Zack Snyder is one of the most visionary filmmakers out there and he does love his director’s cuts. In 2020, after several years of asking, he and fans finally prevailed on Warner Bros. to release the director’s cut of Justice League, the DCEU movie he exited during post-production so he could deal with his daughter’s death.
Snyder plans to release the director’s cut of his upcoming Netflix space opera film Rebel Moon following its December release. He has also voiced his desire to release a director’s cut of his 2011 psychological fantasy film Sucker Punch. However, his 2021 zombie heist film Army of the Dead will not be getting the same treatment, he has clarified.
During a recent interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Snyder explained that Army of the Dead will not be getting a director’s cut because Netflix never tried to restrict his vision for it in the first place. He told Weintraub the streamer was cool with his idea for the movie from the start and gave him free rein to pursue his vision.
The only exception was a scene featuring a zombie penis, which Netflix requested to be removed. In his words, “I think the only thing they wanted me to take out was the zombie penis because we had it in the opening credits. One of the Chippendale’s dancers had this huge cock with a bite taken out of it. I had a shot of it, and they were like, ‘Look, is there any way…?’ And I was like, ‘Alright.'”
In the film industry, directors rarely get the power to decide on the final cut of a movie that makes it to theaters and streaming platforms. That decision resides with production studios and other stakeholders who invested money in the film and they are usually guided by what will make the project profitable over anything else.
In some cases, directors get the privilege to release their cut of the movie, representing their true vision, to the public, as Snyder did with Justice League. But with Netflix giving him what amounts to full creative control over Army of the Dead during the production process, there is no need for a director’s cut since his vision was what made it to the public.
Despite the lack of a director’s cut, Army of the Dead’s success spawned a franchise that includes the prequel film Army of Thieves and an anime spin-off series Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas that is currently on hold. Snyder also has plans to direct a sequel titled Planet of the Dead once he finishes working on the Rebel Moon films.
In the meantime, Snyder fans can look forward to watching Rebel Moon, which will debut on Netflix on December 22. The film will also be available in select theaters in the US, Canada, and the UK in the week leading to its streaming debut starting on December 15.
