Renowned filmmaker Zack Snyder made his comeback with the 2023 film Rebel Moon. However, he has shared that he almost left filmmaking following his experience with the 2017 DC film Justice League. Following Man of Steel and Batman v Superman, the director assembled the DC superheroes for Justice League. However, he had to leave the project, resulting in Joss Whedon taking over the film.
This resulted in the movie taking a drastically different approach to what it was expected to be. In a recent interview, Snyder opened up about how the 2017 film left him conflicted over returning to filmmaking.
Zack Snyder Was Conflicted About Filmmaking
Zack Snyder recently opened up about the profound impact the 2017 film Justice League has had on his career. Released under DC Extended Universe, the film was a box office and critical failure. And Snyder has expressed uncertainty about returning to filmmaking following Justice League.
He said, “I knew what I had made with Justice League, but no one had seen it – it didn’t really exist,” he said referring to the elusive Snyder Cut that was eventually released in 2021. Eric Newman, who collaborated with Snyder on Dawn of the Dead and Rebel Moon, also called it the worst experience of Snyder’s life.
“Zack had come off the worst professional experience of his life,” he said in an interview with SFX Magazine, as per GamesRadar. The impact was so profound that the filmmaker initially suggested Rebel Moon to be a TV series instead of a movie.
The pitch for an eight-hour TV show “didn’t seem like that big of a deal.” He explained his vision for a deeper dive into the universe beyond any canon constraints with a renewed interest in crafting a narrative where he could have greater control and artistic freedom.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League Prompted His Return to Filmmaking
Amid all the uncertainties, the 2021 film Zack Snyder’s Justice League marked a turning point for the filmmaker. Eric Newman claimed that the Snyder Cut and the filmmaker’s experience working on Army of the Dead “conspired to make him feel more comfortable in the movie space again.”
With Rebel Moon, he had the opportunity to construct an entire universe from scratch. And despite pitching it as a TV series, the decision was made to kickstart a fresh franchise with a two-part movie. Deborah Snyder also explained that they would probably do a TV series once they have established the franchise.
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“We felt like it would be best for the quality of the project. We can go and do TV once we’ve established it, but because it didn’t exist, we had the best shot of getting the money we needed by making it a film.”
Premiered in December 2023 on Netflix, Rebel Moon might not have received positive reviews from critics, but the film has received a great response on the streamer. It was the No. 1 among English-language films around for around a week following its release on Netflix.
Rebel Moon is available to stream on Netflix.
