Zack Snyder Admits Why He Left A Little Star Wars DNA In Rebel Moon - Exclusive Interview

After Disney purchased Lucasfilm in 2012, acclaimed writer-director Zack Snyder put a story idea out to the "Star Wars" universe that he hoped would fit into the framework of the legendary franchise. But when Snyder's "Star Wars" bid fell short, the filmmaker didn't ground his idea. Instead, he set himself free from the constraints of the franchise with an original story that became "Rebel Moon."

As such, the film, which is playing in theaters in limited release and debuts exclusively on Netflix on the evening of December 21, is the beginning of a new franchise for Snyder. Officially titled "Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire" — to be followed by "Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver" in April 2024 — the story introduces Kora (Sofia Boutella), a mysterious resident of a farming settlement on the moon of Veldt, which is located on the edge of the universe.

Kora leads a peaceful life in her adopted environs until a menacing group from the militaristic planet known as the Motherworld lands on Veldt with the intention of seizing most of the settlement's crop supply. Sent by the Motherworld's dictator to impose rule, Admiral Noble (Ed Skrein) immediately subjects Veldt's residents to a tyrannical rule, with the threat of looming starvation and the brutalization of the settlement's population.

Already shocked by the insurgency, a violent incident causes Kora to snap and fight back against the moon's aggressors, sparking her to form a group of rebels to fight back against the Motherworld or die without hope. By emerging from the shadows, however, Kora becomes vulnerable to having the dark secrets of her past exposed.

In an exclusive interview with Looper, Snyder discussed the origin of "Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire," the continuing influence of his "Man of Steel" collaborator Christopher Nolan on his career and the film, and more.

In every great film — yes, you have all that big spectacle, but you also have to have emotion. Everything is grounded in real emotion in "Rebel Moon" because even amongst the battles and the sacrifices, it's all happening in the quest for peace. With that, I was particularly struck by the line from Kora when she says, "Kindness is a virtue worth dying for." I'm wondering what inspired that line.

Kora's character was a character that was born of ... She's a child of war; she's a warrior. She solves a lot of her problems with violence, and her exposure to this child — who is a child — [in a scene early in the movie, she] expressed kindness on a supernatural and pure level [that] changed her. She felt the difference between being aggressive with aggression as your primary motivator and kindness as your primary motivator. For her, it was a revelation, and that was a thing that I felt intuitively — that as a need for a society or for a movement or for a group of people. That was one of the most important ingredients to make them righteous.