings a lot of um sympathy
12:38to the character i mean i know it's hard to believe that you might you know feel sympathetic toward this
12:44big spiky monster from space who's really who's into world domination and has a giant axe and it's
12:50just basically chopping everybody in half but he you know he's got his own problems but that's what you
12:55need you for to me i've always hated a villain and i've said this countless times on the show a
13:01mustache twirling one-dimensional villain does nothing for me some a villain that you can slightly
13:06understand the impetus for is far more interesting oh yeah oh yeah 100 you know so i wanted to ask and
13:13double back to uh to ray fisher because i was reading something about him for those who know
13:16him he's the one who plays cyborg actually he's from um uh the area yes uh we spoke to him years ago um
13:22he uh apparently has had a great reaction to uh the snyder cut he i read this morning that he
13:28absolutely loved it now he had his issues with the replacement and it's controversies and we won't get
13:33into that here but how does that feel to you to know that that he's happy with uh with what he's seen
13:39him well you know raise a buddy and um you know i just uh when i hired him and when we went we when
13:49we started this process it was really to me it was all about um you know honoring the character as best
13:55i could and i just anytime an actor um sees the movie and is moved by it and enjoys it you know that's
14:05that's you know for me the ultimate um you know the ultimate in vindication and and it makes me super
14:14happy so i'm glad that ray got to enjoy it and i i saw that video of him where he was just going nuts
14:21he watched it in a hotel room too apparently it was the yeah yeah yeah yeah not the best viewing
14:27experience but you can see that it plays in a hotel room it'll play anywhere
14:31yeah hey zach i i wanted to ask uh first of all i wanted to thank you for joining us today because
14:36i know today's a huge day and i'm sure everybody wanted a piece of you uh and so the fact that you
14:41woke up early uh you know it's like five o'clock in your time right now that you woke up early that
14:46you're spending some time with us i want to thank you for that but i also want to ask why why why did
14:52you get up at five o'clock in the morning to call into philadelphia radio i would like to think that
14:57you like our show but is it because you have family in the area i'm i'm a friend of the show
15:02and uh i i really do i love you guys i whenever i get a chance if you guys when when i see the text
15:10arrive on my phone we're doing a show you want to jump on i'm like let's go hey i have a question
15:16since we're since we're doing this via zoom and we can see into your domicile there do you play piano
15:22my kids do okay there's a piano book behind you and a piano i was gonna have you tickle the ivories
15:29there for us a little bit if that was the case by the way if i could i would jump on i would
15:34play a little i don't know what but i'd be uh and sing of course speaking of music though uh just to
15:41bring up this point you there's a everyone's raving about the the um the new music for the film and
15:47explain what happened junkie did this uh again when i left um junkie uh xl who does the score uh
15:57um he he you know they they they replaced him as well and then when i came back to um
16:05to finish the movie uh junkie i called him and i said we're doing the movie we're gonna finish it
16:10and he was like what and i said do you have any music like left over and he goes you know what i'm
16:14gonna do it all from scratch i want to start over and so he just you know it's four hours pretty much
16:20four hours music and it's unbelievable he did he just destroyed it and oh and we are doing a it's
16:27coming out i don't know exactly when it comes out i'll have to check out but a um we're doing a vinyl
16:31box so like if you're into vinyl oh wow they're gonna do they're gonna do a full release of this
16:37soundtrack on vinyl and that should be that's pretty cool as well as of course at apple music you can
16:43check it out uh well zach i'd like to ask a follow-up question about that uh topic because
16:47i loved the soundtrack for man of steel was hans zimmer did that do you have favorite uh composers
16:53that you like working with and and how do you end up choosing one because there are a lot of great
16:56ones out there and hans is is legendary uh so why change you know in the same cinematic universe
17:03and do a different composer hans and junkie work together that's why i met junkie uh he came um you know
17:09from from sort of uh hans's camp and that's how we got that's how we sort of got together and then
17:18um you know when you know because the two of them um did uh batman versus superman together okay and
17:26then um they they and then when we went on to justice league um i was like okay junkie you
17:34you want to do it you want to do the whole thing and he was like absolutely and we worked here he
17:39did um you know he did security road and a bunch of other amazing soundtracks um you know and it's
17:45just uh and he just finished army of the dead for me when is the release on that right over there in
17:51when's the release on on on that we we hear was bumped back again uh may 21st may 21st okay uh just to
17:59also be ready to i'll be back on the show in no time oh you bet you bet your ass you you made a
18:04critical a critical mistake in in in uh answering our texts because we're going to be on you like
18:10white on rice but the um and i just want to convey the excitement to people who may not understand
18:16for example and i think i mentioned to you uh this to you at the camp out batman v superman dawn of
18:21justice the original theatrical cut really enjoyed yet there were some things like that to me were like
18:26well there there didn't seem to be an explanation fully when i saw the full director's cut with the
18:31additional footage in it it it was it was um it took greatness and made it even better because to me
18:38it you know all those things are filled in to know that you've had this ability to go back and add in
