[00:00:01] Greetings, D.C. Cinematic, welcome to our very first D.C. Film Director Interview this week, we have the pleasure of presenting the one and only Zack Snyder that's known in our community as the founding director of the DC Extended Universe. His credits include 20 Thirteens, Man of Steel, 2016, Batman vs Superman, Dawn of Justice and Twenty Twenty Ones, Zack Snyder's Justice League, which will debut on HBO Max in the US on March 18th, 2021. A fun fact for you. DC Cinematic was founded in direct response to the San Diego Comic-Con announcement of Batman v Superman in order to cover the cinematic universe to follow. While we couldn't get to all of the questions you wrote out. Our hope is that reading through them imbued the interview with their spirits. We hope we've represented you well. We being myself in the events, having the bat skeptic and zorak. A major part of the journey to the film's release on HBO, Max has been the fandom support and dedication to the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention, or a recipe for short, especially during these trying times. It's important to know you're never alone. AFSPA is a nationwide charitable organization that seeks to connect those who are under extreme circumstances with a support network while providing training, support and advocacy when you or someone else you know is facing struggles with mental health. With many charitable events under its belt, the AFP has directly named Zack Snyder and his fans as a direct and positive influence, with donations exceeding 500000 and counting. If you happen to know or are struggling with mental health or you simply want to know more about how you can help, please call one 800 273 eight two five five or check out FSP Doug. And now, without further ado, here is our interview with Zack Snyder.

[00:02:27] Welcome, everyone, to this cinematic interview with Zack Snyder, Zack Snyder, hello, are you. Yes. Thank you for taking time out of your super busy and crazy schedule to talk with us. We really appreciate it. My pleasure.

[00:02:41] Yeah. So let's see. It's we ask the sub Reddit, which is the largest DC film community on Reddit. We're like two hundred thousand strong now, I think.

[00:02:52] So we asked everyone for fan questions. So we had like 500 plus questions to go through. But we sorted through. We filtered out a few. And so we're going to be, I guess, dropping them throughout the conversation. But the first question is not actually a question, it's a message to you. So this comes from Dark Slayer, user name, Dark Slayer.

[00:03:15] Can you please relate to Zach just how much his films, especially Zack Snyder's Justice League and raising awareness for suicide prevention, mean to those of us with mental health issues? His films have helped me specifically with depression twice. Also thank him for making my favorite superhero movie, beeves. So this is actually this has been a common refrain throughout the years. It's not just Zack Snyder's Justice League and the AF AFSPA efforts attached to it. It's also beeves. It's also Man of Steel. Your films have really resonated with a lot of members of the community who have gone through personal hardship.

[00:03:54] And I think it's really it's one it's been one of our common bonds as fans because you really don't take the easy way out with these heroes. So where does that where does it come from? Why why do you put these people through so much in your films?

[00:04:10] I like the idea of and like it's gotten me in trouble a little bit over the years, but I do love. Listen, we're all fans, right, and we're at the point where, you know, the so I've gotten in trouble for this over the years and that is this I have this deep need to sort of deconstruct the and it comes from Watchman is my favorite comic book. And that exercise and actually making that movie as well as it was an exercise, you know, it's a it really takes superheroes and distills them down to the sort of elements. Right to their most the why of it. One hundred percent. And so that if that's your way in is through Watchmen, that lens. Now you put that on everything else you do. If you're looking at Batman or Superman, Wonder Woman. Your first instinct or my first instinct is like, what's the why of these characters? Like what? What is their reason for existing and. And I think that that where that ends up is because you do a deep dove and what their sort of psychological profile is, you end up with care, you end up with characters that if I am.

[00:05:46] Sort of I don't want to say I'm a student of psychology, you. Understand those archetypes and how they then relate to me on people on a personal level.

[00:06:00] So a lot of you know, if, for instance, you know. Superman is an immigrant who comes to Earth, wants to fit in, has this secret gift that he wants to give the world, but is afraid that if he gives that gift to the world, that they'll hate him or that he would be shunned or that could be turned into a God or any number of things. You know, there's parallels to a lot of us in our lives. That is to say that we all want we've got something to offer. We're always afraid. Everyone is afraid that maybe the world won't accept the gifts that we have. Maybe. And if it's and if you're part of a community or you're trying to be part of a community or whatever it is, or if you're you feel alone or isolated as he did, you know, there's a way to relate to that character, you know, that that that character becomes. His emotional journey becomes your own, and I think that that that I think that in a lot of ways sometimes is how. You know, and how I've done it with every all of them, I command all of them and I think you'll see in Justice League, you know, even Flash and Cyborg have a much you understand emotionally kind of where they are and emotionally what they're going through. And I think that that's what plugs you back into them and makes them. If you're going through similar. Sort of in the real world, any kind of problems with your family or loss or. Whatever it is, identity, those you can look at the film and be like, wow, that I understand that I can I can I can plug into that, that that speaks to me in some way. So I don't know if that's like a sufficient answer, but I think that that's what my relationship to the movies are. And I think that in that case. The viewers. That comes through the movies and that essence of me trying to find reach into those characters and pull out their best, but also not. Discredit or gloss over the struggle that they're in. And I think that that that allows when I when when when they finally realized their true sort of heroic self, that that would I mean, I hope that in some cases someone might be able to find that in themselves.

[00:08:49] It's it's gotten you into some trouble. But it's also the message has connected over the years, and especially with Superman, because something we've been observing throughout the fandom for years is a lot of people coming forward and saying, Zack Snyder, Superman made me love Superman. And it's not just it's just obviously there are a lot of signature elements to your version of Superman portrayed by Kanagavel that serves visuals, there's a world building, but also in a way of you kind of you don't just you don't just leave it up. The iconography. You also explore Clark, as an emotional being, as a character. And that's really that's really resonated with folks over the years. It's why your films seem to have this rare staying power. Yes.

