“Nobody wanted it”: Rebel Moon Director Zack Snyder Explains Why He Loves Director’s Cuts Ever Since Justice League
Christopher Nolan and Martin Scorsese are among the few directors in Hollywood who more often than not attract viewers with their names and pedigree rather than the fame of their star cast. But when it comes to taking the largest share of the limelight, no one comes closer to Zack Snyder.
There’s a whole alternate version of the DC Extended Universe that is known as the Snyderverse, and it’s so relevant in pop culture that even Greta Gerwig’s Barbie made a joke about it. And there’s a good reason for his popularity.
Snyder isn’t the director who leaves any stone unturned in the pursuit of delivering his vision, even if that means bringing out a different full feature version, which is known as director’s cut.
Why Zack Snyder Loves Making Director’s Cuts
Zack Snyder‘s most popular franchise titled Snyderverse consists of three movies Man of Steel, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Justice League. All three are among the DC Studios’ most successful movies, grossing a combined total of close to $2 billion.
However, Snyder wasn’t the only director involved in the third and final Snyderverse movie, Justice League. Due to a family tragedy, the director wasn’t able to finish the 2017 project, leading to Warner Bros. roping in Joss Whedon to oversee the conclusion of Justice League.
Snyder brought back his own four-hour-long vision, titled Zack Snyder’s Justice League in 2021. The freedom to stretch the movie’s length (because it streamed on HBO Max instead of theaters) allowed him to go deeper into his character’s development and make the whole plot more intense.
Explaining his tendency to diving deep into this “the rabbit hole”, the director, who’s also behind Dawn of the Dead (2004) – Alternate versions and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Ultimate Edition), said: “There’s rabbit holes that are really amazing to go down and just kind of learn about different aspects of the characters.”
To be fair to him, his alternate take on Justice League received much more positive reviews than Whedon’s version. And now it seems this has given him motivation to continue with the trend of reworking his movies.
What Are Zack Snyder’s Plans for Rebel Moon
Rebel Moon‘s teaser trailer is generating plenty of hype, with Snyder set to bring the story of a young woman (Sofia Boutella) with a mysterious past in a colony on the edge of destruction.
The movie will be streamed on Netflix in two parts. Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire will come in December of this year and Rebel Moon: Part Two – The Scargiver will follow in April of 2024. To Snyder fans’ delight, he has also confirmed he intends to release an hour of additional footage.
“The [Rebel Moon] director’s cut is close to an hour of extra content, so I think it’s a legitimate extended universe version,” he said.
The 57-year-old went on to explain why the director’s cut “thing” is so special for him, stating: “I don’t know how I got into this director’s cut thing, but what I will say about it is that, for me, the director’s cuts have always been something I had to fight for in the past and nobody wanted it. It was this bastard child that I was always trying to put together because they felt like there was a deeper version.”
Interestingly, Snyder revealed that he actually shot scenes from scratch just for the director’s cut, allowing Rebel Moon fans to have a sort of second kick at it.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
