Mythological storytelling has always inspired me creatively: Zack Snyder

The 55-year-old director said his movies present the story of humanity, "rather than the reality of humanity".

Zack Snyder, the director behind action blockbusters such as 300, Man of Steel and Justice League, says he is drawn towards stories about humanity and its evolution. The filmmaker, whose latest directorial Army of the Dead is set to hit the streamer Netflix on May 21, said he likes to tell his stories using mythology as a tool, something that is evident in his filmography, which also includes the 2009 film Watchmen. 

“I do have an interest in this kind of mythological sort of storytelling. It’s just the thing that has creatively always inspired and sort of struck me,” said Snyder in a group interview. The 55-year-old director said his movies present the story of humanity, “rather than the reality of humanity”. In Army of the Dead, Snyder blends two genres — zombie and heist — to once again make a commentary on people. Headlined by Dave Bautista and also starring Indian actor Huma Qureshi, the film is set after a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, when a group of mercenaries take the ultimate gamble, venturing into the quarantine zone to pull off the greatest heist ever attempted. The director said the film will appeal to people across age groups and they can have different takeaways from it.

“The movie’s sort of custom-made for viewers of all times. If you want to watch the movie and just have fun for two hours, then by all means. If you want to deep dive into mythological aspects, what zombies are pathologically and like how socially they represent us and hold up a mirror to ourselves or all of the different ways that mythological comes through the zombie, that’s fine too,” he added. Snyder said the ones who like reading between the lines might find the movie “political”.

In the film, the US government builds a wall to contain the zombie outbreak, which is synonymous to how the authorities had planned to tackle Mexican migration in the country. “If you want to be political and you want to talk about things like the wall and the refugee camps, the whole other part of it, that’s also a movie for you. Or if you like the heist part or the father-daughter relationship. So that’s what I really wanted the movie to be. I really wanted to speak to viewers in that way,” he said.

---

Now you can get handpicked stories from Telangana Today on Telegram everyday. Click the link to subscribe.

Click to follow Telangana Today Facebook page and Twitter .

---