Zack Snyder Cut Of Justice League Will End With Allison Crowe’s Performance Of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah As An Ode To Snyder’s Daughter, Autumn

Allan Showalter

Justice League – The Snyder Cut

Zack Snyder was directing the original Justice League movie when his 20 year old daughter Autumn took her own life on March 20, 2017. A few weeks later, Snyder left the film, and Joss Whedon took over, making significant changes. After the 2017 film was released to mixed reviews, many fans began campaigning for the “Snyder Cut” of the film. And now, in  2021, Snyder has the opportunity to present his original vision of the superhero spectacular in a four-hour film that debuts on HBO Max on March 18.

Zack Snyder, Hallelujah, Autumn, & Allison Crowe

Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah has long been a favorite of Snyder’s, and it was Autumn’s best-loved song. So, in that sense, the employment of Hallelujah in the Snyder Cut of Justice League is unsurprising.

 

quoteup2
It was on two years ago. … It’s a really personal song for the family, and for all of us. It’s something that I just felt that was right for this. That’s why. I just think that that song, in particular, really, for all of us, it has significance beyond just the movie. I think we all love the song and it just felt like, as I was trying to wrangle this whole thing into the ‘why’ of it, I just felt like that song was the right way to do it.1

 

 

Zack Snyder

 

But it goes deeper than that.

Speaking with Vanity Fair, Snyder opened up about the song’s significance to him and its inclusion in Justice League. “Hallelujah” was the favorite song of Snyder’s daughter Autumn, whose tragic passing led to his departure from Justice League’s production. The film’s rendition will be sung by Allison Crowe, a family friend who also sang it at Autumn’s funeral. In the VF interview, Snyder discussed the director’s cut as a form of personal healing. He wants people to love it. If some don’t? He’s all right with that, with all of it. Whatever comes, he’s okay.

“When you think about the catharsis of it, if I was a potter, I would’ve made some pottery to look for some way through this. But I’m a filmmaker, so you get this giant movie.”

He wants people to love it. If some don’t? He’s all right with that, with all of it. Whatever comes, he’s okay.2

Allison Crowe Performs Hallelujah

“It’s, as I say, a desire to affirm my faith in life, not in some formal religious way but with enthusiasm, with emotion…. It’s a rather joyous song,” says Leonard Cohen, creator of the song, Hallelujah: “I wanted to write something in the tradition of the hallelujah choruses but from a different point of view… It’s the notion that there is no perfection ~ that this is a broken world and we live with broken hearts and broken lives but still that is no alibi for anything. On the contrary, you have to stand up and say hallelujah under those circumstances.”

Canadian musician Allison Crowe’s uniquely potent interpretation is heard on her album/CD, “Tidings”. “I love singing Hallelujah”, she says. ” It’s such an awesome song. I just feel humbled. “

From the Vimeo writeup

 

Note: Allison Crowe has performed Hallelujah many times; the following is one of my favorite renditions.

 

Allison Crowe – Hallelujah
Video from Allison Crowe

 

For more information about the use of Allison Crowe’s performance of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah in the Zack Snyder Cut of Justice League, see

 

Credit Due Department: Poster by Zack Snyder – Snyder-Cut, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia. Thanks to Adrian du Plessis, Allison Crowe’s Personable Manager, who alerted me to this information.

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  1. From Reel In Motion podcast [↩]
  2. Justice League: The Shocking, Exhilarating, Heartbreaking True Story of #TheSnyderCut by Anthony Breznican (Vanity Fair: Feb 22, 2021) [↩]

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