Recently, our friends at MTV News had a chance to talk with Batman V Superman director, Zack Snyder, during the Doritos Crash The Super Bowl ad contest; this was a competition where hopeful ad-makers submitted a Doritos video advertisement that, if found superior, would air during the Superbowl. In addition, the chosen director would win $1,000,000 and the opportunity to work with Zack Snyder on a future Warner Brothers film. NEATO!
What was especially interesting was Snyder hiding the actual Batmobile from the 3 contest finalists; he was hiding it because people seem to vacillate between wanting to know every single detail about a movie before its debut, or nothing at all, a fact Snyder’s keenly aware of. Speaking of revealing too much, one of the main complaints regarding the latest Batman V Superman trailer was an incredibly explanatory trailer succinctly detailing the film’s overall plot structure and the major villain’s identity. When MTV News presented Snyder this point, he reassured us with the many remaining surprises.
“I have the benefit of seeing the movie,” he pointed out. “It’s cool that they think it’s too much and I appreciate people not wanting to know, but there’s plenty that they don’t know. There’s a lot of movie that’s not in the trailer.”
Of course, this line of questioning lead to the subject of spoilers. Heck, amidst all the behind-the-scenes photos, the obsessive examination of trailers and proposed theories, there was a Reddit post where the writer stated he saw the film, and proceeded to give a thorough review. This particular ‘expose’ was something Snyder laughed at, calling it, “hilarious,” and lead to Snyder’s elaboration on his strong dislike of anything spoiler-related.
“Of course I hate it when any spoilers come out!” he said. “You design the movie as a story that evolves as you watch it, so moment-to-moment [you’re thinking], ‘Oh my god, what’s going to happen next? Are they gonna live? Are they gonna die?’ So you want that experience for the audience, as much as you can. If you’re, as an audience member, exploring these articles, looking for answers to questions that you have, maybe you’re okay with knowing before you go. It’s like an individual taste. But like I said, I want people to see the movie without knowing.”
Snyder then elaborated on the character of Wonder Woman, another relatively unknown element in the forthcoming film.
“We kind of tried to just listen to Wonder Woman… to preserve her mystery but understand her as much as we can, in the way that we see her in the movie,” he said. “You’ve got to listen to Wonder Woman because what Wonder Woman wants, Wonder Woman gets, that’s just how it is.”
“I think that Gal [Gadot] is amazing, an amazing Wonder Woman and really – I feel like there’s an atmosphere out in the world where [with] this giant iconographic strong female superhero, it’s time. It’s time for that. It’s long overdue.”
And then the subject of Lex Luthor – specifically, Jesse Eisenberg’s portrayal – was brought up. Many found him mildly annoying and not the strong, stately, bold Lex Luthor comic fans and movie-goers are familiar with. In the following statement, Snyder allayed our fears.
“In the trailer, of course he comes across in a very specific way,” said Snyder. He and “Argo” screenwriter Chris Terrio had a lot of conversations about the sort of Lex they wanted to write before letting Eisenberg take the reins. “In the movie, he’s like a million times more sophisticated than what you get in 30 seconds. But that’s also the fun of it. That’s why you go to the movies, so you can actually see the context and understand the depth.”
Thanks for all the info, Zack! Very, very informative.
Debuting March 25, 2016, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice stars Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Jesse Eisenberg, Amy Adams and Laurence Fishburne. Oh, and probably a lot of unhappy citizens caught in the crossfire when Superman and Batman indulge in a pee-pee contest.