[00:09:39] Well, I mean, that's what I do. I do believe that about the movies. You can say what you want about them. But people to this people talk about them every day. It's not like a thing that's known as a movie that still is. You know, we've been working on it for, you know, is getting close to 10 years and it's going on. And people talk about it, asking questions about it every day as if it came out not long ago. And I think when we release the Justice League, PCBs and Manistee, like DVD, like in a box that or, you know, the trilogy as a single sort of thing, I think that that it's an interest. It'll be an interesting. It's interesting, sort of in the D.C., EU or whatever it's become that that. Trilogy, sort of. We'll be insulated itself in some ways it comes and it's like it says something now and it doesn't, you know, it doesn't really rely on, you know, I said I'd famously said and it's true. This is the not saying anything. This isn't controversial that, you know, Warner Brothers, is it, that this film, My Justice League, is not canon, right. Kanfer Warner Brothers is the Joss Whedon version of justice. Right. That's that's their in their mind, that's canon. And what I'm doing is not. And so it's everything is. No. So it's just an interesting that relationship. And I'm fine with it because I feel like the only way that I could have made this film was autonomy was because of that. Because it means admitting and agreeing to the fact that it is not, can you actually, that's something we've noticed in your recent interviews.

[00:11:36] You do clearly delineate between the DCU and your trilogy as it exists now. I think fans, it's up to interpretation for fans. I think a lot of us prefer to kind of like we like to connect Man of Steel, Wonder Woman and Superman, Aquaman, especially because there are actually some clear connections between those films and yours. But right now, there is this delineation that we have to work with. So I think that is kind of frustrating some people. But it's kind of it's a make of it what you will at this point, isn't it?

[00:12:12] Yeah, I and I understand the frustration and I know I go. I don't have a problem and I wouldn't. If someone was frustrated by that concept, I wouldn't say don't be frustrated by it. It's fine to be frustrated by it. I'm frustrated by it. So it's I would only say, though, that, you know, there is a different there is a you know, that the the grander, greater concept for the DCU is not it is is on another road. So I don't know what I mean. And there's nothing I can do about that. That just is what it is. It's not my decision. You wouldn't be very concerned about the fans. Yes, of course. Everyone. I mean, it's not a secret. That's what I mean. Right. You know, obviously, Justice League is an anomaly. It's never, never heard a scenario. So it does represent a lot of ways, a lot like this other way of doing it.

[00:13:21] So I think it's an interesting intersection between it's not like the fans that do it this way. Right. The fans said, look, we're into what Zack was doing, so just let it look like it was going somewhere. We were yes, we're paying attention.

[00:13:42] So just like like, you know, you can't you got to stop going this way. In that way, you know, it's in.

[00:13:50] I think the fans are much more savvy and connected than they ever were before. We're very sensitive to leadership change and actually because just by virtue of being us, we kind of cinematic started with the announcement of Batman v Superman. So we followed the developments very closely. And it was very clear that the universe was on a track that you, Deborah and Chuck Roven were setting. So in a way, the fandom was very much hitched to that wagon. And that's the that's the momentum that's brought us to this moment now where you'll be releasing Zack Snyder's Justice League within two weeks.

[00:14:32] Yeah, and that's exciting and fun. And I do think that, you know, when I when I mapped out I found in my journal the other day just I was looking through all my other books and I found the journal that I pitched when I was pitching BBB's after we did that steal. And I was in the in the room with all the big wigs, were talking about how we go forward. And it has the whole it had the whole thing all the way through Darkside invasion, the whole thing. And I and I was looking at was like, wow, like this is you know, this is like twenty, fourteen or whatever. So it's like it's crazy. It's crazy. It's a long, long. And he was 20, 30 that I pitched. I forget to look at the date, but you know, so it's a long time in the making as far as what we had in mind. You know, I just I thought because what I thought was like like anything we would do this run of these movies and then we would get to the end and then they'd have to reboot the whole thing again and start up just like kind of the cycle that is natural for for DC.

[00:15:50] And now, you know, I think it's like, you know, that the people have had enough. They like we've had our run. It's like we wrote a comic book to the run and we did some crazy stuff and stuff that was a lot of ideas, but some weren't that great.

[00:16:06] We we we believed in it enough to like take it to its final conclusion.

[00:16:12] And speaking of that sort of jumping off that we're talking about these sort of broad arc and the sort of, I guess, Zack Snyder just run on the Justice League, as you say, in the comics recently there was a Justice League exhibition in Dallas that see Exhibition Center, and it's very revealing. You talked about it yesterday with Dave Tenere and it had some of these very interesting story outlines on display there. And first, I just want to thank you for like the most insane balls to the wall, like, crazy thing that I've ever read. But also, like, I just wanted to also get a little context for those story lines written at about the same time you're pitching them in this manner. Were they a little bit after.

[00:16:56] Right. I was right after. We shot that invisible man I was back home, we were editing the movie, hadn't come out yet. I did that. That was the story in my journal. It was it was lettered by Geoff Johns. And he and I talked a lot about the ideas, but it's the story is mine. And and Jim did the drawings because I thought, OK, Jim, would you be cool if you did help me? Like, I want the studio to see this. So when we you they know what I'm going to be doing over the next after justice. And so because Justice Green Justice League was written and this was this would have been the next, you know, the next thing. So can you tell us can you talk about what she's going to do next? And so I guess the thing was like, you know, so and I guess what I said. You know, last night and OK, so. The the story is has changed if the story was ever to continue that story, that actual story that when we got back from shooting Justice League, I sort of rewrote the story based on that. But it's completely it was now different. But I really thought that was a great example of, like, how we work and the kind of ideas that how big we go in our thinking and how we take long shots. And I'm not not to say that that isn't similar to what the movies would have been like. I said, the one thing I know, there were some fans that were mad, like spoilers, like it's ruining it.

