JK Simmons Has Finished Filming With Justice League, Praises Zack Snyder

With just over a year left until its much anticipated release, Justice League is right in the thick of production. There is still a lot of work to do on set, but some of the smaller roles have already finished filming their scenes.

JK Simmons, who plays Commissioner Gordon in the film, has already wrapped up his work on the film.

Simmons, 61, is a celebrated actor who has appeared in numerous independent roles, as well as bigger budget pictures. Many will recognize his face from his Farmer's Insurance commercials, or as the hot-headed editor-in-chief in the Spiderman films, J. Jonah Jameson. Simmons was recognized with an Academy Award in 2014, for his role as an explosive music teacher in Whiplash.

In his latest role, prior to Justice League, Simmons starred alongside Susan Sarandon in the indie film, The Meddler. In this movie, JK plays an old motorcyclist with an attitude, and it seems to have prepared him well for his role as Jim Gordon.

Having been around the block a time or two, Simmons has worked with quite a few directors. With that kind of resume, it's rare for an actor of his stature to praise a director.

Fortunately for DC fans, that's exactly what Simmons did with Zack Snyder.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, JK had nothing but wonderful things to say about the Batman V Superman director. When asked if most of his scenes were with Ben Affleck, Simmons gave this response:

"Yeah, mostly with Ben. In this first installment of the Justice League, Commissioner Gordon is not a particularly sizable part. We just kind of introduce him and see a little bit of his interactions with Batman -- and with most of the Justice League. That was a really fun set. Zack [Snyder] runs sort of a big, happy family and it's obviously, in many ways, a very different work environment when you're working on a big, giant movie like that than a relatively small movie like The Meddler. But at the end of the day, the director is the one who sets the tone. And one of the things that Zack and Lorene have in common is they're just nice, smart, competent, fun people that you don't mind spending a 12-hour day with."

After critical backlash against his last two films, Man of Steel and Batman V Superman, a compliment like that will help Snyder breathe a little easier. While fans and critics have been largely disappointed with the director's choices, Simmons makes it clear that the man is extremely talented.

It isn't easy to make a large film like Justice League run so smoothly, but Zack Snyder seems to be doing just that.

Justice League will be the fifth film released in the DC Extended Universe, and will be released November 4, 2017.