Before there was 300, Zack Snyder made his first feature film, a 2004 treatment of Dawn of the Dead. According to The Hollywood Reporter he will take on his second feature-directing job since Justice League with another zombie movie: Army of the Dead. Snyder is making the movie for Netflix, which is reportedly going big on support with a budget as high as $90 million. The director is clearly enthused about the resources the company is marshaling for him, telling THR, “There are no handcuffs on me at all with this one,†and, “No one’s ever let me completely loose.†Snyder came up with the story, which is a heist movie set in Vegas during a zombie outbreak that involves a group of mercenaries trying to pull off a massive robbery, and will direct a script by Joby Harold. He will also produce with his wife and business partner, Deborah Snyder.
The former architect of the Warner Bros. DC film universe stepped away from directing prior to the completion of Justice League. Joss Whedon finished the film after Snyder took time off to grieve the death of his daughter, who committed suicide. He and his wife have since devoted time to suicide awareness causes, and last May it was announced he will direct The Fountainhead. Now that he feels totally unleashed by Netflix, Snyder says Army of the Dead “will be the most kick-ass, self-aware — but not in a wink-to-the-camera way — balls-to-the-wall zombie freakshow that anyone has ever seen.â€