So far Zack Snyder has done a remake and a comic book adaptation, with another comic adaptation on the horizon. When I got on the phone with him last week, I asked Snyder if there was an original project in his future; he told me that there was one concept that he had been working on for a while, but wouldn’t say much else (look for the interview in the next 24 hours).
It looks like Zack was holding his tongue for the official trade announcement of Sucker Punch, which he describes as “Alice in Wonderland with machine guns.” The plot, which is sort of reminiscent of an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is about a girl put in a mental institution by her evil stepfather. She retreats to a fantasy world where she must collect five objects to escape before being raped by a ‘vile man.’
"A while ago I had written a script for myself and there was a sequence in it that made me think, ‘How can I make a film that can have action sequences in it that aren’t limited by the physical realities that normal people are limited by, but still have the story make sense so it’s not, and I don’t mean to be mean, like a bullshit thing like "Ultraviolet" or something like that?’ " Snyder said. "And also, I was really inspired by the worlds of movies like ‘Moulin Rouge,’ which is modern but at the same time timeless."
Ouch, take that, Kurt Wimmer!
Snyder is writing the script with Steve Shibuya, based on a story he wrote. Sucker Punch’s fantasy sequences will be all over the place, including elements like dragons, B-52 bombers and brothels – is Snyder angling to be the new Terry Gilliam? The movie is set up at Warner Bros, where it will be produced by Snyder’s new Cruel and Unusual company. It looks like this will be Snyder’s next film after Watchmen, which is supposed to start filming this summer.