Zack Snyder (b. March 1, 1966) is the director of several blockbuster movies, and is best known as the original steward of the DC Extended Universe, having directed films such as Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Zack Snyder's Justice League for DC Studios.
Professional History
Zack Snyder is a filmmaker known for his dark, epic hyper stylized films, characterized by frequent slow motion / speed ramping, contrasting cinematography, and the massive look of the production. He has produced most of his films with his wife, Deborah Snyder, sometimes having his son Eli cameo in them, and has been working frequently in the film industry since 2004. His works are often divisive among audiences and critics, with some praising them for their dark, mature themes and style, and others deriding his work as nonsense.
After directing the universally beloved and successful 300 for Warner Bros., Snyder was chosen to direct the cinematic adaptation of Alan Moore's seminal Watchmen, and created a film that once again divided both longtime fans of the comic and new audiences. After making two more films, Snyder returned to the world of DC to helm Man of Steel, a modernized retelling of Superman's origin and the first film in DC's new cinematic universe, the DC Extended Universe. The film was a box office hit, and as usual divided the opinions of those who saw it.
Regardless, Warner Bros. pushed forward with the sequel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, also directed by Snyder, and allowed him to plan out a five film arc for a saga of DC films starring the Justice League, as well as help write the upcoming Wonder Woman film. However, thirty minutes were cut from Dawn of Justice before it was released to theaters, and the movie was despised by critics and audiences for its overly serious tone and nonsensical plot, only gaining a cult following after the extended director's cut was released on Blu-ray months later. Panicking, Warner Bros. founded DC Films, a film branch meant to organize their DC projects, and heavily rewrote and reshot David Ayer's Suicide Squad, which they feared would be criticized for also being too dark, to be more comedic, which resulted in that film, while successful at the box office, floundering critically as well.
At this point, Snyder was at work directing Justice League, the third part of his five part saga, and was told by Warner Bros. to make it more lighthearted and shorter. Snyder ignored their advice and shot the film his way, resulting a 214-minute cut, but due to Warner's insisting that the film be no more than 2 hours, Snyder attempted to meet the studio half-way, by offering multiple cut ranging from three hours, to two and a half hours. Warner Bros. deemed this version "unwatchable" and told him to start from scratch, but just as these reshoots began, Snyder's daughter tragically died by suicide, and Zack ultimately departed the project to be with his family.
Running low on both time and money, Warner Bros. hired Joss Whedon, who was penning a Batgirl script for them at the time, and asked him to rewrite and reshoot the film his way. As such, only a small amount of Snyder's original footage was used in the film, the rest being new material built around the backbone of Snyder's original story, and the movie was released to the criticisms of tonal whiplash and unfinished effects. Meanwhile, Snyder direct the short film Snow Steam Iron, with family and friends before going to Netflix to work on his next film, Army of the Dead, away from the editorials of WB.
Over the next three years, Snyder teased images and storyboards from his original version of Justice League, and convinced much of the Internet that it would be worth seeing. A massive online campaign dubbed "#ReleaseTheSnyderCut" began. A gargantuan petition for Warner Bros. to complete Snyder's original version and release it to the public would be created, and finally, during a virtual watch party of Man of Steel in 2020, Snyder announced that his four hour director's cut of the film, entitled Zack Snyder's Justice League, would release in 2021 on HBO Max. When the film finally came out, it quickly became one of Max's most watched original projects, and easily became one of Snyder's most celebrated movies.
Later that year, Snyder released Army of the Dead on Netflix to similar praise, and with an entire universe of projects set to come out after it. He later guest-starred as himself on Teen Titans Go! in the episode "365!", which referenced nearly all his works, both mocking and paying homage to them. He later released two sci-fi action epics on Netflix, Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire and Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver, to critical evisceration. Currently, Snyder is working with Netflix on developing sequels to both Army of the Dead and Rebel Moon, with an animated series, Twilight of the Gods to be released in 2024.
Work History
Acting Credits
| Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice | March 25, 2016 | Treacherous Knightmare Soldier Bruce Wayne[1] |
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| Wonder Woman | June 2, 2017 | British Lewis Gnner |
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| Zack Snyder's Justice League | March 18, 2021 | Fred & Ginger Coffee Patron |
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| Teen Titans Go! | 2013- | Himself |
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| "365!" | September 16, 2022 | Himself |
Trivia
- Snyder is friends with DC Studios creative head James Gunn. Gunn was one of the writers on Snyder's first film, the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead, and Snyder recommended the fight choreographer Gunn used on Peacemaker.
- Many cast members from Snyder's Watchmen were featured in his DCEU films, such as Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Billy Crudup, Carla Gugino, and Patrick Wilson.
- Snyder later worked with Ray Fisher, the actor who played Victor Stone in Zack Snyder's Justice League, in his Rebel Moon films.
External Links
References
- ↑ In the scene where Bruce clones Anatoli Knyazev's phone, the hands shown cloning the phone are Snyder's