The buzz around Zack Snyder and his upcoming epic WATCHMEN has been so strong that it’s easy to forget about another project the director has been developing for a while: ARMY OF THE DEAD. You’ll remember that’s the one set in a quarantined Las Vegas in the not-too-distant future, revolving around a father who tries to save his daughter from imminent death in a zombie-infested world.
So what’s doing with this potentially-amazing project (written by Joby Harold)? Snyder spoke with Fangoria and gave up some info…
“ARMY right now is in sort of long-lead preproduction… We’re trying to decide what exactly to do with it, so it’s kind of hovering a little bit. I love the zombie genre, and I want to do it right, but we’re just still haggling over budget with the studio.”
And what are Snyder’s ultimate expectations for A.O.T.D? “I want the full zombie war! I want to see that, for real. That’s what I love.”
Snyder also talked a little about director Matthijs van Heijningen: “He’s amazing; we love him… He has a quality to his work that I really like; he sort of gets the irony of horror. ’Cause I never want to let the viewer off the hook. I want the audience to understand that there’s more to it than just the horrification; I want it to go a little further.”
Well slap my butt, I like it! (Snyder’s words – “horrification!” – that is… And also butt-slapping.) You’ll recall that Snyder was just a television commercial director when he broke out with DAWN OF THE DEAD, so it’s looking good that he sees some of the same fire in van Heijningen (boy I don’t look forward to typing that name over and over again for the next however-many years).
Watchmen comes out March 6.