ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Rebel Moon director Zack Snyder about the first installment of his new sci-fi film series. The filmmaker discussed implementing lots of lore into the film’s world and the space opera‘s fantasy influence. Rebel Moon – Part One is now playing in limited theaters and will be released on Netflix on Thursday, December 21.
“A peaceful colony on the edge of the galaxy is threatened by the armies of a tyrannical regent named Balisarius,” reads the film’s synopsis. “The desperate civilians dispatch Kora, a young woman who has a mysterious past, to seek out warriors from nearby planets to help them challenge the regent.”
Tyler Treese: Rebel Moon has the tough task of introducing so many characters along with the universe and the creatures of Rebel Moon. How was it introducing all of the members of Kora’s team while still making them have an impact?
Zack Snyder: It’s a good question because one of the things about the basic structure of the two-movie idea was that we would gather the team in movie one and, in movie two, we could set them to whatever task, fighting … whatever it was that happens, whatever the Motherworld reigns down upon them. I really wanted to make sure that we took the time to meet each member of the team, what their conflict might be, what their hesitance might be, or nonhesitance to joining the team.
But of course, I still wanted it to be compelling and keep the trajectory going. Having the Motherworld pursuing them a little bit or honing in on and figuring out their path was really the engine of movie one. It was a challenge, but in the end, I think it pays dividends because of the amount of character you get as you’re catapulted into movie two.
One element that really surprised me was that there was some fantasy influence. It’s not straight sci-fi, and there’s this really great griffin-type creature that’s tamed during the first movie. What did you like most about blending sci-fi and fantasy?
The reason why I felt it was important to combine those two things was that I think that it’s a genre movie in the end. It’s a sci-fi fantasy genre film, and I just love that, as sci-fi, you’re basically tip-of-the-spear of all of the fantasy sort of cinema. I think that, for me, that idea of a little bit of magic griffins, the alien creatures, robots with a conscience — all that stuff combined to create a really rich tapestry to set the movie in.
What impressed me the most about the movie was the sense of the world and the amount of small touches. When it comes to doing these movies, do you typically build the world out to this extent? Or was it because you do want to do so much more in multiple mediums that you really took the time to flesh out every single aspect?
Yeah, we really did. I just felt like, in order for the world to really be consistent and make sense and not step on its own toes, we were going to have to do the work of really going into the corners of all the different cultures and histories and stuff like that to make it make sense.
Not only if you get the extra material that we’re creating, whether it be a video game or a comic book or an animated film or whatever, but that those things have a real sort of pathological canon that they can rely on so that they’re not having to riff that they’re actually feeding the general idea with other experiences, but that are consistent with the world. I felt like that was really important for the richness that I think fans expect these days of a thing of this nature.
I love the fight scenes and the bone staff, in particular. What do you like most about that weapon and the thudding blows?
I really love the idea. I mean, not to say it’s too heavy-handed of a metaphor, but that the Imperium is a blunt instrument. They are not surgical. They are very heavy-handed. I just thought that this club was a hilarious weapon for Noble to have. Then, of course, it’s based on this mythological relic — long ago, baby Issa was carried across the desert by this creature that had this super long femur. That’s what that bone is. It’s almost like a Joseph-and-Mary-style story.
But we went to that deep sort of storytelling devices that the weapons were even based on mythological elements that you wouldn’t even learn in the movie, but that was really fun. I do love that bone staff.
