Christopher Nolan Says Zack Snyder Has Influenced All Modern Superhero and Sci-Fi Movies

Zack Snyder is back in the cultural zeitgeist, after his newly-released Netflix film Rebel Moon: Part One: A Child of Fire has topped the Netflix charts and started a lot of conversation. For a number of viewers, Snyder is best known for his work directing DC films like Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice — and apparently, that has earned some pretty high praise from Christopher Nolan. As Nolan put it, Snyder’s storytelling habits can be found within essentially all of modern-day genre storytelling, particularly within the superhero and science-fiction space. This comes after Nolan had already argued that Snyder’s 2009 adaptation of Watchmen was ahead of its time.

“There’s no superhero science-fiction film coming out these days where I don’t see some influence of Zack,” Nolan said in a recent interview with The Atlantic. “When you watch a Zack Snyder film, you see and feel his love for the potential of cinema. The potential of it to be fantastical, to be heightened in its reality, but to move you and to excite you.”

What Is Rebel Moon About?

In Rebel Moon: Part One: A Child of Fire, when a peaceful settlement on a moon in the furthest reaches of the universe finds itself threatened by the armies of the tyrannical Regent Balisarius, Kora (Sofia Boutella), a mysterious stranger living among the villagers, becomes their best hope for survival. Tasked with finding trained fighters who will unite with her in making an impossible stand against the Motherworld, Kora assembles a small band of warriors — outsiders, insurgents, peasants and orphans of war from different worlds who share a common need for redemption and revenge. As the shadow of an entire Realm bears down on the unlikeliest of moons, a new army of heroes is formed.

“This is me growing up as an Akira Kurosawa fan, a Star Wars fan,” Snyder said in a statement when the film was first announced. “It’s my love of sci-fi and a giant adventure. My hope is that this also becomes a massive IP and a universe that can be built out… I’ve spent the last two or three years building out this universe. Every corner has to be painted in. I’ve been doing designs, constantly drawing and really cultivating its fertile ground to make this world fully realized.”

Will Christopher Nolan Return to Superhero Movies?

Nolan earned his most-successful film yet earlier this year with Oppenheimer, which earned nearly $1 billion at the global box office. Upon this success, some have wondered if Nolan might potentially return to the world of franchise movies after his The Dark Knight trilogy — and earlier this fall, he revealed what it would take for that to happen.

“Ideas come from everywhere,” Nolan recently explained to Variety. “I’ve done a remake, I’ve made adaptations from comic books and novels, and I’ve written original screenplays. I’m open to anything. But as a writer and director, whatever I do, I have to feel like I own it completely. I have to make it original to me: The initial seed of an idea may come from elsewhere, but it has to go through my fingers on a keyboard and come out through my eyes alone.” 

What do you think of Christopher Nolan’s new comments about Zack Snyder? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!