Have you seen the last trailer Batman v Superman: Porn of Lustiness*? Well, don’t. Now I’m not in the habit of telling people NOT to read articles I’ve written, but there’s no denying the fact that as cool and explosive as that trailer is, it also contains one massive honking spoiler that would have been one hell of a jaw-dropping surprise in the cinema if it had been kept as a surprise. But this is 2016 we live in, when trailers occasionally turn out to be nothing more than the Reader’s Digest versions of their movies, spoilers be damned!
Of course, plenty of fans are not too happy with this latest development and have taken to their favourite soapbox – the internet – to let the folks over at Warner Bros and DC Comics know exactly how they feel (usually with the assistance of many exclamation marks and a series of four letter words) about this last trailer – especially since the marketing campaign for Batman v Superman had been doing a great job until now in keeping things under wraps. And it seems that director Zack Snyder has heard all the griping, and speaking to MTV he wants to assure fans that that “spoiler” wasn’t such a big deal as it’s only one small part of a much larger movie stuffed with plenty of other jaw-dropping moments.
“I have the benefit of seeing the movie. It’s cool that they think it’s too much and I appreciate people not wanting to know, but there’s plenty that they don’t know. There’s a lot of movie that’s not in the trailer.”
That being said, Snyder insinuated that fans have nobody but themselves to blame if they intentionally go digging up every piece of info they can find and then end up spoiling things.
“Of course I hate it when any spoilers come out! You design the movie as a story that evolves as you watch it, so moment-to-moment [you’re thinking], ‘Oh my god, what’s going to happen next? Are they gonna live? Are they gonna die?’ So you want that experience for the audience, as much as you can. If you’re, as an audience member, exploring these articles, looking for answers to questions that you have, maybe you’re okay with knowing before you go. It’s like an individual taste. But like I said, I want people to see the movie without knowing.”
Of course “spoilers” wasn’t the only point of contention about the last trailer, as we got our first real extended look at Jesse Eisenberg’s version of criminal genius Lex Luthor, and he was… kind of goofy. But once again, Snyder would like to tell folks who had an issue with this version of Luthor to wait until you see the whole movie.
“In the trailer, of course he comes across in a very specific way. In the movie, he’s like a million times more sophisticated than what you get in 30 seconds. But that’s also the fun of it. That’s why you go to the movies, so you can actually see the context and understand the depth.”
Moving away from just addressing criticism, Snyder also spoke to FilmInk about the casting of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman – a cinematic debut that fans have been waiting for for years – and how she was even able to hold her own against Ben Affleck’s intense Batman.
“We tested a bunch of actresses, as you can imagine. But the thing with Gal is that she’s strong, she’s beautiful, and she’s a kind person, which is interesting, but fierce at the same time. It’s that combination of being fierce but kind at the same time that we were looking for. She can get serious, but she’s amazingly fun to be around. And by the way, she really held her own with Ben in the screen test. Ben was like, ‘Whoa, that girl is something else!’ That was a good sign, because Ben is very tough in the scene, and he’s big and commanding. Anytime that you’re doing a test like that and you’re looking at the other person, you’re thinking, ‘Okay, that’s good stuff.’ That was part of the process, and over time as we got to know Gal, we found out how amazing she is.”
Batman v Superman was penned by Chris Terrio (Argo) and also stars Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Holly Hunter, Jason Momoa, Laurence Fishburn, Jenna Malone, and Jeremy Irons. It is scheduled for release on March 25, 2016.
*It may be a new year, but Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is still a silly title
Last Updated: January 8, 2016
Wayne Bossenger
January 8, 2016 at 17:49
I’m one of the many that were really annoyed with that trailer and the spoiler they revealed, even if they claim it is a small facet of the film. It’s not the first time and it certainly won’t be the last time a film is ruined (slightly or on a grand scale) by the trailer… wish I had someone to tell me that there would be a big spoiler in that before I saw it which was pretty soon after it dropped online.
Take Amazing Spider-man 2 for example, in that trailer they showed off the Rhino and other big bads and we all thought, yea, that looks cool in the film, can’t wait to see that, and get to the film and be disappointed because it didn’t live up to that which we saw in the trailer (among other faults it had).
Another example, the latest Star Wars, without going into it, had given us some cool looking shots but almost no story to spoiler or other reveals. Granted, it’s Star Wars, so it pretty much sells itself.
Last example, look at the latest Avengers film, their competition. Yea, we know from watching that trailer who the big bad is and kinda where he comes from. We know the Avengers f’d up and need to fix it. One of the biggest reveals they could have kept for the film they teased, slightly, in the last trailer. The difference being that we all knew that character would be in the film, it was in the synopsis and everything, so, yeah, they showed it in the trailer and I get that. Ideally I would have hoped they kept that reveal for the film only but that wasn’t the case. But still, how everything fit’s together wasn’t shown in the trailer at all and it was a huge reveal with regards to the final battle mechanics.
Shouldn’t Batman v Superman: Dawn of Spoilers be able to market itself well enough to give an idea of what will happen in the film without giving away a spoiler such as that (which was rumoured to be in the film before but then completely denied by WB afterwards…)? If it’s not a big spoiler then WB might be doing what Sony did with Spider-man and fill this film with bad guys without giving huge weight to them.
I feel like I’ve watched most of the film without actually seeing it. I mean, the name dropping and ‘funny’ moments of the trailer with Lex or in that stand off at the end of the trailer should have stayed in the movie only. Now that I’ve seen it in the trailer it won’t be funny in the movie (nevermind the fact that it felt forced and not actually funny…)
I’ll probably watch it when it comes out at the cinema but I’m in no rush and can just as easily wait for the bluray since I’ve pretty much seen it.
Why can’t they make trailer’s to make you interested in the film without dropping spoilers? OR say in the trailer, “Warning, contains Spoilers/Twists”. Not impressed…
Lardus-For the Emperor!
January 11, 2016 at 13:24
The name of the movie itself, “Dawn of Justice”, basically gives away what the dynamic between the characters will be at the end of the movie. Star Wars trailer gave me “nothing”, while I feel the BvS:DoJ name and trailer gave away everything. Maybe we will be surprised in the movie, maybe not. But right now, the hope-meter is at “whatevs, I’ll go see it but not hyped”.