‘Rebel Moon’ Stars Talk Zack Snyder’s “No Rules, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Let’s Have Fun” Process

Rebel Moon, a film that director Zack Snyder first had the idea for in the ’80s, finally made its big-screen debut on Wednesday night, premiering at Hollywood’s historic TCL Chinese Theatre.

The sci-fi project — split into two parts, with Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire streaming on Netflix this month and Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver coming in April — follows a peaceful settlement on the edge of a distant moon that is threatened by the armies of a tyrannical ruling force, and a mysterious stranger Kora (played by Sofia Boutella) who becomes their best hope for survival. Snyder told The Hollywood Reporter that a premiere would usually mean he would get to rest and celebrate being done with a film, but this time, he’s back to work the next day finishing Part Two.

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Of crafting the world, Snyder said he starts “with story of course, but the next thing that happens is we have to go back and do the work of the mythological world building, which sort of determines the mindset of the different people” adding, “a lot of stuff you don’t even, frankly, see in the movie but was work we had to do to make it make sense.”

The film’s cast, which includes Boutella, Djimon Hounsou, Ed Skrein, Charlie Hunnam, Michiel Huisman, Staz Nair, Doona Bae and Cleopatra Coleman, all had high praise for Snyder’s process, as Boutella recalled the way he would have fun and play basketball on set.

“I’m here sweating and stressing out about my scene and wondering if I know everything that I’m doing and if I’m going to be good enough and he’s there just having fun,” the star said. “I’m like, ‘I might as well just relax also.'”

Hunnam added that though Snyder has been working on this film for more than 30 years and needed to have most of the universe planned out, “he leaves so much room for us to bring our own flavor to it and play with it. He has a really sort of punk rock, no rules, rock ‘n’ roll, let’s have fun, let’s surprise each other type of process and so I was really surprised how much he allowed us all to contribute.”

The actor, who plays a mercenary and starship pilot recruited by Boutella’s character, also noted how much he connected to the role, explaining that “I felt like I wanted to be responsible for him, take care of him and really get out of the character’s way and let him just do whatever he wanted. It was sort of like a possession — I’ve never had this experience, I just sort of lent him my body and he went nuts. He just went and had his way on the set. It was really, really fun.”

Hounsou spoke to THR about the film’s deeper meanings, revealing that the story “mimics our reality in a fashion that I have never read from any script before” in how it “addresses so much the indoctrination of the continent of Africa over centuries.”

“It’s a geopolitical tentacle that we are holding back that continent,” he continued. “It’s unbelievable that that story speaks to me in that fashion… decade after decade, lots of leaders who were not leaders for their people.”

Rebel Moon, Part One starts streaming on Netflix Dec. 22.

Tiffany Taylor contributed to this report.

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