[00:19:03] You're never the movie's never going to get made, so I don't know why anyone would be mad about that, because like I said last night, I was like, this is as close as you're ever going to get if you care about it. I get it. If you think it'd be if you read it like this is crap, fine, then you shouldn't care on one then. Then don't worry about it because you're never going to see it. If you like, just league and you like what I'm doing, you should enjoy it because that's probably it in its most. The most. Yeah. And also the most fleshed out form that you'll probably ever see. So the fact that it exists then you can actually read it and go, oh that's a that's, that's like a little, you know, there you go.

[00:19:53] Interest. Sorry to cut you off. No, no, that's it. And so, yeah, I mean, the reason I did it was because I was approached by AT&T to do this. Gallery show of my nightmare world of of of my DCU, and we went to and then I was like, oh, we have those there were those dry erase and we should put those up. That can be cool because there's so much of the nightmare world in there. That was that was my thinking. In truth, it wasn't really like some, you know. Well, listen, some, you know, cryptic thing that I thought fans would see and feel like we want to do this, it was more me saying, like, if you want to, you want to look at deep want if you want to take a deep dove into the nightmare world, like, there you go. Yeah.

[00:20:51] And that was super cool and super interesting. And another really interesting thing is it seemed like this outline was very focused and reliance upon details from other movies, like there's parts of it said, oh, this is from like the Flash movie and this is from like the Batman movie. And so was did you consult with any of the other sort of directors at the time who are working on those movies and creating this outline?

[00:21:15] No, I was because I was heavily involved in all those other stories. And so I, I was like they were all servicing that giant movie.

[00:21:23] Interesting. And so so when you see, like, how involved were you with those projects because like there's villains like, oh, like this movie's going to have like Captain Cold, like this movie's going to have like the Riddler. Were you involved in, like, choosing those villains or.

[00:21:39] You know, I was like, these are the villains you're going to do. Yeah, OK, now.

[00:21:44] And clearly that's not how it happened. But yeah. And that's what I think. It's really interesting to kind of get a peek at what was originally planned for like these movies, because even with, like Ben's Batman movie, I think it progressed from there to like Deathstroke was going to be the villain, not like the Riddler, but there was going to be a we were going to have a Riddler element maybe.

[00:22:05] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:22:10] And yeah.

[00:22:12] So I think what's also really interesting about that exhibit is like you really have a very strong sort of vision for how like the nightmare characters look compared to like their normal counterparts. And so what were some of the inspirations for how a character live in the night in their timeline versus how they would look like normally?

[00:22:35] Um. Yeah, it's funny because I have in that journal that I was talking about, I look and there's a doodle of literally the the drawing I did of like Batman with this like duster on and it's like wraparounds in his goggles. And I think that was the thing that really that was the first drawing that I did. I'll dig it up sometime and I'll put it up on Bero but it, it's pretty, it was really the inspiration for the rest of the rest of the world. It's kind of I started there and I thought it would be fun and so really I just was like, OK, so if Batman looks like this that means, you know, Cyborg looks like this. And as you can see the debris drawing, she almost looks like she's like, you know, Undun from Dune or some kind of crazy. It's cool. Yeah. Yeah. We're always like she's like, get them water, you know, she's like, you know, because it's like this where she sucks some water on the ground and. Pulls it from the air.

[00:23:40] Yeah, exactly, yeah, so we can definitely get back to the fan questions I actually have from Iran. No, that was great, though. I have a fan question from genocide zero nine zero nine. So many actors have described working with you as a great experience as a filmmaker. What do you think is the key to connecting with the actors and getting the best performance out of them?

[00:24:04] I guess for me, you know, the relationship I have with the actors is always about trust. You know, I really want them to do their thing and I want them to make it real because it's really my hope for them. And I also it's a hard job making a movie. And I try and make the experience of shooting kind of. A joyful experience and fun experience as much as best I can. I mean, look, there's times when it's like, look, it's raining and I'm sorry that I have to stand out there for eight hours and freeze our butts off, but that's fine. So, yeah, I mean, I, I try not to overthink the process too much with them, but I do rely heavily on the you know, on the friendship, developing the positive experience, definitely having like the cordial environment.

[00:25:03] Everyone wants to make the movie and have fun along the way. That's all things I've always loved about you as a filmmaker, how everyone just talks about how incredibly nice and supportive and. Just friendly, you are to everybody from the highest paid stars to the lowliest crew member, right?

[00:25:20] These are nothing. But I just you know, my knee jerk is that everyone has an amazing idea and has value and nobody, you know, I just value everybody.

[00:25:33] And I try and do my best to to never assume that, you know, I have the best idea or whatever.

[00:25:40] And the only reason the cool thing about the thing I always say, like with a movie being the director, you have one thing is your point of view. That's it. Otherwise, you're not right. No one's right in the movie business. No one. No one's. This is obviously should be done right. You know, if you want to do it that way, no one will watch it. I mean, some people will. I I like I want to be surprised by the movie, you know, be be put off guard by the money. And so the only thing when you make a movie is to film since last night. What is it like? How do you and I we say, look at your point of view, that's it. That's all you have in the end, you learn how much you can learn how to make a shot a little bit. I mean, that's not true. But you can learn about it like, you know, the language, you know, over we're single master. You can put a scene together, you know. But what is it? What is the way you see it? It's different. And that's that's that's the thing that's holding up. So I guess my point is that you have to everyone else you have to treat with respect because you're asking them not necessarily to do a thing that's proven. I mean, there's no science to it. No. If you if you could if you got to if you could write a computer program that would spit out a script and you had like all the stage direction and what you would say to the actors and everything to make that real thing. But I don't know if anybody wants to. I don't know what you said.

