Zack Snyder is a filmmaker known for a Director’s Cut, especially when they’re forced upon him as a way to preserve his creative vision.
But that’s not the case with Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire, his latest franchise film with Netflix. In what seems like a warm embrace between the studio and the filmmaker, Snyder is doing both the PG-13 and the R-rated Director’s Cut for business and art.
“This was the first time I had ever been able to make a movie and plan for that,” Snyder says. “The cut was not me fighting with them like, ‘Okay, you won’t do what I want. Can I at least release it on DVD?’ It was us going together.”
The filmmaker notes that the PG-13 Rebel Moon is still something he admires, even if a more brutal cut looms. Snyder says, “I’m super proud of the PG-13 version, the broader audience version, because I would say it really satisfies an awesome, timeless, mythological scope.” But “what we’ve done with the other version is fun and subversive,” he adds, “because an R-rated sci-fi movie at this scale shouldn’t exist.”
SEE ALSO: Zack Snyder reveals Army of the Dead and Rebel Moon “shared universe”
On top of more violence, Snyder also notes: “It’s a full hour longer; it’s not just slightly different or a little bit more. There are big chunks of the movie that are different.” Check out the full interview below…
After crash landing on a moon in the furthest reaches of the universe, Kora (Sofia Boutella), a stranger with a mysterious past, begins a new life among a peaceful settlement of farmers. But she soon becomes their only hope for survival when the tyrannical Regent Balisarius (Fra Fee) and his cruel emissary, Admiral Noble (Ed Skrein), discover the farmers have unwittingly sold their crops to the Bloodaxes (Cleopatra Coleman and Ray Fisher) – leaders of a fierce group of insurgents hunted by the Motherworld.
Tasked with finding fighters who would risk their lives to defend the people of Veldt, Kora, and Gunnar (Michiel Huisman), a tenderhearted farmer naive in the realities of war, journey to different worlds in search of the Bloodaxes and assemble a small band of warriors who share a common need for redemption along the way: Kai (Charlie Hunnam), a pilot and gun for hire; General Titus (Djimon Hounsou), a legendary commander; Nemesis (Doona Bae), a master swordswoman; Tarak (Staz Nair), a captive with a regal past; and Milius (E. Duffy), a resistance fighter. Back on Veldt, Jimmy (voiced by Anthony Hopkins), an ancient mechanized protector hiding in the wings, awakens with a new purpose. But the newly formed revolutionaries must learn to trust each other and fight as one before the armies of the Motherworld come to destroy them all.
The cast of Rebel Moon includes Sofia Boutella, Charlie Hunnam, Djimon Hounsou, Anthony Hopkins, Doona Bae, Ray Fisher, Stuart Martin, Cary Elwes, Corey Stoll, Michiel Huisman, Alfonso Herrera, Ed Skrein, Cleopatra Coleman, Fra Fee, Rhian Rees, Jena Malone, E. Duffy, Charlotte Maggi, Sky Yang, and Staz Nair.
SEE ALSO: Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire getting a one week theatrical release
Rebel Moon Part 1: A Child of Fire streams on Netflix from December 22nd, 2023, while Part 2: The Scargiver is released on April 19th, 2024.
