Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver, the highly anticipated sequel to Zack Snyder‘s epic action film, is set to take audiences on another thrilling journey through a vast and immersive universe. As the second installment in the Rebel Moon saga, this film promises to delve deeper into the complex relationships between characters and the high-stakes conflicts that define their world. With its unique blend of sprawling spectacle and intimate storytelling, Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver is poised to significantly impact the science fiction genre.
In an interview with CGMagazine, director Zack Snyder shared valuable insights into the creative process behind Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver. Snyder highlighted the film’s originality as a new IP and its ability to balance massive spectacle with intimate character relationships. Even with the new installment coming out this week, Snyder teased the upcoming director’s cuts, featuring more extreme violence and sexuality, which he believes will add a layer of self-reflection and deconstruction to the science fiction genre.
You are known for your unique visual style. On set, especially for Rebel Moon, how collaborative was the creative process, and did you encourage improvisation, or did you try to stick with the script for Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver?
Zack Snyder: I think the problem, not a problem, but the challenge on a movie like this and what keeps you kind of on point with the script is that on a giant visual effects extravaganza like this, everyone’s working together from the beginning to sort of on a singular kind of course and though there is room to improvise. The more on point you are with what you planned and what you said you were going do, the better your chances of achieving that are.
So I would say that, of course, there’s some improvisation but I would say that mostly it was to the storyboards I drew and to the script I wrote, and everyone was really on task to get that realized.
Now, science fiction, much like horror, often reflects the kind of social and economic troubles of the time. Without spoiling anything, were there any deeper messages or deeper meanings or allegories within Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver’s story?
Zack Snyder: I think that what you’ll discover is that even in our attempt to make the movie live in its universe and sort of occupy its own political and economic sort of completely fictional world, there is, I feel. Depending on the point of view of the person watching it, I feel like you could superimpose many of the conflicts that we face in our modern world over the top of this and see exactly what you need to see, hopefully, to get some sort of catharsis from it. But I don’t know; there’s nothing specifically that we were going for, and that’s for sure. The movie took too long to make.
Rebel Moon can be described as a sprawling space opera. What really sets it apart from other films in the science fiction genre? And what makes this a unique experience to watch?
Zack Snyder: Well, I think, on the one hand, it’s an original sort of completely new IP that doesn’t owe itself to books or any other kind of existing sort of universe, and so in one way, you’re just getting to dig into a world where you have no idea where it’s going to go, what’s going to happen because you just don’t know, cause no one knows except for me.
Then I think, on the other hand, it is unique in that even though it’s a massive spectacle, it relies in the end on these characters and this kind of very intimate relationship that they have with each other and with the village to kind of counterpoint the insanity of the scale that the story sometimes reaches for.
What inspired you to create and make this universe a reality?
Zack Snyder: I feel like on one hand, I think when you see the director’s cuts at the end of the summer, what you’ll see is that because they’re so sort of violently over the top and sort of sexually charged or there’s a lot of the stuff that I couldn’t do in the PG-13. I do think that those versions of the movie also allow the movie to have a bit of, I don’t want to call it satire, but definitely, it’s more, sort of, sci-fi self-reflection.
The sort of over-the-top nature of the violence and over-the-top nature of the movie is a little less earnest because of its insanity, and I think that, to me, represents a little bit more of my current sort of perspective on science fiction and sort of the genre. In its insanity, it becomes more deconstructivist rather than, I’d say, the PG-13 versions feel a little more earnest because the sort of extremes of violence and sexuality are removed.
And so you end up sort of with this middle layer, which is awesome, but it’s just a little less, like I say, self-reflexive. So I think by the time the director cut comes out, you’ll get a chance to, I think, see a little bit more of the why of the entire thing that I was going for.
Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver premieres on Netflix on April 19, 2024.
