As fans of Watchmen and Man Of Steel will know, Zack Snyder doesn’t make small movies. Critics can be sniffy, but the director’s bold, bombastic style has earned him a famously loyal following. After Joss Whedon was drafted in to rework Snyder’s 2017 superhero movie Justice League, fans launched a vociferous #ReleaseTheSnyderCut campaign that proved controversial but successful. In 2021, Zack Snyder’s Justice League was released with a much darker tone, lashings of violence and a jumbo four-hour runtime.
Snyder is known for turning iconic IP into ultra-modern blockbusters, but now he’s building a movie universe of his own. Rebel Moon started life as a rejected pitch for a Star Wars movie and retains a similar epic scope to George Lucas’s space opera. Premiering this month on Netflix, the first film follows renegade Kora (Sofia Boutella) as she assembles a motley crew of rebels to resist the Motherworld, a corrupt multi-planet dictatorship that she escaped from. It’s splashy, spectacular and co-stars Anthony Hopkins as the voice of a melancholy robot called Jimmy. Here, Snyder discusses his plans for Rebel Moon including – you’ve guessed it – director’s cuts of the two movies he already has in the can.
What made you think of Anthony Hopkins for the voice of Jimmy?
“I mean, I was like, ‘Who can I get to be Jimmy? Patrick Stewart? Gabriel Byrne? Something like that?’ And then they were like, ‘What about Hopkins?’ I was like, ‘What about him?’ Like, that’s not a cool thing to say: What about Hopkins? Yes, of course Hopkins! And so we went and asked him and he was like, ‘Sure. Sounds cool.’ It was as simple as that.”
It feels perfect because his voice has such a melancholy quality to it…
“It absolutely does. That’s what I love about him: he can be sort of noble and weary at the same time. And that’s what Jimmy is: he tries to keep his weird dignity. He’s kind of the whipping boy, even though [in the past] he was this fucking crazy war machine. Given the chance, he could murder everybody, but he’s just so broken by the king’s death that he just doesn’t care anymore.”
Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver is coming in April. Do you have the franchise’s future mapped out beyond that?
“Yeah. If we were to go forward, there’s another group of movies we could continue [the story] with. I think when you see movie two, you will understand at the end where it could go. And then there’s the two director’s cuts that are coming, too.”
How will the R-rated director’s cut of Rebel Moon be different from the ‘original’ version?
“Well, the PG-13 [cut] is really a very commercial version of the movie, which is in essence what sci-fi has to be [now] because of its cost. That is to say, if it’s too dark, edgy, violent and sexual, the audience goes like that [shrinks]. Netflix were the ones that came up with the idea for the director’s cut. And I was like, ‘Absolutely perfect!’ It gives me the ability to work on the PG-13 version not in opposition to the studio, but in coordination with them, because I know I always have the director’s cut [too]. So as I make cuts and adjust this movie down so that it’s PG-13 and two hours, I don’t feel like I’m being pushed into it. Whereas my relationship with the studios in the past has always been that the version that’s released theatrically – for me, anyway – is always a little bit of a fight. Because I don’t want to do everything that they want me to do.”
That must be liberating for you as a filmmaker?
“It’s the best thing ever. I like that I’ve been able to go kind of wide-eyed into this process. I’ve always railed against the studio when it comes to this PG-13 model that I’ve been in for a while. And so being able to not have those notes or [have to] cut the movie in response to them, it feels like more of a partnership. And so I’m excited and willing to be the architect of the shorter version of the movie.”
Does that feel vindicating too? Because Netflix clearly appreciate what you can do with a director’s cut…
“Oh, 100 per cent. It feels like they 100 per cent get the concept of what the director’s cut is to me, and that’s a really refreshing place to be.”
Ridley Scott has said his director’s cut of Napoleon is currently running at four hours and 10 minutes, which is a shade longer than Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Does that also feel vindicating?
“Well, Ridley has always been known for his director’s cuts as well. I mean, he has a long history of director’s cuts, so it’s cool. I’m really a huge Ridley Scott fan so I’ll be excited to see that.”
You’re known for making genre movies, but is there a musician you’d particularly like to make a biopic of?
“Well, they did the Johnny Cash movie [Walk The Line] and that was great – that would have been my first choice. I’m a big Nick Cave fan, but there are great movies with Nick Cave, though there’s probably more to be done there. And I’ve always loved Mick Jagger. Oh, and Bob Dylan of course. You know, all these guys have already got a legacy that’s cemented, but I’m always interested in the why of it.”
A Mick Jagger biopic could be fascinating, because he’s such an iconic figure, but we don’t necessarily know what makes him tick…
“Yeah. I mean, if he was sitting here, what would he be like? I want to take my kids to see The Rolling Stones in concert. My youngest kids are 10 and 11, so there’s a very good chance they’ll be alive in 2060 or whatever [year] is the 100th anniversary of their first hit. And then they’d be able to say, ‘I saw those guys in concert’, which would be crazy. If you think about it, it’s kind of unheard of for a band to be performing at the age they are. And it’s still Mick – his voice is iconic.”
‘Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire’ will be released on Netflix on December 22
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