Report Reveals Toxic Behind-the-Scenes Details of “Zack Snyder’s Justice League”

American magazine Rolling Stone released this Tuesday (7/19) a bombastic report on the backstage of the Snyder Cut, the director’s version known as “Zack Snyder’s Justice League”. In the investigation, the online activity of alleged Zack Snyder fans to pressure Warner for release – and more – is described as a “toxic campaign” and allegedly orchestrated by the director himself, resulting in several controversial activities.

For starters, the massive online campaign that convinced Warner to produce a new version of “Justice League” would be artificially fueled by fake Twitter accounts and bots.

The magazine had access to social media reports commissioned by WarnerMedia. Surveys show that 13% of accounts involved in the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement were fake or robot-operated, well above the percentage found in hashtags entering Twitter’s hot topics.

Additionally, the publication contacted three companies that specialize in tracking the authenticity of social media campaigns. Q5id and Graphika also detected inauthentic activity originating from SnyderVerso, the nickname of the director’s fan community. And Alethea Group found that the domain forsnydercut.com – which would have made the hashtag #ReleaseTheSnyderCut go viral in May 2018 – was registered by a person who also ran a (now defunct) advertising agency that claimed to be able to bring “Avatar – instant, small traffic to your site.”

Rolling Stone also spoke to more than 20 people involved in the original version of “Justice League” and most believe the director was dedicated to encouraging and manipulating the campaign.

The report rescues many details of the original film’s production, including conflicts between Snyder and Warner executives over the length and tone of the film, and which motivated hiring a replacement even before Snyder left due to the death of. his daughter . Joss Whedon was tasked with shooting numerous shots while Snyder was still at the helm. With the departure of the original director, Whedon was given carte blanche to change almost everything.

Synder has not forgotten. After convincing the new bosses of the newly formed WarnerMedia to carry out a re-release of the film to engage its alleged millions of fans on HBO Max, Snyder allegedly orchestrated an attack on the executives who arranged for his replacement. According to Rolling Stone, a smear campaign was combined with actor Ray Fisher, who played Cyborg in “Justice League” and accused producers Geoff Johns and Jon Berg of racism and neglect. It was the two who took creative control of the film out of the director’s hands.

Contacted by Rolling Stone, Snyder confirmed that he asked Warner to remove producer names from his version of the film, but denied any coordination with Fisher, who also accused Whedon of abusive behavior on set – in this case, on charges. corroborated by Gal Gadot., interpreter of Wonder Woman, among others.

However, the magazine has heard from sources pointing out that Snyder’s involvement went beyond a “personal request” to cut producers’ credits. Snyder reportedly confronted an executive from the studio’s post-production department with a threat: “I’ll destroy them on social media.”

As Snyder’s demands grew behind the scenes – including more money to include new footage for his version of “Justice League” – a barrage of attacks has been directed at Warner Bros. on social networks. In addition to the request for the dismissal of executives, there were calls for boycotts and even death threats.

These “fan” attacks sought to target anyone or anything that could get in the way of Snyder, including directors like Adam Wingard, because the release of “Godzilla vs. Kong” overshadowed the Snyder Cut on HBO Max and movies like “Wonder Woman “. 1984 “, because it was written by Geoff Johns.

Former DC Entertainment president Diane Nelson was also harassed for praising Todd Phillips’ “Joker” because the film went against SnyderVerso canon. She even deleted her Twitter account, such was the persecution.

One of the most horrifying events happened three months before the release of “Zack Snyder’s Justice League”, when an Instagram account named @daniras_ilust posted a grotesque image depicting the beheaded heads of Johns, by DC Films president Walter Hamada and by former president of Warner Bros. Toby Emmerich. The image quickly circulated among SnyderVerso devotees, who even tagged the social media accounts of the executives’ children.

After this alarming post, WarnerMedia became concerned about the integrity of its employees and secretly commissioned a series of reports from a third-party cybersecurity company to analyze the trolling. A secret report was produced, which would have identified the concentration of hits on three specific accounts, responsible for spreading “orders” to followers. The studio declined to comment on the findings with Rolling Stone, arguing that the problem was related to past management – technically, WarnerMedia no longer exists, replaced by the Warner Bros. Discovery.

In his defense, Snyder said he never manipulated social media. He claims that “if anyone” used robots it was Warner Bros. “trying to leverage my fan base to bolster subscribers to their new streaming service.”

“Neither me nor my wife [Deborah Snyder, produtora dos filmes de Zack] We don’t say anything bad about Johns and Berg in interviews or on social media. Removing their names was important because this was not the film they believed in, developed or helped make. “

The director added that “as an artist, it was gratifying to finally see my vision realized” in the Snyder Cut, especially after “going through such a difficult time in my life”. “I am grateful to the fans and Warner for allowing this to happen. Continuing to mull over the negativity and rumors is of no use to anyone.”

However, the campaign did not end with the release of Snyder Cut on March 18, 2021. The Wrap reported in May that the robots may have led Snyder to win the first “audience” awards at the Oscars this year. In the online poll, “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” recalled one of his scenes as one of cinema’s most iconic moments, and Snyder’s “Army of the Dead: Invasion of Las Vegas” won as an audience favorite. . Consultancy Tweetbinder, which tracks and analyzes hashtags, indicated a trend towards bot manipulation in these surveys.

But it doesn’t take expert listening to question the reality of fans who have asked for and loved the Snyder Cut. Just take a look at the performance of “Zack Snyder’s Justice League”, which never made it to the lists of the most viewed productions in streaming. The launch, in fact, was not highlighted even in Brazil, absent from the list of the most viewed series and films in the celebration of the first year of HBO Max in the country.

The failure of the original “Justice League” is often cited as a panic factor among Time-Warner executives, who entered into a hasty sales deal with AT&T in November 2017, the same month the film was released. A telephony and communications company with no experience with content production, AT&T relaunched media conglomerate as WarnerMedia in 2018 and made several bad decisions that have piled up record debt and devalued its net worth.

Without the patience to wait for HBO Max to take off amid the pandemic and with the high investment in “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” without attracting more subscribers to the service, AT&T quickly ended the WarnerMedia adventure, passing control of the company to a much smaller company than Warner itself, Discovery, which this year took command of the new version of the conglomerate, dubbed Warner Bros. Discovery.

Source: Terra

Emily

Emily Jhon is a product and service reviewer at Gossipify, known for her honest evaluations and thorough analysis. With a background in marketing and consumer research, she offers valuable insights to readers. She has been writing for Gossipify for several years and has a degree in Marketing and Consumer Research from the University of Oxford.