Rebel Moon Director Zack Snyder on Violence Loss and Extreme Fandom

more taxidermied animals live in Zack Snyders office than seems normal. A lioness. A beaver. A duck. Also a wide collection of axes, swords, and gunsthe weapons used to fell the wild beasts, maybe? The effect should be unsettling, but it isnt, because Snyder himself is warm, chatty, accommodating. And the space, tucked into a mountainside in Pasadena, California, turns out to be less a man cave than a fan cave: Snyders shrine to his creative life. The swords and guns are merely props from his movies, like Babydolls katanas from Sucker Punch. The photo of Wonder Woman above the sofa, where shes holding a few severed heads? Huge and sepia-toned, its oddly alluring.

Being in Snyders office, in fact, is a bit like watching one of his many stylized shockfests: The violence is so exaggerated it ends up feeling not only harmless, but fun. That is, of course, why his legions of fans show up. Think of the 300-style bloodbaths, the discomfiting opening of Watchmen. Or any number of scenes from the directors cut of Justice Leaguewhich, at four hours long and wrapped up in tragedy both personal and professional, ranks among the most authentic, auteurist comic book movies to date.

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