George Miller Explains Why His Justice League Movie Never Got Made

Coming off his triumphant return to the Mad Max series with last year’s much-lauded Fury Road, the idea of a Justice League movie directed by George Miller seems like the stuff of fanboy dreams that would also be a no-brainer in reality. It’s been widely reported that Miller was once under contract to direct just such a film, given the working title Justice League: Mortal, which obviously never came to be.

Part of the reason it never got made was due to the Writer’s Guild of America strike that took place in 2007 and lasted into 2008. But there were also issues in Miller’s native Australia which haven’t been elaborated on in great detail up to now.

Miller sat down recently for a wide-ranging interview with The Hollywood Reporter, and one of the things he addressed was just what happened to his proposed Justice League movie.

"Justice League was the main one. That was, oh, seven years ago, I think. And there was a really great script. And Warners said, “Let’s do it. Let’s do a Justice League.” I really was attracted to it. But there was a writers strike looming. We had to cast it very quickly, which we did with Warner’s casting people. And we cast it really quickly and we mounted it very quickly. And it depended on a start date and it depended on some basic rebate legislation that had just got through a new Australian government. But it was just too big a decision for them to make in the time. And that fell through and the whole film fell through. We almost got there. And it wasn’t to be. But that happens a lot, where films line up and the stars look like they’re aligning and they didn’t."

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It’s a tantalizing story for several reasons. One is that it was much closer to shooting than many fans probably realize, and if it had been successful, it could have advanced the plans that Warner Bros. has for DC superhero movies by almost a decade.

The other bummer is that it wasn’t creative issues but simple economics and logistics that torpedoed the project. It would be one thing if Miller had said, “Yeah, I wasn’t too sure about the script, and I’m glad it never came to fruition.” It’s quite another for him to sound regretful about the circumstances surrounding it.

Interestingly, THR also asked about the rumors that Warner Bros. had talked to Miller about directing Man of Steel 2, a movie that has either morphed over time into Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice or could have been another standalone Superman film, depending on who you believe, but he didn’t address that possibility. Chalk it up as another fascinating “What if?” from a director who’s been in the game a long time but is still at the top of his craft.