Hippolyta Actress Connie Nielsen Gave Zack Snyder Her Blessing to Finish His Cut of Justice League

By JB Augustine

·January 8, 2021

Heavy is the head that wears the crown, and given how actress Connie Nielsen adorned herself with the symbolic headdress of Themiscyra as Queen Hippolyta in Wonder Woman, its sequel Wonder Woman 1984, and Justice League, it’s no surprise that she has a lot to say about the DCEU and Zack Snyder’s original direction.

In a recent in-depth conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, wherein the conversation turned to the topic of the differences between the theatrical and Snyder Cut releases of Justice League, Nielsen revealed that she gave Snyder

Nielsen had an in-depth conversation recently with The Hollywood Reporter about the differences between the theatrical and The Snyder Cut, wherein she revealed she gave Snyder her blessing, albeit with a list of certain conditions she felt the director had to meet.

“Zack had already called me to ask if I would be OK with a reissue of the film with changes,” Nielsen shared. “And I asked him, ‘Well, will you bring back the Amazon chapter the way you had written it and had filmed it?’ And he said, ‘Absolutely’.”

“And then I said, ‘And Zack, will you also bring back my quite incredible stunt, running up the walls?’” she continued, referring to the weeks and months she spent training for a fight scene with Steppenwolf that ultimately only took a few days to shoot. “And he said, ‘You got it.’ So I said, ‘Yeah, definitely. You’ve got my blessing. Absolutely.’”

Nielsen also told THR that she believes, as most might agree, Joss Whedon and Warner Bros.’ theatrical cut of Justice League left out too much material, leading the film to feel “less cohesive as a viewing experience.”

“The intent was not the same during the editing as it was during shooting,” she explained.

She went on to disclose that she didn’t take part in any of the additional photography or ADR produced for Snyder during the recent batch of reshoots, telling THR “No, I think we did all of our stuff.”

Nielsen then revealed that she also didn’t participate in reshoots for the original release of Justice League either, noting that her decision was based on her belief that Whedon considered the Amazons to be an afterthought.

“I didn’t do any of those either,” the actress stated. “I don’t think that other director was that interested in the Amazons. I would have to assume that.”

Turning to Wonder Woman 1984, Nielsen admitted she hasn’t yet seen the movie because of her busy schedule, but has been in contact with the film’s director Patty Jenkins.

According to the actress, Jenkins told her that WW84’s simultaneous release to HBO Max and wildly under-capacity theaters was a less-than-ideal scenario.

“It’s with a heavy heart,” Jenkins told Nielsen. “But it’s also a really important thing to give to people,” about the film’s release to under-capacity theaters and HBO Max simultaneously.”

While Nielsen stressed the importance of “that movie screen experience” to filmmakers, she sees the silver lining, saying, “So many people are suffering right now, but HBO Max allows you to sit down with your family and watch the movie in the safety of your own home.”

The actress also spoke on Snyder’s influence on the original Wonder Woman film, particularly in the way his previous movie, 300, inspired Diana’s first adventure.

“There really was this team spirit, and I really believed in what Patty was doing on Wonder Woman,” Nielsen said. “She really pulled us all together, even during the workouts to build up muscle to become like the Amazons, and I think it was very much inspired by Zack’s experience on 300.”

She added, “Some of the same people from 300 were on our shoot to create that kind of cohesion, I suppose, and that’s stuff that you can’t describe.”

Though Nielsen didn’t mention if any of the stunt players from 300 and Wonder Woman were on the set of WW84, she did reveal that Jenkins cast many of the same women to play Amazons.

Also noteworthy, though unrelated to Wonder Woman or the DCEU, is how Nielsen concluded her interview by descriping her upcoming assassin thriller Nobody as a commentary on “toxic masculinity”

“I read it and thought, ‘This is such an interesting take on the problem with toxic masculinity,” she said. “It tells most men that if they don’t answer back toward the aggressions of society, they’re nobody’.”

Produced by Deadpool 2 director David Leitch, Nobody releases on February 21st. Wonder Woman 1984 is currently in theaters and streaming on HBO Max.

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