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Hello and welcome to this new episode of Direct'It
dedicated to Zack Snyder.
From zombies to superheroes, Snyder is a heterogeneous director.
At 47, he's one of the most famous young film makers
according to the critics and the public.
Zack Snyder was born March 1, 1966
in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
He then studied art in London and Pasadena.
After that, he started working for commercials
and quickly stood out for his style and his undeniable narrative skills.
He made commercials for premium brands such as
Audi, Jeep, Nike, or Subaru,
and was often rewarded for his work.
He won two Clio Awards and a Lion d'Or at the Cannes Advertising Festival.
This is during the making of a commercial for Rebook
that he met the young and talented producer,
who later became his wife and collaborator: Deborah Snyder.
He was then asked to direct the remake of Zombies by George Romero.
The film called Dawn of the Dead was released in 2003.
Snyder's running zombies delighted both the critics and the public.
After the zombie genre, Snyder decided to adapt
Frank Miller's graphic novel: 300.
It is a stylized rewriting and a criticism of the Battle of Thermopylae
during which a small group of 300 Spartans resist the invasion
of thousands of Persians.
The cast is composed of Gerard Butler in the part of King Leonidas,
Michael Fassbender, Lena Headey,
and Dominic West.
The film was shot in Montreal and required the same technical procedures
as for Sin City, which is the adaptation of another novel by Frank Miller.
In spite of its adaptation status, 300 already bore the imprint of the young director,
for example the slow motion effects, inspired by video games.
If George Lucas, James Cameron and others used to be the pioneers
in terms of cinematographic visual,
and which was later incorporated by video games,
Snyder and the Wachowskis brought back these narrative and visual concepts
from video games to cinema.
Most of the critics recognized Snyder's visual power and staging qualities.
The film was a huge public success around the world.
Thanks to that success, he was asked to adapt another
graphic novel created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons: Watchmen.
Watchmen is one of the most ambitious and complete work never written.
It is an uchronia: an alternative past reality.
Indeed, this is a re-writing of our world.
Snyder had to adapt this violent, dark and realistic, pessimistic
and most of all unstructured story, between past and present.
His ingenuity was, for instance, to put all the novel's flash backs during the credits.
Plus, the costumes almost didn't change.
Rorschach's was not changed at all.
Dr Manhattan kepts his divine stature and his blue aspect,
due to his ability to assemble and disassemble his cells.
Snyder's vision of Watchmen was released in 2009.
Contrary to 300, it was more a critical than a public success.
Spectators enjoyed it but only a few of them went to see it.
Thanks to Watchmen's huge critical success and mixed publical opinion,
Snyder continued his career.
He then made Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole,
a great family fare that pleased both the public and the critics.
He then carried out a plan he had always had at heart: Sucker Punch.
The film tells the story of a girl called Baby Doll
who wants to escape from a psychiatric asylum.
She mostly escapes in spirit, thanks to her imagination.
The scenario enabled him to make a real cinematographic trip.
Baby! He's coming.
He's about to start the briefing.
Heroic-fantasy, manga and video games mix with cinema to create a visual experiment.
Sucker Punch proved that Snyder could write and direct a film
that wasn't directly inspired by a pre-existent work.
As 300 announced Sucker Punch, Watchmen announced the director's next production:
On March 4, 2010, Snyder revealed
he was going to direct the 6th adaptation of the oldest American superhero:
Superman.
Superman's character appeared for the first time in the first issue of Action Comics
in June 1938.
Clark Kent, from his earthling name, was widely adapted for the screen,
with more or less success from his creation until today.
He came back from Krypton since June.
Man of Steel was directed by Zack Snyder,
written by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer,
and produced by Christopher Nolan and his production company Syncopy.
The film was released in the whole universe.
It is moreover composed of a prestigious cast:
Henry Cavill in the part of the man of steel,
Amy Adams as Lois Lane,
Kevin Costner as Superman's dad,
Russell Crowe as Jor-El,
and finally Michael Shannon as General Zod.
See you to the cinema?
Did you know..?
Did you know that Zack Snyder is the co-director of
the production company Crual and Unusual Films,
that he co-founded with his wife Deborah in 2004 for 300?
Plus, did you know that Superman was supposed to be adapted twice
before Man of Steel?
One by Burton with Nicolas Cage in the leading part and with a very special costume,
and another by J.J. Abrams.
News Section.
After his Superman was released, Zack Snyder started two other projects:
The Last Photograph with Sean Penn and Christian Bale,
about a journalist following two men in Afghanistan,
and Cobalt 16, taking place in a post-apocalyptic universe
full of mutants and fantastic creatures.
The first season of Direct'it is already over.
But don't worry! See you in September
for season two!