The Bizarre Reason Henry Cavill Doesn't Want To Talk About The Snyder Cut
In the two years since the release of Justice League, fans have been clamoring for the Snyder Cut — the version of the superhero film the original director Zack Snyder allegedly crafted before exiting the project due to a family tragedy and letting Joss Whedon take over. Snyder Cut supporters haven't given up hope that their ultimate dream will come true, and 2019 has been the biggest year for those faithful many. Justice League cast members took to social media on the two-year anniversary of the film's theatrical debut to call on Warner Bros. to make the Snyder Cut available.
One noticeably absent voice, however, was that of Henry Cavill, who has played Superman across three DC films: Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and, of course, Justice League. While his cast mates have had no problem joining the cause and backing the original director's version of the ensemble film, Cavill has something bizarre on his mind that's keeping him from talking about the Snyder Cut.
In an interview with Emmy-winning entertainment anchor Jake Hamilton, Cavill explained his silence over the Snyder Cut: he misses his mustache, which he grew for Mission: Impossible – Fallout and which was digitally removed from Justice League during reshoots.
"I wouldn't say there's any particular reason. I mean, I miss my mustache — which is the most important thing," Cavill told Hamilton. "And for me, it was just a harrowing reminder that I didn't have it anymore. And so I just didn't want to dig that wound any deeper."
Uh, all right then, Supes.
The upper lip we'd all like to forget
Henry Cavill's upper lip is famous for being one of the most obvious — and unfortunate — changes to Justice League after Joss Whedon took over from Zack Snyder in post-production. A number of cast members were called back for reshoots, with Cavill apparently having an awful lot of new takes to deal with. The evidence of that? By the time he was needed back on set for secondary photography, Cavill was already filming for Mission: Impossible – Fallout, and had a thick mustache he was contractually obligated to leave untouched. The facial hair added a suave look to Cavill's Fallout character, CIA assassin August Walker, but it would have had the opposite effect on his Justice League hero. After all, Superman is clean-cut and obviously can't be seen with a bushy mustache — lest his true identity as Clark Kent be revealed to the world thanks to a patch of hair adorning his upper lip.
To make Cavill's Superman look fresh-shaven without taking a razor to the actor's face, the Justice League visual effects team attached an awkward digital lip to his mouth for the majority of the film's theatrical cut — scarring not only the fans but also Cavill himself. Fair play to him, we'd probably want to forget about that, too.
Another reason Cavill doesn't seem all that excited about the Snyder Cut of Justice League is because he maintains continued skepticism surrounding the ever-elusive take's existence. The actor hasn't seen anything concrete enough to convince him that Snyder was actually able to complete his cut, despite the director himself and Aquaman actor Jason Momoa confirming that the Snyder Cut is complete.
Cavill told ReelBlend co-host Kevin McCarthy in a separate interview, "I have not seen any Snyder cut. I don't know if there's anything that exists that is a Snyder cut. I'm sure there's footage out there that's probably been pieced together over the years."
The future of Superman
Whether or not the Snyder Cut exists, Cavill is seemingly keen to leave Justice League in the past, and is hoping to move on to future projects in the DC Extended Universe instead. The actor's future as Superman is still somewhat uncertain, but he would love another chance to play the Kryptonian.
"I'm always interested to see how that stuff turns out, but that is very much a chapter in my past," Cavill shared in his chat with McCarthy. "I would rather talk about what's going to happen in the future, the future of Superman, how I can express that character from the comic books, which ties in nicely to Man of Steel."
In chatting to ET Online around the same time he was sitting for interviews with Hamilton and McCarthy, Cavill expanded on where he'd like Superman to go next — specifically in a potential Man of Steel sequel.
"I'd like to delve more into the aspect of Superman [that] we traditionally know, coupled with where we left him with Man of Steel," said Cavill. "It's the hero who is trying to exist in a world where people may say he's not relevant anymore — where, actually, he's extraordinarily relevant and it's him coming to terms with that and becoming that relevance and showing people that hope does exist without it being too chocolate box. I wanted to still have an edge but to have some warmth to it and to have some hope to it."
Of course, the director for Man of Steel was none other than Snyder himself, and given his current relationship with Warner Bros. — or, at least, the suspected relationship given that he keeps publicly pushing for his cut of Justice League to be released — it seems it might be unlikely for the studio brass to call him back to direct a sequel.
The cape is still in Cavill's closet
Cavill's talk about his vision for a potential Man of Steel sequel seems to put to bed the rumors that the actor has parted ways with Warner Bros. In a November 2019 interview with Men's Health, the actor confirmed that he hasn't walked away from the possibility of playing Superman in the future, despite past reports that he was retiring his suit for good.
"The cape is in the closet," Cavill told the publication. "It's still mine."
While there's no Man of Steel sequel on the docket — that the public knows of, any way — as of December 2019, Cavill is far more interested in looking to that potential future than focusing on the flop that was Justice League. But as he should know by now, nothing is ever truly dead in the comic book movie world, and fans aren't going to stop hoping for the Snyder Cut release any time soon.