Filmmaker Zack Snyder says he decided to make his new movie, zombie heist film "Army of the Dead", with streamer Netflix as Warner Bros showed lack of interest in the project. The filmmaker, known for movies such as "300", "Watchmen", "Man of Steel", "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" and "Justice League", returns to zombie genre with the new film. He had made his directorial debut with zombie horror "Dawn of the Dead" in 2004.
Headlined by Dave Bautista, "Army of the Dead" is set following a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, when a group of mercenaries take the ultimate gamble, venturing into the quarantine zone to pull off the greatest heist ever attempted. Snyder shares a history with Warner Bros, dating back to his 2006 blockbuster "300". However, with the "Army of the Dead", the studio was not so keen.
"They didn’t want to spend that kind of money on a zombie movie or just didn’t take it that seriously. I was always like, ‘Look guys, this is more than (just a zombie movie),’ but it fizzled out," Snyder told Entertainment Weekly.
The filmmaker said when he pitched the idea to Netflix, the streamer instantly agreed to back it.
"We were in a meeting at Netflix and I was talking about some of these scripts I was working on. And I mentioned the idea to (Netflix head of original films Scott Stuber) and he was like, 'That is the movie! Go write that movie and let’s make it.’
"I was like, ‘What, do you mean now?’ And he’s like, ‘Go write it tomorrow and we’ll do shoot it in a week'," Snyder said.
While "Army of the Dead" is yet to be released on Netflix, the streamer has already green lit a prequel film as well as an anime television series to expand the franchise.
About the anime series, Snyder said, "I’ve done a very deep dive with the why of the zombie plague and where it starts."
"Sufficed to say, that it does come from Area 51 — that’s in the film’s opening scene — and then the whole cast is in the animated series, along with Christian Slater as the bad guy. We really do a super deep dive on where this like zombie plague came from," he added.
"Army of the Dead" will also feature Ella Purnell, Huma Qureshi, Ana de la Reguera, Garret Dillahunt, Raul Castillo, Omari Hardwick, Hiroyuki Sanada, Tig Notaro and Matthias Schweighofer.
The film is scheduled to be released later this year.
