How did Zack Snyder's daughter Autumn die? 'Army of the Dead' director didn't have ‘fight’ in him after loss
In 2017, 'Army of the Dead' director Zack Snyder stepped away from directing 'Justice League' to cope with his daughter Autumn's death. She died by suicide on March 12, the same year.
The medical examiner cited acute Citalopram and Diphenhydramine intoxication as the cause of death. Although what triggered suicide has been kept under wraps, it was widely reported that she was battling depression and was being treated for it.
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Joss Whedon was called in to fill in for Zack as he dealt with the tragedy. "I just was kind of done with it. I was in this place of [knowing] my family needs me more than this bulls**t, and I just need to honor them and do the best I can to heal that world," Snyder told Cinemablend as he explained why he had no energy left and had to leave the film mid-way. Autumn was one of Zack's eight kids. He and his ex-wife Denise Webber adopted her.
Autumn was a gifted writer, a skill she used to support philanthropic causes and at times, channel her pain and deepest thoughts. At 20, she had accomplished quite a bit. She was studying to be a writer at Sarah Lawrence College. Zack had shared how she would often develop characters that would be from another dimension "that no one can see." They shared a healthy relationship, one of the pictures doing the rounds on Instagram is proof of it.
Around the time of her death, she was working on her first science-fiction novel that she hoped to publish soon. In 2014, she created a charity - Write-A-Thon To End Homelessness For Mothers and Their Children - to help provide shelter for children.
Autumn's death left Zack devastated. He had taken a two-week break to grieve and had thought going back to work would help his case. Directing a film was his idea of distracting himself from the pain of Autumn's loss but that didn't quite help. Earlier this year, he told the publication how he had lost the will to try and hang on to 'Justice League'.
"I really think that's the main thing. I think there's a different world where I stayed and kind of tried. And I'm sure I could have because every movie is a fight, right?" he told the outlet and added: "I was used to that. But I just did not have the [energy]. There was no fight in me. I had been beaten by what was going on in my life and I just didn't want to, I didn't care to. That was kind of where I was."
Zack's 'Army of the Dead' will premiere on Netflix on May 21.
