Over at The Rumpus there's a long interview with Zack Snyder, the director of 300 and Watchmen the much hyped movie set to open this Friday. Zack is interviewed by Chris Read, one of his oldest friends. The two met at summer camp when they were eleven years old.
Here are some highlights:
Movies that inspired him: "Blade Runner, Road Warrior, Conan--those movies really stand out to me as movies that have shaped me. Return of the Jedi. Heavy Metal. All that stuff."
On his mother and father being dorm parents at his boarding school: "In some weird way, I'm at this real strict boarding school with my parents there, and my mother, my mother more than my father of course, happened to let me break the rules and get away with stuff. In some way, I would bend that world to my will, in a really manipulative and horrible way because I was in high school. I mean I feel bad about it a little bit, but on the other hand, it gave me a way I'd approach life, the same thing, I bend the rules of society a little bit and have chosen a lifestyle that's outside of the normal approach to how to make a living."
Shooting a movie in 11th grade: "I got the police to come. I don't know how that happened. They said they wouldn't take their guns out. I REALLY wanted them to take their guns out. But they wouldn't do that. Just to set it up, we filmed this movie in high school and the character, Jon's character, is being arrested because he's murdered the principal. I was doing this shot. I remember the camera was up super high. At first there was a shot down low and they were arresting him then I cut to the high shot. They were supposed to handcuff him and shove him in the car with their guns on him, but I guess they just put him in the car. They had the lights on and stuff so that was pretty cool."
Directing the Watchmen: "as a fan of the graphic novel, it's just a weird experience to be able to actually make that. You're the one who's making those images for all time so you have to be careful and make sure you're doing it right. So it's half geek, half responsibility. It's weird."