Credit: Inside the MagicNo matter your position in Hollywood, it’s important to have a solid fanbase in your corner. No director understands that better than Zack Snyder, whose rabid fan base has kept his films with DC Studios alive even though he is no longer involved with the studio. And one of his biggest fans is Academy Award-winner Ben Affleck.
Director Zack Snyder kicked his way into the public view with the film 300 (2007), an iconic film that felt like nothing that had been seen before. His work with comic book material like 300 and Watchmen (2009) got the attention of Warner Bros., who put him in charge of Man of Steel (2013). Since then, Snyder has become the main guy behind the DC Extended Universe.
Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse for the director when both Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice(2016) and Justice League (2017) received poor critical reception. Snyder was removed from his position and replaced with Guardians of the Galaxy maestro James Gunn.
However, fans rallied behind Snyder, prompting him to release Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021), a re-edited version of the original film. And one of his biggest supporters in this project has been Batman himself, Ben Affleck.
Affleck on Zack Snyder: “He Knows Where We’re Going, So I’m Gonna Follow Him.”
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One person who has always had Zack Snyder’s back is Ben Affleck, going so far as to refuse to work with James Gunn. At the Zack Snyder Full Circle Event in Pasadena, California, Affleck spoke to fans regarding what it was about the director that he loved working with.
“As you look at all these actors who Zack cast and how good they are and what they’ve gone on to do, it’s a testament to Zack’s taste. And his taste is very, as he says, intuitive. I don’t know if you can learn it or teach it. He has a feeling if he is, sort of, being like a filmmaker with a point of view is.”
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Affleck continued, “As soon as he sees that thing that bounces off him, it’s very wonderful to work with someone who’s not clouded by a bunch of other thoughts or opinions or ‘What are they gonna say? What are they gonna do? How many followers do they have?’ Whatever it is, immediately, and listen, he has an opinion, and he has a strong one.”
While these strong opinions have proven to be controversial, there’s no doubt that Zack Snyder has always had a vision for the DC films he was involved with.
Ben Affleck ended the session with one final statement about the director: “…One of the beautiful things about Zack and his process is that he is worked by instinct and decisive and absolutely self-assured of that, and it’s a very calming thing to have in a director, to go ‘OK, he knows where we’re going, so I’m gonna follow him.'”
What’s your favorite Zack Snyder movie? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!