18:43those little things and there i i don't want to i don't want to spoil anything i had to do a little
18:46research so i i know there are a couple of new characters that make appearances that are going to rock
18:52fans worlds so um yeah yeah yeah so uh are is it is it are you kind of like a guy who has the
18:59ultimate gift to give someone on the hot you know on christmas or whatever and now you can get to see
19:04them unwrap it and get the reaction yeah i mean that's a cool way to look at it i i i hope fans get
19:10this take this opportunity to really um and i think if you haven't seen justice league you know at all
19:17then you really i think this really represents an amazing opportunity to just kind of go deep into
19:23a world and and um excited that people are going to get that chance all right so um what other press
19:28are you doing today i know you have a watch party so maybe you can talk a little bit about that but
19:32where else can can your fans catch you today yeah there's a watch party um i don't know if it's live
19:38but i'm doing a uh thing for 300 weirdly um with uh um stephanopoulos uh uh um with the hellenic league
19:51because uh you know it was the um i think it's the 2000 no it's got to be more than that it's 480 bc
20:00the anniversary of the battle of thermopolis yeah it's the fat it's one of the anniversaries like
20:06uh but it's thousands of years but that's exciting so i'm talking to them are you going
20:13to have anybody from the battle attending yeah reunite is coming um
20:21weird that i was like wow that's uh uh that's a blast from the past but you absolutely have to do
20:26that what an honor to have some of the original veterans in attendance yeah we better hurry up to
20:31get their stories uh you know of course too late good press i'm sorry go ahead yeah i'm doing a
20:37couple of uh yeah watch oh i don't even like you i'm delirious so i i can't remember i don't know
20:45but always stopping here yes you know important we appreciate that it was uh announced that uh
20:50that you're going to do the fountainhead is that correct well no i i own the fountainhead i don't
20:56really have a uh we don't really have a model for it um you know but uh i've got it it's kind of uh
21:03on the i would say it's on a slow burn okay okay but uh you know we'll see uh but uh yeah the next
21:11thing i'm doing um i'm trying to do this small movie that i i wrote with my friend kurt johnstead who
21:16actually wrote the script um yeah called uh horse latitudes and uh we're just gonna it's a movie that
21:23we want to just go shoot in south america you know with two guys and it's like it's it's like a
21:28real um sort of micro budget movie and then um that's got to be refreshing that that's gonna have
21:35to be yeah that's like a complete diversion the actors you know what i mean so that what so what
21:42does this mean just quickly um you've got this the reaction so far has been tremendous uh everything's
21:47sort of stopped for the snyder verse do you think hbo max do you think we are seeing perhaps
21:52um the potential for allowing you to complete your longer game in this uh listen i mean i i don't
22:03you know that's not necessarily i didn't i didn't make it with that intention we did make the movie
22:10yeah with the um when we originally filmed the movie we assumed there would be two more movies that's
22:17kind of how the movie's made um there's a cliffhanger at the end and i know it's rude that there's a
22:23cliffhanger for uh a movie that may not get a sequel but it's just the way it was constructed and i
22:29wanted to do it exactly as we had talked about uh so uh you know look i didn't think i'd be sitting
22:36here talking to you guys about this so you know you never know we're the stranger things have happened so
22:41all right well i don't know if we talked about this or not but uh army of the dead is going to be
22:46released on may 21st and i don't know if we talked about where can where is it going to be released i
22:52don't know if we that's on netflix okay okay netflix has been amazing you are going to get um trust me
23:01you will know where army of the dead is playing and what it's about netflix does not we they do not
23:09play yeah no no they like to advertise yeah you trust me and the trailer um i saw i mean really
23:16soon in april like right at the beginning of april like i think middle middle-ish of april and the
23:22the new trailer is just a a it's a butt kicker okay i say a works at normal you can say yeah yeah
23:35i do want to thank you again for joining us this morning and then also i want to thank you because
23:39uh when i was texting with you the other day uh you know my son was next to me i go hey i just uh
23:45i just got a text from zach snyder and he was like no way and so i looked really really cool
23:50and he was like tell him i said hi i'm a huge fan so i did and then you texted back and then
23:55i promised him i would say this he said you have to put in a character in your next movie whose name
24:01is sheamus because that is his name so there you go there you go it's super sheamus yeah oh my god
24:11my son's name is ben leave zach alone soon he's going to be doing shout outs
24:17yeah right um well listen zach thanks again uh it's a big day for you and also for uh afsp like
24:23you said uh you know people uh bring awareness to that and suicide uh prevention and and uh and uh
24:30getting uh therapy and for people who need it so uh we appreciate the time yes casey yeah we do have
24:36information about that on our website okay yep it's uh it's located if you'd like to donate our pleasure
24:42great to talk to you zach good luck with everything and congratulations all right uh yeah
24:47you can go check out justice league on hbo max and i will talk to you guys later outstanding
24:55wow wow huge uh yeah yeah uh stoked for tonight yes uh or as soon as are you gonna you're watching
25:04today i want to watch it straight through and it's a it's a tough thing on a work on a school night
25:10so i'm gonna try uh if not it'll be tomorrow because i want i want to live and go into this world
25:16i'm so damn excited