[00:27:18] People talking so good about you and just meeting you right now. I can understand how they go by. I'll go to a question of myself and going by my exhibition to I find it interesting the the choices of million you chose for each hero citizen, not the ordinary. You could say just as Lee. I wanted to ask, since Leks plan is to recruit the Justice League, where the villains, the final choice, were they interchangeable? And if you will change them, which ones will we choose now?

[00:27:55] Yeah, I won't say which ones I would choose, but I they probably would change a little bit. But I like the idea. The whole thing was like it was all based on character. So like what, what villain is the most. It's the most psychologically damaging to the to the hero. And that was kind of the. That was kind of the way we approached it by by kind of doing that work and saying like, OK, so this would be the worst case scenario for each of them. And and we were like, if we were to make the movie tomorrow, you know, a sequel in another movie or whatever, but the heroes with the villains be different. Probably. But it's fun. It's fun. It's fun to talk about that. Yeah. Thank you.

[00:28:47] Yeah. So we had a few questions about your fitness routine because obviously one of every one of your personal trademarks is your emphasis on personal fitness, whether it's in your actors or in your personal life. So I actually had a friend who is personal ethos was I'm a nerd, I love Wolverine. I want to look like Wolverine. And he actually built himself up to that. That Wolverine body even was short, but super muscular. So I'm just kind of kind of wondering, where does your emphasis on fitness come from and what is your routine like?

[00:29:23] Yeah, I mean, I was always I've always been a fitness fan. I've always trained. I've trained pretty much. You know, it's it's a thing that when I was in high school, I had that is this guy who was a bodybuilder, who was a teacher at a school called Greenwich Country Day in Greenwich, Connecticut, where I went to school.

[00:29:48] And, you know, he was this super strong black guy, you know, and he really he he taught me a lot about the world and about and he and he he had a gym underneath.

[00:30:04] His name was Jim Martin, and he had a gym underneath the school, like in the basement. And it was this awesome basement. He was friends with, like my cats. And all these golden age bodybuilders come by and work out. I it is like, you know, it was in the 80s. So it was like literally, you know, he would come out to Venice in the summer to train with Arnold. Chris Dickason would come to the gym. And so I just I met all these like awesome golden age. But in run Robinson, like all these guys there that were just like you knew all these guys, if you look at these guys are just awesome anyway. So that was where I started, you know, sort of my love. And I thought that was awesome. And then you're nothing. I was a Schwarzenegger fan, you know, in those days. Kohnen Mills's Koenen is one of my favorite movies. I loved the movie. I mean, I loved Ron Cobb just crushing the shit out of that movie. He's a genius. And just, you know, Jeremiah Johnson. I mean, really, that guy, that's just amazing work.

[00:31:19] So, you know, anyway, it was kind of like that sort of started it for me.

[00:31:26] And then it just when we got to when we went to make three hundred, it was just the thing that I felt like I understood, you know, this kind of idealized physical form concept was a thing. I was like first balance and got my friend Markiewicz, you know, to train the guys and really kind of had a bit of a revolution go on with that. You know, studio is like leather bikinis. Really? That's it. That's all I can say. I'm like, oh, I have they can pull it off and be cool. And it seemed like a little bit problematic. But I mean, they and they and they did it and then and I guess the same and just went all the way like, you know. Document Hattan and Leatherby, document ATN, or whether it be Henry Cavill and Superman and Ben and Jason and Goll and like everybody. I just I really want this mythological body to really kind of. Set them. And into this pantheon of like us also, that it's not easy, you know, this what they do with the life they've chosen, it's not it requires discipline, sacrifice. And that's kind of so. And then I train. I train. Pretty much, if I can, I train pretty much every day, I'm a gym here at a big gym and my, you know, famously in my old office and Warner Brothers, I build a gym on every movie so I can Leavesden. I built a giant gym and leaves, and it's still there in England. My gym is like I built the whole thing and wear all the gear and know I. And Mark, we I don't know if the bars that are in there and we would all just because it was a great place, we would train in the mornings and then we'd sit around, drink coffee and talk. And it was a nice little place for just that's the kind of, you know, kind of relax, like a little bit of a club. And it was it was great. And then all the training we did on Wonder Woman and hired a bunch of hired a bunch of great Prospero's that brokenness and a couple of others that were really I'm and big fans of the Dijana as well.

[00:33:59] It's kind of interesting that your love of bodybuilding blossomed the eighties because that's also where all of our harmful nerdy stereotypes come from. Now, nerds on the big screen.

[00:34:08] So it's kind of like I kind of feel like maybe people were not used to your image being associated with these nerdcore books like Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns. And there might have been some pushback against that dissonance, you know, that visual dissonance. But I feel like. Stereotypical nerds are there, they certainly exist, but also the definition of nerd has been expanded so greatly in the last five, 10 years with constantly expanding. So I think some people catch up to the fact that you can be who you are and you can also be a huge fan of these characters in these comics.

[00:34:49] Because when I was in high school, you know, I was I was athletic and I come from a super athletic family. And, you know, we've you know, we're we're a family of athletes. And but I was a drama dork, too. So, you know, that was a bit of a it was a bit of a cause. I was out shooting my movies when I was in high school, so I ended up it. And so it was just.

[00:35:16] It was a natural relationship for me as kind of a bridge and a lot of ways I think, you know, actually one small aside, actually, I think when you're talking about your work on three hundred, it kind of just struck me that three hundred was I don't know if you were aware of this at the time. It was a huge memetics hit. You know, it had reality and especially the the initial trailer or the Nine Inch Nails trailer. And this is Spada Line. It was it was beamed everywhere, forums, comment sections. And now Zack Snyder's Justice League is kind of like your second movie. I think you can kind of look at it that way.

[00:35:59] It's another violent I mean, it really it was funny because I think it was a one of those in pop culture right in the shins. It had it didn't. It didn't. No one expected. It just kind of popped up, came out of nowhere and just, you know, and even just music and everything. Like my son played football in high school. He was a quarterback. And he he kind of kept it on the DL and he you know, they didn't really know that he was in three hundred and that he his father made three hundred and they would play the music from the movie.

