Christopher Nolan saved Zack Snyder.
That is what I have been told by insiders, the same sourcing that has been ahead of the curve on the DC shake-up under the incoming De Luca-Abdy regime.
No further details were offered on when, how, or from what. Just that Nolan saved him.
Nolan Chose Snyder To Take Over DC
Here is more: As I have previously gone over, I have also been told that when Nolan finished his Dark Knight trilogy, it was Nolan who chose Snyder to take over DC.
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And according to the same sourcing, Matt Reeves was also in the mix to take over DC back then.
On its face, all of it tracks with a relationship that goes back fifteen years. It was Nolan and David S. Goyer who cracked the Man of Steel approach coming out of the Dark Knight trilogy, and it was Nolan who brought the project to Warner Bros. with Snyder as his hand-picked director.
Nolan produced Man of Steel and executive produced Batman v Superman and Zack Snyder’s Justice League, effectively godfathering Snyder’s entire DCEU era.
The Reeves detail is a fun one, because a decade later Reeves got his corner of DC anyway with The Batman. Per what insiders are saying, he was on the shortlist the whole time.
And when it all went wrong, Nolan was there too.
After Snyder stepped away from Justice League and the Whedon version hit theaters, Snyder told Vanity Fair that Nolan and his producer wife Deborah Snyder went to see it and came back with a warning: “You can never see that movie.”
What “Saved” Could Mean
So take your pick of eras. It could mean the 2017 fallout, when Snyder was at his lowest and Nolan was shielding him from the theatrical cut.
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It could mean the Snyder Cut era, when it took real industry muscle to get Zack Snyder’s Justice League made at all.
Or it could mean right now.
As CBN exclusively reported, Snyder is gung ho about adapting The Dark Knight Returns and finishing his Justice League arc once the Paramount deal closes, with the SnyderVerse back in play under a De Luca-Abdy regime that has made no secret of wanting Nolan back in business at Warner Bros.
If the most powerful director in Hollywood put in a word for Snyder as that new era takes shape, “saved” starts sounding very current.
I’ve also been told if the SnyderVerse returns at Paramount, Nolan may be involved.
Belloni And Shaw: Nolan Will Define The Next Decade
On The Town’s Future Blockbusters Draft episode, Matt Belloni and Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw named Christopher Nolan among the directors who will define the next decade of Hollywood.
Hard to argue: Nolan is coming off the Oppenheimer Oscars, and The Odyssey is dominating the worldwide box office, sitting north of $350 million internationally with foreign markets driving over half its gross.
And here is where it connects back. I am told Nolan still backs Snyder. If Nolan is one of the directors who defines the next decade, that could mean he is bringing Snyder along for the ride.
Snyder’s dance card is already filling up on its own. His announced projects include The Last Photograph, speculated to land at A24, the Brawler, the UFC movie with the Saudis attached, and the remake of Escape From New York.
Add a reopened DC door, per our reporting, and the next few years look very different from the last few.
Meanwhile, Snyder just spent the weekend on stage with Frank Miller saying a Dark Knight Returns movie happens “when they let us,” while the merger that decides everything heads to trial. The pieces keep lining up.
Cosmic Book News will continue to follow up with insiders, so stay tuned.
Matt McGloin is the editor-in-chief and publisher of Cosmic Book News, the independent entertainment news site he founded in 2008. He covers movies, comics, TV, video games and pop culture and has reported major industry scoops over the years, including revealing the Avengers: Endgame title ahead of its official announcement. Through Cosmic Book News, he helped Marvel Comics promote Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova through exclusive previews, artwork, and interviews, with the site also quoted in solicitations and on comic covers. He also reported on Marvel’s Daredevil: Born Again retooling before it was later confirmed by the trades.