How Zack Snyder Really Feels About The Reactions To His New Movie The Last Photograph
by Ryan Scott · /FilmAdd SlashFilm on Google:
Google Discover
Zack Snyder is a filmmaker known for stirring strong reactions with his movies. His fanbase is rabid. That fanbase was weaponized during the so-called "Snyder Cut" social media blitz around "Justice League." Love him or hate him, Snyder's work facilitates much discussion, that much is inarguable. Such is the case with his latest movie, which may go down as his most controversial work to date.
Snyder's passion project "The Last Photograph" was slammed following its recent premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Many of the reactions were downright scathing, with words like "grotesque" and "shameless" bandied about. The war flick centers on an ex-DEA agent (Stuart Martin) who searches an unnamed South American country for his murdered diplomat sibling's children. He's aided by a junkie photographer (Fra Fee) who saw the killers.
In an interview with Variety, Snyder revealed his feelings on the film's rough reception. The "Watchmen" director isn't shrugging it off like he's okay with it, but he at least seems to understand it on some level. Here's what he had to say:
"On one hand, I don't want to say it's cool, but it has to exist in some ways. I don't know why. The amount of energy and the amount of vitriol I find really incredible. 'I want to kill Zack Snyder.' 'Zack Snyder is a fascist.' 'Zack Snyder is a homophobe.' 'Zack Snyder is a bisexual.'"
"I'm famously surrounded by a particular discourse that happens around my movies," Snyder added. "It's incredibly charged. And I thought, for the smallest of moments, that because it's a small movie and it's really not that big of a deal, that it'd be allowed to exist on whatever level it is. What kind of noise does a tiny movie like this warrant from the world?"
Zack Snyder believes The Last Photograph doesn't discriminate with its violence
Zack Snyder was first pegged to direct "The Last Photograph" back in 2010, after he cooked up the story. The script was written by his longtime collaborator Kurt Johnstad ("300"). It was billed as something of a return to slightly smaller filmmaking for a man who has worked in the biggest of big budget realms for the last 20 years.
Snyder's "Man of Steel" kicked off the first live-action iteration of DC's messy (and now-defunct) interconnected cinematic universe. He followed that up with the ever-divisive "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice." More recently, he's partnered with Netflix for the zombie heist flick "Army of the Dead," as well as his sci-fi epic "Rebel Moon." But coming back down to Earth didn't seem to do him any favors, critically speaking.
One of the biggest complaints regarding "The Last Photograph" from those who saw it at TIFF (of which there are many) is that it's excessively violent, specifically towards women and children. On that point, Snyder argued that the violence in his movie doesn't discriminate one way or the other:
"I would argue that the violence toward women and men is equal and that nobody is spared — men, women, children, everybody. The justice that's doled out in the movie is in the same way that a hurricane doles out justice. To try and superimpose morality over it and want the violence to mean something — the meaning is that violence doesn't work and doesn't get anything done."
Zack Snyder is aware of the extreme reactions his movies inspire
To say that Zack Snyder is no stranger to controversy would be a bit of an understatement. People hated that he changed the ending of the graphic novel in his version of "Watchmen." Michael Shannon has defended Zod's death scene in "Man of Steel," but that doesn't mean every "Superman" fan agrees with it.
There are those who will tell you that you don't understand "Sucker Punch." Some may go to bat for "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole." The list goes on. But Snyder knows who he is and he knows that his movies inspire a certain, shall we say, passion from the internet. Speaking to that, he explained that the discourse around his latest movie seems a bit outsized, given how relatively few people have seen it in its entirety thus far:
"There were only 1,200 people in the theater and there are thousands of comments! There was one I was reading where it was a guy who clipped it and said, 'I haven't seen it yet but I'm sure it was horrible.' And look: Whether you like the movie or not, I'm not even commenting on that; but with me, it's more clickable to say, 'I hate Zack Snyder! He's a fascist!' than it is to say, 'I saw the movie and it was cool.' Nobody gives a f*** about that."
"And obviously, I'm not a fascist," Snyder concluded.
As of right now, "The Last Photograph" is trying to secure a distribution deal, as it was produced independently without a studio partner. In light of the not-so-kind reactions, that may be easier said than done, so it may be a while before the world at large gets the opportunity to weigh in.
"The Last Photograph" doesn't currently have a release date, but stay tuned.