[00:36:36] But they came out onto the field and he was like, honestly.

[00:36:40] But even without, you know, without that they did it anyway. It had nothing to do with him.

[00:36:48] But it was just an interesting that's how deep into culture it had gotten so that they were like, go on and come out everything.

[00:36:56] And he would be like somebody taunting me just to confirm that you said you guys don't let your kids watch live action r rated movies in your household.

[00:37:06] So if I hadn't seen three hundred at the time and seen three hundred total, I mean I think you saw it when he was a nice, nice job and he was OK. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I remember. I like Olivia is a classic comment. When Olivia saw down the debt she said You missed my childhood for this. I thought that was a pretty, pretty good I was like, that's a deep cut. That was a hugely deep cut of. Oh sorry. Yeah, I should have picked another.

[00:37:42] So speaking of personal fitness, we also learned that you were the camera person and director of photography for Army of the Dead. So we have a question from a test he wanted to ask. How was that experience different for you then compared to working on studio blockbusters? And do you plan to be your own director of photography in future films, or was it just a one time thing that you wanted to experiment with?

[00:38:06] Well, I don't know if, like, you know, I was a director, cameraman in the commercial world for ten years. And I, I, I mean, every now and then I work with my good friend Larry Thorn, and we would make some commercial in Europe or somewhere because I was like, Larry, what are you doing? You want to compete with me?

[00:38:27] But I shot pretty much everything when during that period, you know, give or take.

[00:38:33] And when we when I got in the movie business, you know, it was not it wasn't really a thing like no one said, like, I could shoot it, too. That was that was that seemed crazy. You know, as a first time director, they were going to be like. And you want to be the DP. Yeah, I don't think so. That's not. And then it just seemed natural to me. And, you know, and I did a bunch of movies with Larry. And it's been great and fabulous, great, and Amir was great, I love I love my peas and they're amazing, but I think it just got me further and further away from the camera to the point where I just was like just like, you know, I'm not the camera's over there somewhere. Mean I'm like I literally I think I've said this, but I literally had to look at a wooden table. Like wooden chairs and a den, my monitors and I would just sit and draw and I would look at my shots with those guys over there. It was like this really intensely what it was. Of course. You know, I thought my relationship with everybody, but I felt distant from the process, and so when we went to the army, I was like, I'm going to shoot me and I really want to I really want to do it myself.

[00:39:52] And and, yeah, it was it was an amazing it was one of my favorite cinema related experiences shooting that movie with my ex, really. We had a really small kind of really great crew. And it was.

[00:40:09] That's our talk. It was John, it was John Clothier, who's my camera operator, who I've worked with since Watchmen was Jon and I you shooting and just, you know, just. The movies, I think the movie looks amazing and I'm really happy with it, and if I shoot horse latitudes next, I'll shoot that for sure. And if I do, I've got plans to do some other big movies right after that. Well, there's a little. Little sci fi epic I'm writing, and then there's a couple other things, and I think if that was. I don't know, I would I would I would I would need to think about it, but for sure, a lot of I want to shoot because it's the whole idea that movie super small budget, micro budget, it's going to be like just us, the actors and the camera, and we're just going to get in a van and go shoot and stuff.

[00:41:07] Is that really what you're doing in the planning stages right now? You like do you have like a schedule or everything set up for that? Or is that something that you can't?

[00:41:14] Not 100 percent, but I'm really starting to try and push them now. I'm like, OK, let's go, let's go do this because I'm ready.

[00:41:20] I'm I'm I'm antsy to get out of the editing room and go shoot something. Yeah. I mean, I've been cutting to movies during quarantine, so it's been crazy. Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry.

[00:41:35] I guess the question that I wanted to ask is actually a question from she apologize for mispronouncing that. It's I want to know, what are Zach's favorite movies from the last decade? Who are some directors that he admires?

[00:41:48] Directors. I admire some of my job. Boreman is one of my favorite directors. You know, I was shaped in a lot of ways by those movie inspired movies. Brian De Palma Bullivant, I you know, of course, you know the standards, of course, AISI, Kubrick, whatever, everybody that goes, I handshake's assumed on that one. Like you just got to be really clear that we need to do that. But yeah, Blue Velvet, that's one of my favorite movies of all that jazz as one of my favorite movies. Those are the ones that you those are like perennial for me and they're always those ones are always around the end of the last decade. Was that the.

[00:42:44] Yeah, that was the last decade. Some of your favorite movies.

[00:42:47] Twenty times. Yeah. Twenty ten. I'm trying to think I was twenty ten Revenant, I love that movie. Yeah, I'm pretty much love all in movies. I think he's really great. See, Spike makes great movies, you know, really great movies. Spike Lee or Spike Jones, Spike Jones and Spike Lee, all those guys are good. But yeah, adaptation is one of my favorite. I love that movie. It's. Oh, nice. Yes, it's so good. It's like because like, look for me, I'm like, really. People think.

[00:43:39] One thing I think about the way I work is that very many are.

[00:43:46] Self-Aware. I think that there's not you know, I always have that I love that notion that you can have fun but not make fun of a genre and endure like Army of the Dead is literally that experiment on steroids. I mean, it is it is it is completely a total experiment, you know, and I love that. I like that idea of really stretching that tonal concept. But I think that the you know, the idea that you could make a movie where you're where you're if you you're using cinema, that is why all movies, especially like the deconstruction of the movie itself in the movie, is a thing that I I'm always kind of turned on by, you know, here and there. And I mean, adaptation is a perfect example of that tone, like just on a laser beam and perfect and sort of perfect. So anyway, those are samples that.

