Zack Snyder and Robert Kirkman talk Superman, zombies and influences
Hero Complex Film Festival featured two of the superstars in Sci-Fi, comic book fandom with Robert Kirkman and Zack Snyder. Both were on-hand for Q&A session with fans at this weekend’s festival and some of the details were published on Saturday.
The “Man of Steel” director was tight-lipped about his Superman reboot, which Snyder said he was editing.
“It’s going really good, actually. I’m just cutting right now. I’m really excited about it. It’s fun to work on. It’s gigantic and crazy.”
Kirkman discussed his “Walking Dead” creation and keeping the comic book honest to his original vision.
“I have a really hard-and-fast rule to try and make sure that the comic doesn’t change because of the show, because I feel like the comic existed for a long time before the show, and I would be doing a disservice to myself if I changed the way I did anything,” Kirkman said. “I think I’m getting better as a writer for working on the show, because I’m learning a lot of stuff that I should have known a long time ago. I’m constantly in the writers’ room. … Hopefully because of that, it’s making the comic a little better.”
Zombies continued to be a topic of discussion. Snyder, who directed the “Dawn of the Dead” remake, was asked if zombie fans were more or less intense than comic book fans who attacked the director for his adaptation of “Watchmen.”
“Zombie fans [were more strident], for sure. One hundred percent sure. I feel like the ‘Watchmen’ fans, you can reason with them, you know. When they have you in an alley, you can talk your way kind of out of there. But zombie fans are certainly much more — especially before the movie came out, and we were just talking about what the movie would be, and how we would remake ‘Dawn of the Dead,’ it was pretty intense.”
Both creators offered a list of influences and favorites, which included John Carpenter’s “The Thing,” and “The Shining.” “The Walking Dead” creator had to clarify that he was late discovering his love of the genre.
“Horror-wise, I actually was not allowed to watch horror films for a really long time, which I think is why I’m such a sissy. I was actually allowed to rent a horror movie, like every year on Halloween, and that was the only time I was ever allowed to watch a horror movie. So every year, I either got ‘Hellraiser’ or ‘Hellraiser 2.’”
The festival included screenings of “Shaun of the Dead,” “Robocop,” “A Clockwork Orange” and “Super,” as well as Q&A’s with Peter Weller, Malcolm McDowell and Edgar Wright.
“Man of Steel” comes to theaters on June 14, 2013 and stars Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe, Diane Lane, Christopher Meloni, Laurence Fishburne and Antje Traue.
“The Walking Dead” is currently filming season three of the AMC TV show and the comic book series is celebrating the 100th issue.
