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A film director known for an apparent love for Slow Motion shots, stylized movies and for creating almost shot-for-shot adaptations of comics. Before being known for that, he directed the remake of Dawn of the Dead 2004. He's known for his stylized style of film making, obscure inspirations for making movies and weird way of making movies... True Art Is Incomprehensible is his thing, as are Unreliable Narrators ..and he thinks You're a bastard for watching his movies for the "obvious" intent. (minus Legend) Generally is making a point about something... nobody knows what though.
After a career as an indie film director, Snyder got his big break in 2012 when he was personally recommended to DC Studios by Christopher Nolan to kickstart the DC Extended Universe, DC's answer to the mighty Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Man of Steel. His tenure in charge of the Shared Universe was... controversial to say the least, with opinions divided sharply on if he'd perfectly reimagined Superman for the 21st century or derailed him outright.
Following Man of Steel underperforming critically and commercially, Executive Meddling butted into the DCEU's development, resulting in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (though other accounts suggest Snyder himself always planned to bring Batman into his second film). After that film underperformed even worse than Man of Steel, executives mandated that the subsequent Justice League film be Lighter and Softer. During production of it however, Snyder's daughter tragically committed suicide, forcing him to step away from the project and DC bringing in Joss Whedon to finish Justice League. Snyder's fans (along with the cast) being disappointed at the theatrical cut resulted in a three-year long "#ReleasetheSnyderCut" movement which Warner Brothers allowed Snyder to do in 2021 (in the form of Zack Snyder's Justice League) allowing him to edit together earlier footage and shoot two new scenes to finish his vision.
Though his fanbase was bolstered by this, and began calling for "#RestoreTheSnyderVerse", Snyder himself expressed little interest in returning to DC following the bad experiences directing BvS and Justice League. He pivoted to working with Netflix only for the streaming giant, unsatisfied with the returns, to terminate all his projects in 2025. Since then, he flipped his flip and began hyping up his old DCEU work amidst rumours that should Paramount be successful in acquiring Warner Bros., Saudi Arabia would back Snyder and Nolan's attempts to restore Snyder's DC vision.
Snyder's credits include:
- Dawn of the Dead 2004 (2004)
- Three Hundred (2007)
- Watchmen (2009)
- Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010)
- Sucker Punch (2011)
- DC Extended Universe
- Man of Steel (2013)
- Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
- Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)
- Creator Thumbprint:
- Bullet Time. Lots of it. Maybe too much of it.
- Color Wash. A Darker and Edgier colour palette.
- Slow Motion Drop after someone fires a gun.
- Divorced Installment: Army of the Dead was to be a sequel to Dawn of the Dead but became its own thing.
- Do Not Do This Cool Thing: In a 2021 interview with The Guardian, Snyder identified himself as politically left despite many seeing his films as supporting right-wing themes.
- Fan Boy: Of Frank Miller, having adapted Miller's 300 and hoping to adapt Miller's Xerxes. He also said that the only thing that could make him join James Gunn's DC Universe was if he would be allowed to direct a comic faithful adaptation of Miller's The Dark Knight Returns (which provided a lot of inspiration for BvS).
- Lying Creator: Claimed that his cut of Justice League had no footage from the theatrical cut. Anyone who watched both cuts can attest to this being a lie.
- Serial Numbers Filed Off: By Snyder's own account, Rebel Moon was originally pitched to Lucasfilm in 2012 as a Star Wars anthology film. He eventually worked it into its own thing.