[00:44:51] Yeah, that's good. I just had one quick follow up in regard to films that you admire like. So you kind of talked a little bit about some of the films or works of art that were sort of inspirations for your justice. Feel like you've talked about Seven Samurai a lot and I think also Lord of the Rings. So are there any other inspirations? And what about those works were like inspiring to like this project?

[00:45:12] I mean, those things were like Seven Samurai with the ultimate goal of the teen movie. It's always been one of my favorite movies I've done. Weirdly, I've done a lot of ensemble teen movies. I don't, you know, building a team or a team of, you know, in my filmography as a team scenario, I think Man of Steel is by the anomaly in that group of movies that doesn't require a and maybe be a little bit, you know, but it's like, sure, Trinity. But not like a fool. But I would say, like, you know, The Dawn of the Dead is a teen movie. Three hundred is certainly a teen movie, you know, Sucker Punch in the teen. So it's so. Yeah, so clearly, seven, six, seven Samurai has had a big impact on me. And that's one thing I like about the idea of going to do or solitudes is that it's, you know, just two guys. And in order to build a team, that's fun. So you have seven seven for that reason. What are the rings? I think it's just more in its tone, just as far as sort of the getting to a scale that I think that movie really achieves in a great way. You know, those movies, you know, this kind of epic scale that is that it really is mythological. And I thought that would be really important. That was really important for the for the for the themes and sort of the characters.

[00:46:44] It's it's really mythological and the stakes are really high and the tone is set, but it doesn't it's not too overbearing. You can still they kind of have fun without, like, you know, taking away from that tension, which I think is.

[00:46:58] And yeah, I think I wanted to jump in with the question, so, yeah, speaking of beeves and the Trinity, we have a question from Stephy, something who is huge Trinity fan. So what is your opinion on the Trinity as they are the blueprint of superheroes in general with the beacon of hope, light of justice and warrior of truth? How do you view their relationship with each other even when they are worlds apart on paper, but united for the ultimate good?

[00:47:27] Yeah, I am a big I'm a big Trinity fan myself, I I loved the idea of that moment. It was kind of my whole thing when we were doing GB's that I really want to have this moment with Trinity. And I just thought that if we could get them all to be on camera in one shot, that we really would be. On our way to doing something really epic and yeah, and I just think that they see the one thing about D.C., whether you're a fan or not, you know, the Trinity is the most iconographic. Those three heroes are the most iconographic superheroes ever and exist know their symbols are worldwide recognizable as there corporations are almost like there are countries that, you know, they're religious of some kind. You know, just to see Superman s and The Wonder Woman, the color and the and the Batman and the Bat, you're like literally like, holy shit. Like these days you don't have to say there doesn't need to be a word with it. And I think that it's really powerful. And I, I hope they continue. They're they're they're they're the Trinity mission into the future. And they I hope they come together again soon.

[00:49:04] So just as we were talking about Man of Steel and Superman, I wanted to ask, how do you feel towards the reaction of the audience oversimplifying and making memes of the safe martensen?

[00:49:22] What can I say, I mean, it is, but because I know I. We felt like that was the perfect bond between the two between these two guys, pop culture really wanted to have fun with that movie, they felt like kicking that movie in in the crotch and that and it is what it is. I don't know what to say other than, oh, well, you know, we still love it and we think it's really cool.

[00:49:53] Chris and I and I, you know, I.

[00:50:00] I don't I have no ill will toward anyone who wants to make a Martha joke. I'm just glad they're still talking about it. Whatever this is, you know, I mean, I love it.

[00:50:13] I like that I was I didn't even make the connection. I was like, Martha, Martha. Oh, right. They're both mean the same. I mean, the connection like that.

[00:50:24] Actually, like I said, I guess I don't know that there's a lot of movies six years later and six years later that everyone's going like, oh yeah, what about the birth of the cool?

[00:50:34] And I compare that much to say, I have a weird reverse Martha moment story where OK, so I'm I was I've been moderating leading up to beeves. So I'm like really deep into the fan discourse and whatnot. A lot of baggage going into the movie. So I sit in my theater or sit in the theater opening day, watch beeves. And it's it was kind of traumatizing, not going to lie. I mean, it's just Batman's going through so much his drinking and he's killing people. And I'm like, oh, man, this is really heavy stuff. And then Martha, Martha moment happens. And this whole movie has been given Mistress' the whole time. But Martha. Absolutely CLECs for me in that moment, because it's the release of all of that anger, that darkness, that rage, and it was downright cathartic. So I had a weird experience where Martha Martha moment was my favorite moment in my first viewing of BVDs. So it's I can attest to. I think I think it does.

[00:51:37] There's something there that really has it resonated with me while I cried so hard when that Martha moment happened, because I was so, so squeamish about seeing Batman do all the things that he does in that movie. But by the time you realized it was all kind of like a setup to lead to that moment, I was just like I never thought I would cry during a superhero movie, of all things. But I was just like I could. I could I was blubbering like the rest of the movie.

[00:52:03] At that point, you blazed a trail for me because I did tear up that I really was moved by the music and Ben's performance. It just all came together in that one moment.

[00:52:16] Yeah, well, and that that's how I feel about it. So I use it. But if someone wants to make me about Martha, you know, God bless them. So just hoppity. I got. I got, I got. I got ten more minutes so.

[00:52:35] OK, ok. All right, let's let's pick the questions while here. So one question I had is. Actually, I'll ask a fair question. So one question we had from one of our guys called Tocking and he asked, your movies typically have a lower word count than similar movies in the genre. Is this a conscious choice or is it just something that sort of happens? Do you prefer to convey meaning visually, rather, rather than through speech?

[00:53:04] Has a lower one count word count, bird count? Yeah, I mean, Idol is a movie. It's a motion picture as a word picture in it. So if you can't tell it with a picture, then, you know, I'm just not a yeah. I think it's look, I love strong dialog and a great line, and that's what movies are. It's a combination of movies, words and pictures. It's like and I think that that it's not a conscious thing where we're like, oh, we have too many words. Although I'm often a guy like we don't let's not say that I like to strike dialog when I can. Mm.

