SNYDER signatures

Across a two-decade career, Zack Snyder has emerged as one of cinema’s most innovative visualists, and an unabashed genre filmmaker with grand, mythological ambition. In his own words, Snyder takes us through the hallmarks that define his distinct filmmaking style.

#1 SUBVERSIVE INSTINCTS

‘The thing that is deceiving about my movies is that I’m always trying to give the audience the movie they think they want to see, but also give them the subverted version of it at the exact same time. For someone who doesn’t want a deep dive into the mass consumerism subtext in Dawn of the Dead, they can have a fun zombie movie, and not worry about that stuff. That notion has always been really cool and fascinating: that as filmmakers, we’re trying to sneak in the subversive thing without breaking the illusion. That’s the trick.

‘Sucker Punch is probably the most obvious example of straightforward, pure satire that I’ve made. And I still think I didn’t go far enough, because a lot of people thought that it was just a movie about scantily clad girls dancing around in a brothel. I’m like, “Really? Did you see Watchmen?” That film is completely a superhero deconstruction from the drop, which is all Alan Moore. That’s the thing I’ve found really interesting and motivating throughout my career. And I think that, seen as a whole, it’s more obvious than on a movie-to-movie basis.’

#2 EMBRACING GREEN SCREEN

‘For 300 there was no way to do it outside and have it look like the graphic novel. It was going to look like Troy if we did it outside. I was like, “No, I don’t want to do that. I want the wheat fields and the sky to be very particular.” Grant Freckleton, who was the visual effects art director, was in the backroom, spilling coffee on paper and blowing it with a straw, to make it look like the sky I wanted. It was all weird. You can’t just film that outside.

‘People always ask me, “What innovative thing did you think of for 300?” I’m like, “It’s the same technology that the weatherman uses. We just did it in a slightly more sophisticated way.” People also like to ask me, “Well, what about all the CG on the abs and stuff?” And I’m like, “No. Those guys worked out.” We didn’t have money for CG abs. Jesus! I wish we had money for CG abs. Even if we did, it would have looked horrible. So it was tricky. It was a little bit more heavy lifting to make that movie, just because we had so much green screen.’

#3 SNYDER CUTS

‘Let’s agree that I work in very massconsumer genres. It’s the thing that has demanded all these director’s cuts, because I choose to work in genres that are traditionally very commercial, and where the committee makes a lot of decisions.

‘The issue is, of course, that I’m not really a committee filmmaker. A lot of times I have to take the note, because the studio needs the movie to be successful, because it costs a lot of money, it’s protecting a giant IP – blah blah blah. That’s why you end up with the director’s cut, because, in the end, I’m like, “I think my original idea was better.”

‘And so I find myself in a really interesting place in the way I make movies, because it feels like every time I take on the endeavour of making a film, I forget about [the commercial] part of it. I don’t, really, because I kind of pretend: “Oh, I can just make the movie. They’re going to love it, the way I make it. There’s going to be no conflict between my vision, and what the studio needs. It’s going to be 100% fine.” And then it never is, because I’m always trying to push it. I’m always trying to make it more subversive and more deconstructed. And I think that that’s where I run roughshod over the needs of commerce.’

#4 SLOW-MO AND SPEED RAMPING

‘It’s interesting how I have somehow gained ownership of that, even though it’s ubiquitous. Shockingly, in Marvel films, it’s used quite a bit. I have no issue, but I’m just saying: don’t yell at me!

‘I’ve always been a huge fan of slow motion, because it extends the dynamic and what I would say are the visually symbolic moments past their real-time. If you’re into composition and tableaux image-making, that one moment you want to last forever: “There it is – everything happening.”

‘Even in my commercial career, I shot a lot of slow motion. The more high-speed the camera was, the better, in my opinion. And that was a film camera. Photo-Sonics, in those days; a camera made for the military to photograph bombs exploding.

‘I’ve used [slow-mo] a lot. It became so much of a calling card that when I did Man of Steel, I was like, “OK, no high-speed [cameras].” Just because it was too exhausting. Everyone was like, “Do you mean, more high-speeds?” [laughs] It’s a shame because I think when you see Justice League, you realise that the slow motion really helps for some of that superhero action.’

#5 AMBITIOUS ENSEMBLES

‘I’m not a huge fan of ensemble films, and yet I do it every time! There’s something wrong with me where I’m like, “I have to get a team together, and get them to do a thing!” I’m like, “Goddammit. Why? Every fucking time, I’ve got to put a team together.”

‘Because, inevitably, the human part of it is difficult, too. The actors, they all have their own ideas as personalities, as people. I’m always dealing with this big group dynamic. This guy doesn’t like that guy. I’m always like, “Oh my God, honestly.” So, yeah. The truth is, it always seems to be the most organic interface with the kind of stories I’ve been telling, the ensemble cast. Why? I don’t know. I would love to do something more intimate… A “guy alone in the woods” movie would be amazing. Like The Revenant.’

#6 GENRE STORYTELLING

‘I love genre because I love the mythological part of it. Genre filmmaking I would define classically as: you’re making a movie that has preconceived, cinematic canons; preconceived, cinematic styles that you have to fit yourself into.

‘I guess it goes back to the deconstructionist nature of the way I look at movies. If you can say [the plot] in a single line, then I can take it apart. It’s easier if the wrench is there to get the nuts off of it. No one’s really interested in me deconstructing the $5 million art film set in Idaho. It’s not as fun. That’s a Saturday Night Live skit. We’ve gone after what I would say is the mythological “why” of cinema.

It’s a huge nut to crack open.

‘I’m a fan, too. I’m a fan of genre films. I grew up on them. And I think that, when they’re done right, they’re the most influential movies over pop culture. It’s a lifestyle choice for so many people. Go to a Star Wars convention, and those people are more passionate about that cinematic universe than you would ever be over some kind of romantic comedy. It’s important.

‘So I think that’s probably the why of me ending up as a genre filmmaker. I didn’t set out to be that, but it’s definitely a thing I embrace now, for sure.’