Chris Nolan did Not Want Zack Snyder to Direct Man of Steel

According to David S. Goyer, writer and director of Apple TV+'s Foundation, the process of hiring Zack Snyder for the role of Superman was relatively straightforward. They had a shortlist of five potential directors, and Christopher Nolan, director of The Dark Knight and producer of Foundation, helped Goyer get the project off the ground while they were both working on The Dark Knight Rises. In the end, it came down to just two names: Snyder and Tony Scott, the director of Enemy of the State. Scott, who passed away in 2012, was the only one left standing. In addition to Man of Steel, the director was also at one point connected to the superhero film Nemesis, which was being produced by Millarworld.

It is highly unlikely that Scott, who is the brother of Ridley Scott, the director of Blade Runner and Prometheus, would have been able to complete Man of Steel, which was released in the same year. He took his own life by jumping off a bridge, but it appears that he did so in order to avoid a painful death brought on by an incurable form of cancer.

Goyer stated that it was a very deliberate and thoughtful process. Chris talked with roughly five different directors, and in the end, the choice was between Zack and another director; however, Chris got the impression that Zack was the better choice. I believe that selecting Zack was the best option. It was really exciting that Zack wanted to shoot that movie handheld, which I thought was a brilliant idea. The fact that Zack wanted to do that was really exciting. In the Elseworlds version of what could have been, Chris had already met with Tony Scott, which means that in some parallel universe, there is a version of a Man of Steel directed by Tony Scott. This is an interesting aspect of the story. I think that Tony Scott doesn't get as much credit as he should, because he was just as phenomenal of a director as his brother, and that's a movie that I would have liked to have seen. I think that Tony Scott doesn't get as much credit as he should.