Six months before Justice League's release, director Zack Snyder has announced that he is stepping away from the movie following the death of his daughter, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Though the film has already gone through its initial shoots, Avengers director Joss Whedon will step in to direct the movie through postproduction and the shooting of some additional scenes.
Snyder's daughter died by suicide in March at the age of 20. The film took a two-week break following the tragedy, and Snyder had originally planned on returning to the film.
"In my mind, I thought it was a cathartic thing to go back to work, to just bury myself and see if that was the way through it," Snyder said at a press conference. "The demands of this job are pretty intense. It is all-consuming. And in the last two months, I've come to the realization … I've decided to take a step back from the movie to be with my family, be with my kids, who really need me. They are all having a hard time. I'm having a hard time."
Warner Bros. had initially suggested to push back the release date, but the Snyders declined. Instead of leaving home to shoot additional scenes in England, he decided to let Whedon handle the remaining work, which Warner Bros. Pictures president Toby Emmerich says is "minimal."
"The directing is minimal and it has to adhere to the style and tone and the template that Zack set," Emmerich told The Hollywood Reporter. "We're not introducing any new characters. It's the same characters in some new scenes. He's handing the baton to Joss, but the course has really been set by Zack. I still believe that despite this tragedy, we'll still end up with a great movie."
