Director Zack Snyder and Executive Producers Deborah Snyder and Wesley Coller Discuss On Their Fresh Take On Norse Mythology
Netflix looks to give audiences a fresh new take on Norse Mythology with their latest animated series ‘Twilight of the Gods’, a visceral adventure that is sure to please.
With ‘Twlight of the Gods’ now streaming on Netflix, FilmSpeak had the pleasure of sitting down director Zack Snyder and fellow executive producers Deborah Snyder and Wesley Coller about the making of the animated series. While Snyder and Coller serve purely as executive producers on the show, Snyder not only had a sizable hand in production, but helmed the first and last episodes that are now streaming.
FilmSpeak covered a sizable amount of ground in the discussion with the trio, including the decision to tell this story through animation rather than in live-action. Commenting on the decision, Snyder said, “When you look at the cast, they all look like their characters so that part’s cool…It was always animated and it allowed us conceptually from the beginning to not limit ourselves.” Snyder also delved into why he decided to direct the first and last episodes, laying the groundwork and framework for the other directors to work from and within. He stated, “It was important for me to do the first and the last to set this tone and weirdly my episodes were the last ones that finished.”
The conversation quickly shifted gears to the overall cohesive vision of the show, shifting from director to director, and how that shaped the show’s surprisingly strong storytelling. Commenting on how the show feels like one collective vision, Snyder expressed, “100 percent, the guys were really kind to me in my desire, like if I had a note on their episodes to let my voice kind of go through even a little bit because I didn’t want to hold them back or stop them from being creative….I did want it to feel like a single kind of thing you know?” Deborah Snyder added to his sentiments by saying, “I think having an in-house design team, like we designed all the backgrounds, the characters, the props…it was very cohesive with the same people.” Coller chimed in in agreement by saying, “Very solid creative foundation just amongst the entire team as we got into that process.”
When asked if there were any sequences that he could see being told in a live-action format, Snyder quickly responded, “You know, I’ve never really done that exercise…It’s an interesting exercise, but honestly I haven’t attempted it which is cool because I think it demonstrates how committed to this animation process we were and how sort of designed it was as an animated show you know?”. Deborah Snyder quickly added to his statement by saying, “It would be very expensive though!”.
When discussing how he would pitch the show to those who aren’t overly familiar with Norse mythology, Snyder stated, “What we’ve done I think we the show is really kind of return to a lot of the real core elements of what the real mythological, the real myths talk about.” Deborah Snyder added, “There’s something that’s very universal about these stories and I think it’s really exciting to pitch it to a new audience.”
Snyder and company have crafted a raw, visceral animated show that not only shows a darker, far more compelling side of Norse mythology, but have crafted a very fun, emotionally charged story that makes for an easy, highly addictive watch. Those who are on the fence about this one should certainly give it a chance and for fans of these kinds of mythological stories, Twilight of the Gods is simply must-watch television.