The Russo brothers are back with their Pizza Film School podcast, and this time, they brought Zack Snyder with them. The first season of this amazing podcast aired in 2020, where they talk with some of the most legendary filmmakers in the industry about their craft, life, passion, and everything in between. And now after three long years, shortly after announcing its comeback, they gave fans the surprise of their lives by bringing Snyder for a feature.
Well, given the Russo brothers’ fame as Marvel directors and Snyder’s fame in the DCEU, this move is nothing but historic. From their first filmmaking ideations, thought processes behind plotting a project, and opinions on what the industry needs right now, the podcast gave fans an interesting hour to tune into, to say the least.
Especially as Zack Snyder also revealed something interesting about one of his first ideas about filmmaking and how that turned him into public enemy no.1 in the eyes of his teachers at that time.
Zack Snyder wanted to do an Apocalypse Now remake
The Pizza Film School podcast is known as an innovative venture of the Russo brothers to give insights into the whole filmmaking process for ambitious youngsters wanting to dip their toes into this world who might not be able to get such access otherwise. As such, they pick one movie by each director and break it apart.
However, before that, they also talk at length about how they came to be filmmakers. And for Zack Snyder, it seems like a pretty intriguing albeit amusing story at times. Snyder divulged that he has always liked to shoot movies and documentaries throughout his school days. As he said, “It was kind of my…hobby.”
And coincidentally shooting a movie is what apparently got him expelled from a private boarding school. “I had been making a film, in my, umm, in my boarding school, and it was kind of like a remake of Apocalypse Now,” but set in their boarding school he explained.
One of his fellow students was to take up the position of Captain Willard, who is in pursuit of Captain Kurtz, presumed to be their headmaster in their school setting version.
He added, “He doesn’t murder him or anything,” but rather the was expected to focus on, “how he goes sort of insane, through his like pursuit of the headmaster.” However, the Headmaster clearly did not approve of his brilliant idea at that time, as pointed out by Joe Russo, “Headmaster wasn’t onboard with this interpretation.”
As such, Snyder claimed, “It turned out to be like you know slightly controversial.” And he likes to think that that was what finally got him expelled fully along with the “other charges they trumped up.” Well, fortunately, this became the reason he got admission to a public school that will take him a few steps toward his destiny.
Zack Snyder’s filmmaking process
Snyder went on to explain that he has always been good at art. And since his previous boarding school did not have a good art department, being transferred to that public school opened a new world to him. Since he already had enough to graduate he focused on history and took three art classes every day.
This helped him to round up a good art portfolio which got him into the art school in London where he was training to be a painter, because he thought as a senior in high school, “being a painter was weirdly romantic.”
His art advisor in the art school asked him about his interest in movies as his paintings always came out to be quite cinematic. Although he did joke, “Maybe because my paintings were horrible,” that is absolutely not the case. However, he went on to apply for film schools back in the state and they had a pretty strict curriculum where they would have to draw and paint the storyboards before they can start filming scenes.
This is one habit he still seems to carry with him religiously, “I draw 90% of the storyboards for all movies, I draw, all by myself.” However, he also added that it is extremely exhausting and he does not recommend that. As a result, this seems to be the main reason behind his masterful direction for every movie he ever makes and why they turn out like that.
Thankfully for fans, they will not have to wait a long time to witness his craft once again. As his movie Rebel Moon, which was termed Snyder, “really getting to unleash his visual imagination to the fullest extent,” by his co-writer in the movie Shay Hatten, arrives this year.
As this intergalactic epic was initially planned as a Star Wars pitch, but later got developed as an independent movie, fans of the franchise and Zack Snyder both, are waiting to see what is in store for them.
Rebel Moon will be released on Netflix on December 23rd, 2023, after a short theatrical release.
Source: The Pizza Film School
