Zack Snyder Confirmed Whether That Weird Army Of The Dead On-Set 'Ban' Was True
There have been plenty of famous Hollywood feuds over the years, from Joan Crawford and Bette Davis to Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson. In recent years, one more could be added to that list — directors and chairs. In 2021, reports circulated that Zack Snyder had banned chairs while filming "Army of the Dead," but now he's set the record straight.
Snyder spoke with Letterboxd in December 2023, and the topic of chairs on the "Army" set came up. Snyder clarified, "I didn't forbid chairs; I just didn't want to have them. We were moving fast, so if you could bring a camping chair, by all means, camp out. But I didn't have a chair, and I just was like, 'I'm standing or running this entire movie,' and I did that." It seems Snyder simply didn't have time to sit while working on the zombie action thriller, but of course, anyone else could sit if they wanted.
It's understandable that Snyder's chair stance would need elaboration, seeing as he directly said on The Playlist's "Fourth Wall" podcast, "There's no sitting down, like, I banned chairs from the set." Given how there's so much we still don't understand about "Sucker Punch" – Snyder's infamous 2011 male gaze fantasia — it wouldn't be the first time something associated with the director got lost in translation.
Christopher Nolan and Bradley Cooper have also gotten heat for chair comments
Comments from directors about not wanting chairs on sets are usually met with derision from people online. Many are concerned that such comments are ableist because often people need to sit regularly for medical reasons. Outside of that, a regular day on a film set may exceed 12 hours, so of course, people require breaks to avoid exhaustion and future potential medical issues.
Zack Snyder isn't the first filmmaker to have to walk back such comments. There were reports that Christopher Nolan had a bizarre rule he imposed on his movie sets — no sitting down. A spokesperson for Nolan had to clarify this, asserting that Nolan doesn't like to use a director's chair, but everyone else is free to sit when they want to rest. It's basically the same explanation Snyder provided: The filmmakers don't want (or have time) to sit, but they're not going to force someone to stand for hours on end.
While promoting "Maestro," director Bradley Cooper mentioned a similar rule about not liking chairs on his sets. Instead, he hinted at wanting everyone to have apple boxes for when they need to sit. Again, this may simply come down to a miscommunication, or a filmmaker wanting to seem like a real cutthroat artiste who wants everyone around them to perform at the top of their game. Regardless, it's high time that some director comes out and adamantly declares their love of chairs. Chairs are great and don't deserve this chronic badmouthing.