[00:53:45] I have a quick question. I actually just wanted to this is from comfortable reveal. He wanted to ask from all of the action sequences that you directed.

[00:53:53] Which one do you consider the most badass or the best or the purest to what you had envisioned in all the movies or just in the in the in the D.C. looks a lot like the most like the most badass or like DC or just any movie, any any movie that you've that you've done.

[00:54:13] Yeah. You know, I like them all.

[00:54:19] There's there's two sort of categories for me. Like I love, for instance, like the the the assassination in Watchmen, you know, where they got the guy shooting. I was not necessarily in action Zander's action, but it's kind of like this stylized action moment, which is which I've always been fun with a big, big rotating cylinder's of the gun and all that cool stuff. That's fun. Just on occasions, you know, and then I would say probably, you know.

[00:54:57] With the help of my long time friend David Karro, I would say PVCs Warehouse Fire is probably one of my favorites. That's just a just like clean heart, good Batman fighting. And I do Batman fighting better than that. That was a challenge and some ideas we haven't gotten to yet. And let's see. And then I do love you know, there's one Justice League. There's some great stuff. The battle, I think, with Steppenwolf is really fun and really scales know to take go from. Well, I mean, I think our DC battles have gone like this because Superman is pretty frickin big. And then, you know, that movie goes up and VVS goes from Warehouse Battle to Ms. Day, and I think the same thing with justice that I like. I do like it when I do like it when it's intimate too. I still like a little good. I always want to do a fight scene with them like like a gun battle with muskets. That's the thing.

[00:56:18] I try, I'm still I'm still pushing for a George Washington movie, to be honest.

[00:56:23] Oh, it's cool. By the very idea of school. We still I mean, downstairs. But yeah, I like the idea of, like, you know, which is cool. Yeah.

[00:56:34] So we have a few rapid fire questions before we get into our last question, which is about fandom. And so one question from Awesome Orange is who is your favorite DC villain, my favorite DC villain?

[00:56:45] Well, I mean, I think for different reasons. Lex Lex is probably my favorite DC villain because he's he's not purely insane, you know.

[00:56:58] I mean, he is, but like, he's kind of got his shit together and a lot of ways. And I think, like, it's funny, our Lex is like really a humanitarian. Like he's weirdly he sort of sees the metahumans as a threat to mankind. And I think that that is an interesting you know, his arc was really interesting to me. Like, we at one point we talked about that he in the final battle, he's the one that, like, brings the briefcase nuke into Darksiders spaceship and detonates it himself.

[00:57:38] Kind of like that's what puts him off. You know, it's kind of like he wasn't down with the concept of completely destroying mankind. Right. Like he realized that was the that was that, you know, so I thought we were talking. I mean, I'm just bullshitting now. But it like that kind of thing is something he would be capable of. Like he could go all the way, you know, and then and and darkside probably I mean, really in the end, because because he's the king daddy and like be great to see and fight, like really fight because he's just he's ties to Superman. And then, you know, in the end it's quite literally the that he has a few kids. Yeah. Prolific. And, you know, that's what we're saying. I think if we ever if we ever got to it, that, you know, the theories and all of that madness and Kearby madness let loose would be fun. But you get to see that furious. The Amazons would be people. I don't know. Now I'm just being you know, hopefully we'll see that sometimes I want to make that.

[00:58:58] Maybe I'm an optimist. Now, one more one more rapid fire question before we go into our closer. Who in the cast was the most optimistic about the chances of a standard being released?

[00:59:10] Jason, for sure. Jason was the most and Jason has always been the most vocal. Well, he just is ally and proponent. And I just. He's amazing. He's a great, great friend, great actor, great guy and super loyal, you know, and just I just love them like crazy. And yeah, he was always beating the drum pretty hard. But yeah, I mean, everyone's been supportive, but he's he stuck his neck out when you didn't need him.

[00:59:54] All right. So the last question we had for you was kind of about your relationship with fandom. And it's a sort of paradigm shift that might have been occurring. So you weren't always as sort of involved in the fandom as you were. You always sort of talked to like professionals, sort of like interviewers and like traditional trade magazines and stuff like that. But now it seems like you're more sort of directly connected to the fandom and you talk a little bit more about like that paradigm shift and like how that occurred and how you see, like, fandom today.

[01:00:24] Yeah, I. Well.

[01:00:29] I'm on a social media platform called Buro that was started by my friend in Harare and a man said, hey, I'm doing this, I'm going to try and create the social media platform to be interested, just trying it out. And I dug it and I thought it was cool. It was a small community when it first started, very small. It's like mostly just my friends. But I.

[01:00:59] I tended to just. Post really kind of from the heart on, there wasn't a lot of think about it too hard wasn't meant as a marketing thing. It was really just me.

[01:01:18] Going like, hey, this is cool, like. Look at this picture of my car or whatever, but it. It became when I.

[01:01:35] After autumn and when I left the movie, kind of like was this cathartic place where I could sort of, you know.

[01:01:45] Be honest and have a relationship with others that sort of understood and were supportive of whatever struggles I was going through or, you know, and we're enthusiastic about the the the the movies that I had made. And also, you know, they were supportive of FSP and.

[01:02:17] You know, just this kind of really personal stuff that I was kind of into, it wasn't didn't feel like they wanted anything and it was just it was just really fun to kind of chat with the community.

