Zack Snyder should be well used to his movies dividing opinion at this stage, but the director's latest passion project, The Last Photograph, has proven to be particularly polarising.
The film - which has yet to secure a distributor - had its world premiere at TIFF on Monday as an independent production and acquisition title, and quite a lot of the first reactions were scathing, to say the least.
As more critics have added their reviews to Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has generated a dismal score of 21%.
Snyder shared his response to the negative criticism (some of which was undeniably vitriolic) during an interview with Variety.
"This morning, I woke up to my X feed, and the discourse is incredibly energized by this battle. It’s like there’s a war going on — instantly — and on one hand, I don’t want to say it’s cool, but it has to exist in some ways. I don’t know why. The amount of energy and the amount of vitriol I find really incredible. 'I want to kill Zack Snyder.' 'Zack Snyder is a fascist.' 'Zack Snyder is a homophobe.' 'Zack Snyder is a bisexual.'”
The majority of backlash seems to stem from the perception that the film is misogynistic in its excessive nudity and depictions of violence against women.
"I mean, I don’t know. First of all, I would argue that the violence toward women and men is equal and that nobody is spared — men, women, children, everybody. The justice that’s doled out in the movie is in the same way that a hurricane doles out justice. To try and superimpose morality over it and want the violence to mean something — the meaning is that violence doesn’t work and doesn’t get anything done."
Snyder admits that some of the negative responses do get to him ("we're all human"), but he views a lot of the more extreme reactions - especially from those who haven't even seen the movie yet - as nonsense.
"There were only 1,200 people in the theater and there are thousands of comments! There was one I was reading where it was a guy who clipped it and said, 'I haven’t seen it yet but I’m sure it was horrible.' And look: Whether you like the movie or not, I’m not even commenting on that; but with me, it’s more clickable to say, 'I hate Zack Snyder! He’s a fascist!' than it is to say, 'I saw the movie and it was cool.' Nobody gives a [frick] about that. And obviously, I’m not a fascist."
Snyder recalls a similar reaction when 300 screened for the first time in Berlin, even though he views his adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel as "the gayest movie ever made."
"There was immediate discourse around the movie, and everyone booed and walked out. It was our first time showing the movie and we were like, “What the [frick].” They were saying it was 'a disaster,' 'the worst movie ever,' and a 'fascist' movie. Then we had a press conference where they were asking me all these questions, like, 'Are you a fascist filmmaker?'”
"The hallmark question was when one of the guys said, 'Are you pro-gay or pro-NRA? Which are you?' And I said, 'Look, I’ll be honest: I’m a tiny bit of both.' But obviously I’m pro-gay. I made the gayest movie ever made."
It's worth noting that The Last Photograph has received a few positive reviews, and some critics - whether they'd ever admit it or not - do approach Snyder's work with preconceived notions.
Assuming it ever actually sees the light of day, do you plan on giving this movie a chance?
The official synopsis reads:
“An ex-DEA operative must return to the mountains of South America in an effort to find his missing niece and nephew, following the brutal murders of their diplomat parents. Enlisting the help of a washed-up junkie war photographer, the only person to have seen the face of the killers, he sets out, determined to find the children and the truth, but soon learns he must also face the ghosts of his past. Their journey into the unknown takes them further and further away from civilization, bringing into question everything they believe, while slowly eroding the distinction between real and surreal.”