This article was first published in the April 2016 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online. "Look, anyone is exhausted by being misunderstood," says Zack Snyder. The 50-year-old director of 300 and Watchmen is one of Hollywood's most divisive film-makers, unafraid to take liberties with sacred texts - even if it means incurring fans' wrath. His Man of Steel resurrected DC's Superman franchise for modern audiences, while taking the character in a new (and, for some, not so super) direction.
And from the frying pan to the fire he goes: whereas Snyder's upcoming Man of Steelsequel began life as just that, it soon grew to include Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and more. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, out March 25, will loudly and proudly launch DC's shared universe. Here he talks to WIRED about his biggest film yet, and what's next.
WIRED: You've said Frank Miller's classic Batman comic The Dark Knight Returns inspired you to think about the potential of superhero films long before Man of Steel. How?
Zack Snyder: It promised that the most iconographic superheroes can be made personal and relevant, by using them to tell a contemporary story that deals with world issues. It's outside of the accepted norms of what those characters do, but with such grace and reverence for who they are. So when we had this opportunity to pit Superman against Batman, I felt I was well-armed with the experience of that philosophical approach to make something strong.
Christopher Nolan, who produced Man Of Steel, was quite adamant that you shouldn't have had Superman kill Zod at the end of it, but you fought your corner. Why did you both have such strong opinions about that happening?
We had discussions about putting Zod in an iceberg, or sending him out into space, something like that. But for me it was just much more about the contemporary reality of the character. I felt Superman needed to grow up in the movie.
Were you surprised by fans' shocked reactions to Superman snapping Zod's neck at the end of Man of Steel?
Yeah, I feel like a lot of people didn't want Superman to grow up. They want him to remain a simpler man from a simpler time. My philosophy is that these characters are cathartic, they're our mythology and they speak to modern problems - when we don't know how to deal with an issue we can superimpose those feelings of impotence on to them and let them solve unsolvable problems.
Did any of the criticism influence what you're doing withBatman v Superman? The plot explicitly deals with the collateral damage wrought by Superman and Zod.
We were writing this movie before Man of Steel came out. Batman's point of view is more about the destruction of Metropolis. To me, the killing of Zod is not as big a deal as the destruction of Metropolis. It's important that these movies have consequences.In Batman v Superman I wanted to show how Bruce Wayne feels when reduced to a sideline-sitter. Batman is frightened by his impotence in the face of that.
Does negative feedback bother you? You've said there was a discrepancy between your intention for Sucker Punch and many of the reactions which accused it of being sexist.
They said it was female exploitation, that I put girls in skimpy clothes because I thought it was just cool, sexy fighting. If you look at the movie carefully you realise it's the opposite of that.
Did it influence what you've done with Wonder Woman here?
To some degree, but female empowerment is a thing I've gone after in all my films. They all have strong female characters and strong female representation. It's about time Wonder Woman was represented correctly.
Ben Affleck's Batman is more grounded in technology here. Did you have to play up those differences when he's up against Superman?
Yeah, because he's just a man. He gets to fight in a straightforward Batman way. I had fun doing a set piece with him fighting multiple bad guys. It was a thing I'd wanted to do, with the fetishistic approach to combat photography that I love.
What about Superman?We've got better at flight, and at figuring out how to get him to soar, zoom and rocket around. But we've been strict with our rules. What they can do - Batman, Superman, Flash, Cyborg - we really are hard on ourselves because we want all those things to have reality, a mythological grounding.
What have you learned from Marvel and its shared universe? Are you doing things differently with DC?It's hard for me to say what is done right or wrong, but I will say that I'm prepping the Justice League film right now, and the only reason I'm at the centre of it is because Justice League is the motor that drives the DC universe.
You have to treat them like they are the mythological characters of our culture, but at the same time not be afraid to deconstruct that concept and figure out how to make them modern and relevant.
Ben Affleck's Batman appears in*Suicide Squad*this year. Do you think audiences are becoming more accepting of characters sharing films?
Yeah, when they were shooting Suicide Squad they were talking about getting Ben [Affleck] in the movie, and I said they should definitely do it. I think expanding the mythological universe fleshes out their characters' back and side stories, so you can imagine when they're looking war-weary that those wars really took place.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justiceis out in cinemas on March 25
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