[01:02:31] You know, previous to that, my relationship with the press had been, I don't want to say adversarial, but I do think that there had been there certainly was this and I don't know if someone could write a book about the evolution of. Journalist to blogger, to cinema, blogger to film critic and how those kind of you have have gone down and expanded and really kind of become a like we're on this. You guys are on a Reddit discussion board with how many people go hundred thirty four thousand two hundred and thirty four thousand people. So that just as a concept, is unbelievable. If you guys, for instance, had you know, I just never so we you know, I feel like now I have a direct dialog with with and I'm not saying that. And I think the cool thing it goes back to what we're saying is like no one's asking me to do it different. They're just asking me to do it. Like they just want to see it, like what I like to do it. And I think that that that's the real that they want for the most part. And that's the great thing about the democracy. That is the Internet. There is a you know, people want what they want, but they also on this in this case, there's support for MSP and also for my sort of artistic integrity has been really a hallmark of the of what the fandom has become for me and real champions, if you will. And real enthusiasm and real.

[01:04:23] Dedication. You know, when I talk to you know, I've talked to a few different, you know, sort of bloggers that are just outside of the fandom and they're like, your fans, bro, are legit. And in the sense that and I think it comes a little bit from what we talked about earlier, you know, there's a you make a movie for the world and there's going to be this many people that see it and then this many people that live it, you know, and those guys, you know, it it it can be it can have a big effect on a lot of people. And I and I think with, you know, our sort of focus on mental health and on suicide prevention, that, combined with the way the movies hit, has really kind of, I think, sort of solidified that group into a much stronger fan base in that way. It's more than the movies now. The movies are cool and everyone wants movies to be cool. But there is a there's more than just the movies, you know what I mean? That there's more to talk about and there's more to do than I really that relationship I couldn't be prouder of. And I and I and I don't think that there is a there's very few communities that have done so much good and been so happy to debate the work, but but also very aware of the difference between us talking about whether or not, you know, that men killed those guys. But in the end, let's talk about like if we're going to raise money for suicide prevention, that's we we'll talk about that later. But let's get back to the work. And I think that that that that just doesn't exist anywhere else. And I I love that and I love the way it's evolved. I couldn't be happier with the fandom and that and what they're capable of. And I am just excited, hopefully, to give them a bunch of awesome movies in the not too distant future.

[01:06:40] Yeah. And just one more thing before it's written. Thank you. Messages. I've just wanted to say that you're like kind of, I guess like leadership, I guess, in your example has been really helpful in sort of solidifying this community. You like advocating for yourself, putting out those all these shirts, all the merchandise that's helping suicide prevention, all of that like showing like being like the example that we all try to like, showing that the movies are cool and all that. But there is more out there that we can do to help.

[01:07:12] And so it's all I brought together here. I really do, because I just want to make sure that, you know. Because in the end, I'm just like you guys, I want to make cool movies, I want you guys to be able to sit in the theater and go like or a chair or on the 18th and see this amazing HBO film. X has been they've been amazing and they've been super supportive. They've really what they've made this film that they've done. This film has no business existing, but it does four hours of gigantic superhero craziness. And it really is really ridiculous that exists. And I just got so they've done an incredible job. They've done an impossible thing and that. They don't. I don't think they even realize that by making the movie a reality. They've also been a really great partner for the fandom and for like the efforts with FSP and the mental health awareness. So, I mean, they are there, but I don't think they realize the impact it volumizing the message has had. You know, I'm hoping that in the in that coming in the coming year and this pandemic clears up a little bit, herd immunity, whatever that is, you know, I'm hoping that we can all get together. You know, I've been talking to that and do like a real, you know, some really beautiful charity screenings in IMAX and really do something amazing. But for now, I'm very excited that you guys are going to get to see the movie, you know, in your living room. And you know what you can posit if you have to go to the bathroom without, you know, just so that's cool.

[01:09:05] It's something something your fans have something that I think your input has allowed to flourish is a positive definition. Your work deals with a lot of mental and physical adversity, and people characterize it the way they wish. But ultimately, I guess your creative ethos, the way you carry yourself, the way you treat people, I think it does it does show that you you essentially I mean, you are about what you're about and you seek to put good in the world. You know, no matter how people choose to interpret your work, I think your fans recognize that truth and your voice has been pretty much a revelation, just you stepping out there, putting yourself in the spotlight. I know it's uncomfortable a lot of us, and we don't really like doing it ourselves. But your voice is invaluable in all of this. It's kind of the spark that fandom has been missing.

[01:10:13] And I just hope that we keep hearing from, you know, you it doesn't have to be us personally and just just the general. Oh, well, we'd love that. But we're not going to assume it. But I just want you to know that that that's your voice is priceless in this community and whatever causes you choose to endorse with it. So let us close with a few fan messages, fan messages that people feel emboldened to send you now because they know you're listening.

[01:10:43] So this one comes from real about Battan that. Please let Zach know just how much we love, support and care for him and his family, his team and his work, this is all of our victories. The work Zach and the Snyder community has done has saved countless lives. I hope Zach knows this. And whatever the future holds, we are here for him. And here's another one from Surfy Nanjo, one or one. All I want to say is thank you, Zach. Thank you for sticking by us and thank you for giving us the movie we always wanted. I'm so happy that you got finally execute your vision the way it was intended. So, yeah, I guess that's that's as good a note as and assignment. Yeah. Thank you.

[01:11:29] Well, thank you guys for having me on doing it. I really did come and tell you to talk about there, but still bad you guys to see the movie and there'll be plenty to talk about.

[01:11:45] Yeah.

[01:11:47] Four hours. It's going to be a lot more hours. There's a couple of little things that. Thank you so much for your time and your family need to honor. Yeah. Just. All right.

[01:11:58] I hear. Yeah. All right. Here's Guy I about.

[01:15:53] He was out for the weekend, so go eat something now, something, something, eat something, then I'm going to suffer for a few more minutes here maybe, but nothing but anything important in the channel recording.

[01:16:05] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[01:16:09] I think the main the main, I guess achievement here today is I got to know us a little more and he's comfortable with us like as a group.

[01:16:20] I think I was nice. I think you guys do represent us very well. I think he knows where your hearts are. So I think that's.