Rebel Moon Part 1 Interview: Zack Snyder On Inspiration From Star Wars & Heavy Metal Magazines

Rebel Moon Part 1: A Child Of Fire follows Kora, a former member of the oppressive Motherworld regime, the Imperium. Now on the moon of Veldt, she seeks redemption when her home is threatened by the army she was once a part of. Kora sets out to gather a group of warriors from across the galaxy to make a stand against the Motherworld’s forces before the army can return.

Rebel Moon is a creation of Zack Snyder, who directed the movie and co-wrote it along with Kurt Johnstad and Shay Hatten. Snyder also produced the movie alongside his wife, Deborah Snyder, Wesley Coller, and Eric Newman. Rebel Moon stars Sofia Boutella, Charlie Hunnam, Michiel Huisman, Djimon Hounsou, Doona Bae, Ray Fisher, Cleopatra Coleman, Jena Malone, Ed Skrein, Fra Fee, and Anthony Hopkins. The second part of Rebel Moon, Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver, will debut on Netflix on April 19.

Related

Rebel Moon 3: Zack Snyder’s Confirmation & Everything We Know

Zack Snyder’s creative partnership with Netflix will continue in Rebel Moon 3, and there are already exciting updates regarding the sci-fi sequel.

Screen Rant interviewed Rebel Moon creator Zack Snyder. He explained how the laser swords fans are excited about are actually molten metal and broke down Hopkins’ character. Snyder also shared the different influences he looked to when creating Rebel Moon, including the trailer for The Empire Strikes Back.

Zack Snyder Talks Rebel Moon

Screen Rant: The look of Rebel Moon reminds me of old-school heavy metal magazines. What influenced that feel and look?

Zack Snyder: Of course, you can’t really put an exact aesthetic on it, right? Because it’s kind of a mix of Moebius and some Frazetta and all this weirdness. Really, from an aesthetic standpoint, I just really wanted to have this slight retro sci-fi, but not. It’s weird, I am really happy with the final tone of it, but it was really hard to get to because it just took a lot of me going, “Yes, no, yes, no,” without any real hard piece of reference where we could say, “Make it look like that.” But I’m really happy, and I’m glad you saw it that way because that’s what we went for.

I know Star Wars was an inspiration for Rebel Moon. What elements of Star Wars were you most interested in exploring?

Zack Snyder: The eleven-year-old me fell in love with Star Wars. And then, as you grow up, I’ve been talking a lot about ’77 to ’87; that range of movies. That ten-year window for me was really influential because, from when you’re 11 years old to when you’re a sophomore in college, that’s your sweet spot where you get shaped. I think that though Star Wars was the thing that jump-started the whole thing, it was really that mosaic of movies during that window that shaped what this is.

I think the thing I was trying to chase with Star Wars was [the moment] when you saw the trailer for Empire Strikes Back. I saw it [when] I was 12 or 13 years old, and I remember thinking that anything’s possible. The trailer especially. Once you see the movie, you’re kind of like, “Okay, this is what happens.” It’s all awesome. It’s a great movie, don’t get me wrong. But the trailer was really wide open, and it was a lot of that vibe that I wanted and was searching for when I was making this movie.

Fans love these laser swords. Can we expect more of those types of weapons in different colors for Part 2?

Zack Snyder: Basically, our philosophy for what you see in the swords is that the swords are made of this thing – the special kind of oracle steel, we call it. And what happens is, like Nemesis’ gauntlets, they’re powered up and almost become molten metal. The light and heat signature that you see is really just this superheated metal, and you can imagine that if you have a piece of superheated metal and you put it on the ground or put it against [something], it will cut through stuff.

That was our philosophy for it. We thought we couldn’t really do some sort of laser thing because someone’s already done that pretty well. But we try, even though maybe visually that’s what you get. When you do the deep dive, we spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to make this a thing. So far we have blue and orange, so I don’t know. There’s more to come, by the way.

I love the character of Jimmy. Anthony Hopkins is brilliant in the role. What attracted Anthony to the role, and what can we expect from Jimmy in Part 2?

Zack Snyder: I’ll just quickly say that in the director’s cut, there’s a bit more of Jimmy. You can imagine.

I think that Anthony, when we talked about it, just seemed to be really interested in exploring the humanity of a robot. When I pitched it to him, that’s kind of what I said. “That’s kind of what you would be doing”. And he was like, “Oh, that’s cool. Yeah, wow, okay. What is that?” I think that got his gears turning.

In Part 2, I don’t think I’m going to be giving too much away by saying that there’s a chance there’s more conflict coming. I think that Jimmy has to make a choice about how much will he really stand up for the villagers? It’s cool.

About Rebel Moon

The highly-anticipated saga that transports fans to a completely new sci-fi universe where a young freedom fighter named Kora must defend her adopted planetoid from hostile intruders alongside a hand-picked band of mercenaries and warriors out for justice.

Check back soon for our other Rebel Moon interviews:

• Sofia Boutella & Ed Skrein
• Ray Fisher, E. Duffy, & Cleopatra Coleman
• Michiel Huisman & Charlie Hunnam
• Dijmon Hounsou & Staz Nair

Rebel Moon

From director Zack Snyder comes Rebel Moon, a sci-fi action movie set in the depths of space and following a colony that is facing the threat of Regent Balisarius. Sofia Boutella plays a warrior charged with recruiting others in the fight against the tyrant, and his unstoppable forces that are dead set on conquest. 

Release Date

December 22, 2023

Director

Zack Snyder

Cast

Djimon Hounsou , Sofia Boutella , Charlotte Maggi , Ray Fisher , Jena Malone , E. Duffy , Staz Nair , Doona Bae , Sky Yang , Charlie Hunnam , Cleopatra Coleman

Rating

PG-13

Genres

Action , Adventure , Fantasy , Sci-Fi

Writers

Shay Hatten , Kurt Johnstad , Zack Snyder

Budget

$90 Million

Studio(s)

The Stone Quarry , Grand Electric

Distributor(s)

Netflix

prequel(s)

Rebel Moon: Part Two – The Scargiver

Franchise(s)

Rebel Moon