Moviegoers in Cologne, Germany, were given an unexpected treat when Zack Snyder took the stage at the city’s annual Gamescom event to unveil the first teaser for his upcoming science fantasy epic, Rebel Moon. (You can watch the eagerly awaited clip above and check out all of Tudum’s coverage of the December tentpole at our Rebel Moon hub page.)
Rebel Moon follows the story of a peaceful agrarian colony on the edge of the galaxy that finds itself threatened by the armies of the Imperium and its dark leader, the tyrannical Regent Balisarius. The citizens of this under-threat colony dispatch Kora (Sofia Boutella), a young woman with a mysterious past, to seek out warriors from neighboring planets to take a stand.
Ahead of the teaser’s debut, Tudum sat down with Snyder for an exclusive interview to find out how the story of Rebel Moon came to be and how excited he is to be sharing a glimpse of the action-packed epic with fans (spoiler: the answer is very!). Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire, which hits Netflix on Dec. 21 at 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET stars Boutella, Ed Skrein, Charlie Hunnam, Michiel Huisman, Djimon Hounsou, Staz Nair, Doona Bae, Ray Fisher, Elise Duffy, and the voice of Anthony Hopkins. A sequel titled Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver will follow closely on its heels on April 19, 2024.
Where did the idea for Rebel Moon first come from and what were the inspirations?
I have a love of “putting-the-team-together” movies. It’s a problem. There’s got to be a support group somewhere for team-building movies. I loved when I was growing up my dad [would show me] The Dirty Dozen and The Magnificent Seven. Even before I saw Seven Samurai, I saw The Magnificent Seven. So I’ve always loved this idea of these underdog teams going against impossible odds. Even in college, when they would ask us what kind of a movie we were going to make when we got out of school, I said, “I’m going to make a space team-building underdog movie.” And so it went on to the back burner for a long time. It saw light briefly as a [potential] Star Wars movie and then after Army of the Dead, it just felt like, during the pandemic, it really gestated into a real movie. While Army of the Dead was probably still in post, I was pitching it to Netflix as a follow-up, what I wanted to do next.
Why make this film at Netflix versus the traditional studio model for these franchises?
There were a lot of advantages for me to do it at Netflix. One, I had had a great experience on the Army films. I produced Army of Thieves and I produced and directed Army of the Dead, and I just felt like they were so great, and so they were the first ones I pitched the idea to. I'm sure if they had said no, it could have ended up somewhere else, but they were very enthusiastic and into it. And also, the structure of what I wanted to do with two movies, with [the releases] being kind of close together, only a streamer could do it.
What are your feelings about releasing this teaser to fans across the globe after years of building the world of Rebel Moon?
Just super excited! It’s always fun to release the trailer for the first time. We’ve had a few of these releases and it's always exciting and good fun.
This is a big franchise with a female character at its center. What drew you to cast Sofia Boutella as your heroine?
She’s more than I ever could have hoped [for]. Honestly, I pitched her from the beginning. I had her in mind for some reason — that happens to me with casting. I’ll see someone and be like, “I’m going to put them in a movie. I’m going to figure it out.” She has this mysterious quality. She’s super physical.
Her background as a professionally trained dancer was useful, no doubt?
She gave me a sweatshirt that said five, six, seven, eight on it because sometimes when we’d be working, we’re on a giant stage and she’s kind of spun out a little bit. And I’d be like, “Five, six, seven, eight,” and you’d see her just snap to. It’s like she can’t not. You can unlock her with it. Her performance is amazing. And she’s a joy to work with. She also loves the mythological aspects of the character, and in her trailer, she put up all the artwork. She just immersed herself, and wasn’t afraid to get a haircut!
Ed Skrein plays the malevolent villain — what did he bring to the film through his performance?
Ed is a nutcase in this movie. I mean, as a person, he’s amazingly disciplined and dedicated and meticulous. But his character, Noble, is completely unhinged and he really does a great job. The cool thing about the character is, unlike a traditional bad guy, he’s the status quo. He’s the government. He’s not an outlaw or a criminal. He represents law and order. So he’s not running from anything. He’s not hiding from anything. Everyone’s hiding from him. It’s a cool dynamic for a bad guy and he really embraced it. And the training, of course, he and Sofia did 99 percent of the fighting themselves and they did such an amazing job.
The film will eventually have a director’s cut. What can fans be excited to see?
The director’s cut is close to an hour of extra content, so I think it’s a legitimate extended universe version. You really get to see a lot. It’s just more painted-in all the way. The director’s [cut] is a settle-in deep dive, which I have notoriously done throughout my career. I don’t know how I got into this director’s cut thing, but what I will say about it is that, for me, the director’s cuts have always been something I had to fight for in the past and nobody wanted it. It was this bastard child that I was always trying to put together because they felt like there was a deeper version. And with Netflix, we shot scenes just for the director’s cut. So in that way, it’s really a revelation because it gives that second kick at the can for big fans, like a real discovery that they would not [otherwise] get. I’m really excited about it!
You’re clearly a big fan of the genre — what excites you most about this film that you can’t wait for others to experience?
For me, it’s just really sort of the endless rabbit holes that we’ve kind of dug for everybody and for ourselves, frankly. But in the world-building aspects of making this movie, we really have endeavored to leave no stone unturned and go as far as we could. It’s like the movie ended, and the movie will end for everyone who’s watching it, but the way that the movies are made is like a snowball rolling down a hill.
Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire will hit Netflix on Dec. 21 at 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET.
