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NEW WORLD DISORDER
REBEL MOON – PART ONE: A CHILD OF FIRE Zack Snyder returns with a two-part sci-fi epic.
If you know anything about Rebel Moon, it’s probably that over a decade ago the idea for the film was the basis of Zack Snyder’s pitch for a Star Wars spin-off – Seven Samurai with lightsabers, essentially. Now retooled as a rare example of original, galactic-scale sci-fi worldbuilding for Netflix, Rebel Moon couldn’t be further from a galaxy far, far away. ‘Tonally, it’s just a different thing,’ says producer Deborah Snyder. ‘I always felt like he was going to be contained in a box [with Star Wars]. We got to create our own canon, and create our own rules.’
That’s why, in the universe of Rebel Moon, griffin-riding musclemen, humanoid spider-creatures and centuriesold robot knights with the voice of Anthony Hopkins can comfortably coexist. They’re all part of the, ahem, rebel alliance assembled by Sofia Boutella’s Kora to fight back when Imperium forces land on the titular moon of Veldt and requisition their next harvest. Kora knows the risk of defying the Mother World’s authority better than anyone – she’s a former Imperium soldier in hiding, and seeking redemption.
‘Kora lives in a grey area. I mean, she’s had such a complicated life. She’s had such guilt that she’s carrying around,’ says Snyder. ‘Thematically, it’s about forgiveness, and it’s about finding the strength to move on, and finding something to fight for.’
In Snyder’s words, the scale of Rebel Moon is ‘enormous’, eclipsing even the pair’s contentious work on the expansive DCEU, and packed with enough story to fill two movies. Part One: A Child of Fire will land in December while Part Two: The Scargiver will drop just four months later in April, after both films were shot and edited simultaneously.
‘We have the hugest style guide… three languages that we created, all this information,’ Deborah Snyder smiles. ‘Every character, every costume, every place didn’t exist. We had to create it. And, in creating it, it was also like, “OK, what is their government? What is their belief system?” It’s a lot more questions that we had to ask ourselves.’
Co-starring Charlie Hunnam, Michiel Huisman, Djimon Hounsou, Bae Doona, Ray Fisher, Jena Malone and Ed Skrein, in classic Snyder fashion the director is already working on R-rated director’s cuts of each film that will offer deeper character beats and even more gloriously violent speedramped action. ‘The difference [this time] is that we’ve planned for it… it’s not an afterthought,’ Snyder notes. ‘We’re still tweaking, but they’ll probably be 45-minutes to an hour longer, each one. You get more character. You get a lot more of everything. It’s not just a few deleted scenes.’ JORDAN FARLEY
‘It’s about finding the strength to move on, and finding something to fight for ’
REBEL MOON – PART ONE: A CHILD OF FIRE STREAMS ON NETFLIX FROM 22 DECEMBER.