Zack snyder

Born on March 1, 1966 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Zackariah Snyder is the son of a talent scout who was dedicated to executive search, and a photography teacher and painter, from whom his artistic vocation comes. It was she who inspired him when he decided to study painting at Heatherley School of Fine Art in Great Britain. Subsequently, he enrolled at Art Center College of Design, in Pasadena, where he was partnered with Michael Bay himself, who, like him, was destined to become a filmmaker specializing in blockbusters full of special effects.

He began his professional activity as a director and director of photography for commercials, specializing above all in vehicles and sports brands. He was also responsible for a music video, waiting to be able to make the leap to feature film. “I wanted to shoot movies, but for a long time they only offered me very routine projects,” he recalls. They propose, for example, that he shoot SWAT: Harrelson’s men , which doesn’t quite convince him.

Finally, Zack Snyder agrees to take over Dawn of the Dead , a remake of Zombie , with which George A. Romero continued the saga started with Night of the Living Dead. Snyder is right to enhance the realism of the action sequences. He abuses violence (a characteristic that is part of his hallmarks) but achieves such visual power that he manages to make a plot work that does not stray too far from the conventions of the subgenre of the dead who walk again among the living. Small reflective brushstrokes can even be selected, such as the criticism of excessive consumerism suggested by the images of the protagonists hidden in a shopping center that ends up being inhospitable.

Right after, Snyder strikes the bell with 300 , an adaptation of a Frank Miller comic that recreates with numerous fantasy licenses the classic battle of Thermopylae, a gorge where the Spartan Leonidas ( Gerard Butler ) blocked with a few men for several days the passage of the numerous troops of the Persian king Xerxes I. In the fights, the filmmaker resorts to slow motion, and suddenly goes to fast motion, a curious resource that even created a school. In general, the imaginative shots of him conquer the public to the point of making them forget that this time the content is quite conspicuous due to the absence of him. Even so, the film becomes very popular, giving rise to a parody of very low quality, Almost 300 , and a prequel,300: Rise of an Empire , in which Snyder has been limited to production duties.

“Cinema, and popular culture in general, have been greatly influenced by comics over the last decade,” explained the director. “I’m a fan of the genre myself, which is why I think it’s important that we approach a graphic novel with the same respect that we would use when adapting a literary text. Fortunately, thanks to Miller and others like him, comics they are no longer a child’s affair. In this sense, I believe that 300 is not simply the Hollywood version of a comic, but a true artistic experience.”

Emboldened by the strong results of 300 , Zack Snyder takes a big risk with his next work, Watchmen , an adaptation of Alan Moore ‘s complex cult comic . Before, other filmmakers such as Terry Gilliam , Darren Aronofsky and Paul Greengrass had tried to take it to the cinema.. But the script doesn’t quite encapsulate the extensive plot of the comics, surrounding the government’s ban on superheroes, and the budget is skyrocketing in such a way that it would have had to be a massive hit to be profitable. This is not the case, because the vast majority of comic book readers are not convinced by the adaptation, and it does not reach the general public either. It is only liked by a small number of fans who make it a small cult film.

Next, Snyder lurches. He experiments with cartoons with the entertaining Ga’Hoole: Legend of the Guardians , well resolved despite the obvious risk that the protagonists are realistically animated owls (their movements are not humanized). But it is a film that has not quite found its audience, especially because it is too dark for children.

Divorced from his first wife, Denise Weber, with whom he had four children, and after fathering two other offspring with Kristen Elin, a regular producer of his commercials, Zack Snyder married Deborah Johnson, producer of his films since Breaking Dawn . of the dead “She is my best friend and a close collaborator because I cannot trust anyone like her when it comes to making decisions,” explained Snyder, so in love with her that he has her name tattooed on one arm.

Rather than try to win back the masses, Snyder gives the impression that he set out to further alienate them with Sucker Punch . For the first time, part of an original plot, co-written by himself with the little experienced Steve Shibuya. The far-fetched approach (around a young woman confined to a mental institution who imagines alternative realities) baffles viewers, and the film ultimately ends up in a succession of powerful images, but without any content.

In this context, it is hardly possible to explain that Warner trusted this director to take charge of the revision of one of the most emblematic characters of the DC publishing house, Superman, the superhero par excellence. But the producer, a Christopher Nolan who had taken the superhero genre to new levels of dignity with The Dark Knight , supports his choice. Snyder is doing well collaborating with this filmmaker, and imitating some elements of the Batman saga, such as a dramatic and realistic tone, and a commitment to reinventing the character’s story, respecting most of the original elements but giving them new twists. Bet on the little known Henry Cavill ( Immortals , The Tudors) as the protagonist. “When we did the casting we had a Christopher Reeve suit for the applicants to put on. If I put it on, people would say: ‘Look, that guy is going to a costume party.’ But when he put it on, you said: ” Come on, it’s Superman. “It was clear that he was ideal for the character,” Snyder told me in a promotional interview for the film.

He surrounds the actor with such creditworthy actors as Amy Adams , Russell Crowe , Diane Lane , Laurence Fishburne and Michael Shannon . The film connects with the public, returning the director to the top, who is emerging as more than likely the director of the sequel and of a hypothetical film about The Justice League, the group of superheroes where Superman teams up with Batman, Flash and others. well-known characters.