Guillermo Del Toro Sounds Like He's Completely Over Trying To Make Justice League Dark
Guillermo del Toro is one of those directors who's almost as well-known for the projects he's made as the ones he hasn't. For as many movies as he's directed, there are also plenty of others that never made it past the conceptualization stage for one reason or another. Seriously, there's an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to just listing all the potential del Toro movies that either never materialized or were overhauled by another filmmaker.
"Justice League Dark" is among the more infamous of these projects. The film has been stuck in development hell for years, and if a new interview he did with ComicBook is anything to go on, del Toro may no longer be interested in pursuing it. Here's what he told the outlet:
"My love for Swamp Thing, [Etrigan] the Demon, knows no bounds, but I don't know. You don't get a manager from a big machine, that's what I learn, you lose a few fingers. So I don't know if I want a manager from a big machine."
While it was reported del Toro had left the "Justice League Dark" film all the way back in June 2015, this is still sad to hear. The "Justice League Dark" comic books and animated movies have a passionate cult following and feature the likes of John Constantine, Zatanna, Swamp Thing, and Deadman. Given the team's penchant for the occult and other spooky things, there's little reason to doubt that del Toro would have done a great job at translating their adventures into live-action — so long as he was given the creative freedom to make the film he wanted, that is.
Rest in peace
Question is, would Guillermo del Toro have actually been given that very freedom, had his version of the film been green-lit? It's hard to say. At the risk of sounding speculative, his comments on not wanting to work in "a big machine" suggest that obtaining that creative freedom would have been difficult, given that "Justice League Dark" is set up at Warner Bros. and not New Line Cinema (a label that's historically been more open to taking risks than the major Hollywood studios). While del Toro's version of the film will likely never come to fruition, he did reveal some details about what it would have looked like back in 2021, including that his version of Constantine took great inspiration from how Alan Moore wrote the character in comic book form.
If it's any consolation, though, this wouldn't be the first time del Toro claimed a project of his was dead, only for it to be revived and released. For years, his stop-motion "Pinocchio" film seemed dead in the water, and yet here it is today, now available to stream on Netflix in its complete and finished glory. Perhaps del Toro's comments are a covert way to re-pitch or manifest his "Justice League Dark" movie back into existence. At least, that's what I hope he's trying to do. A girl can dream, okay?