Zack Snyder, a 5-foot, 7-inch steward of comic book franchises, is known for his attention to detail. This is clear to anyone who has observed his keen interest in actors’ heights, revealed in a Bloomberg profile before Batman V Superman’s release, where he noted, “I think Ben [Affleck] is a pretty good Batman… I never liked a small Batman. Ben’s all of 6-foot-4, and in the boots, he’s like 6-foot-6.” It all paid off in the finished film, where Affleck loomed over countless terabytes of computer-generated scenery to stake his claim as the hugest Batman ever.
Snyder is also known for having his tall superheroes kill a shitload of people to prove to the audience that these “heroes” aren’t your grandpa’s small Batmen anymore. This GIF, created by Twitter user SirSpinky, captures the artist’s process on the set of Man Of Steel:
This is the essence of Snyder. Here he demonstrates his vigorous neck-snapping technique on a member of the crew (possibly hired only for this purpose) before the camera pulls back to show Henry Cavill (6 feet, 1 inch) and Michael Shannon (6 feet, 3.5 inches) looking on. You can see how much a crisp, resonant snap means to Snyder and how little it means to anyone else. (All heights are approximations taken from IMDB bios.)
Watching the GIF, you might imagine Snyder making an excited “Gnnnrsh!” or “Badrshh!” sound with his mouth. In fact, he makes more of a “Grawtsshh!” noise, as the full clip unearthed by Gizmodo shows.
[via Gizmodo, which like The A.V. Club, is owned by Univision Communications.]