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Justice League Inspired Zack Snyder To Take On His Own Cinematography

Rebel Moon director Zack Snyder says he decided to become his own cinematographer after Justice League.

Published Sun, 31 Dec 2023 15:32:07 -0600

Last updated Mon, 08 Jan 2024 17:18:24 -0600

Article Summary

Zack Snyder embraces role as cinematographer post-Justice League experience.
Director's interview reveals desire for control behind the camera.
Snyder's commercial directing past influences his filmmaking approach.
Rebel Moon, his latest project, benefits from his hands-on cinematography.

For all that many have said about director Zack Snyder, specifically about his writing, there is no denying that he usually makes very pretty movies. We also know that everything that happened on the set of Justice League was terrible for pretty much everyone involved on a bunch of different levels. It turns out that one of the things that Snyder learned from the set of Justice League that he carried into current projects like Rebel Moon is that he likes being his own cinematographer. He did an interview with Letterboxd (via ComicBook.com) and explained how that made him want to have a little more control over what was happening behind the camera.

"Probably my experience on Justice League and sort of the separation that happens between the director and the movie," Snyder said. "When you're at a certain scale of production, video village gets like drawn out into this massive… its own camp, and suddenly, there's like two tiers of chairs, there's 10 monitors. It looks like a whole other world, and then, like the movie's over there. I had been a director/cameraman in commercials for 10 years, 12 years. I know my way around a camera a little bit, and when I went to do Army, I was just like, 'You know what? I got to figure this out. I got to just get back. Give me the camera, I just want to go close.'"

The thing about trauma is that it manifests in a bunch of different ways, and from the sounds of it, there was a lot about filming Justice League that could make people want to have more control. The Snyder's lost their daughter to suicide, and nothing makes you feel more out of control than when someone you love takes their own life. The film was also being micromanaged as it was being shot because Warner Bros. wanted to try and course-correct after the response from Batman v Superman was not what they were expecting. So Snyder is taking all of that and probably even more that we don't know about and wanting more control over his own projects? Yeah, that tracks, that makes sense, and I don't blame him in the slightest. You'll be hard-pressed to find many people who have an issue with Snyder's cinematography; it's his writing that could use some work.

Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire: Summary, Cast List, Release Date

A new universe awaits on Netflix starting December 22. From Zack Snyder, the filmmaker behind 300, Man of Steel, and Army of the Dead, comes Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire, a 2-part movie event decades in the making. After crash landing on a moon in the furthest reaches of the universe, Kora (Sofia Boutella), a stranger with a mysterious past, begins a new life among a peaceful settlement of farmers. But she soon becomes their only hope for survival when the tyrannical Regent Balisarius (Fra Fee) and his cruel emissary, Admiral Noble (Ed Skrein), discover the farmers have unwittingly sold their crops to the Bloodaxes (Cleopatra Coleman and Ray Fisher) — leaders of a fierce group of insurgents hunted by the Motherworld.

Tasked with finding fighters who would risk their lives to defend the people of Veldt, Kora, and Gunnar (Michiel Huisman), a tenderhearted farmer naive in the realities of war, journey to different worlds in search of the Bloodaxes and assemble a small band of warriors who share a common need for redemption along the way: Kai (Charlie Hunnam), a pilot and gun for hire; General Titus (Djimon Hounsou), a legendary commander; Nemesis (Doona Bae), a master swordswoman; Tarak (Staz Nair), a captive with a regal past; and Milius (E. Duffy), a resistance fighter. Back on Veldt, Jimmy (voiced by Anthony Hopkins), an ancient mechanized protector hiding in the wings, awakens with a new purpose. But the newly formed revolutionaries must learn to trust each other and fight as one before the armies of the Motherworld come to destroy them all.

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