Zack Snyder has a new short film out, but you need to download an app to watch it
People react to grief in different ways. For Zack Snyder and his family, it seems, making a short film with his usual directorial aesthetic was the way to process theirs.
Following Snyder’s stepping down from helming the Justice League’s reshoots and post-production earlier this year in the wake of his daughter’s death, it was reported in early September that he had taken that downtime to make a short film with friends and family. That short, called Snow Steam Iron, has now been released—but in order to watch it, you’ll need to download the app Vero. Snyder has used the app to release stuff before, everything from production stills to teaser footage for Justice League. Here’s how the film is described, via the app:
“Snow gently falls on the blood-stained streets of a seedy out-of-time New York City. Steam envelopes the nightmare unfolding within its narrow alleys. Iron is the will of the one who would dare to resist… fight… survive.”
In a new interview with Wired, Snyder describes the therapeutic value of making the short film. His family came together to help out—his daughter Willow is a makeup artist, his son pitched in as a P.A., family friends played various other roles—and they shot it solely on iPhones, in a single weekend in April. “It was a cathartic experience for all of us in a weird way because when we all get together it’s easier for us to make a movie than talk,” Snyder says. “There was a heavy air around, as you can imagine, but this film gave us this way to be with each other that was nice.”
Snyder also shot Snow Steam Iron as a way to prep for a film course he plans to teach at the ArtCenter College Of Design, to show that anyone can make a good-looking film if they just have a phone. (He also used dollies, drones, some fancy mounts, and more, but it’s the thought that counts.) Watching it, it’s pretty clear the phone didn’t alter Snyder’s visual style in any significant way. It’s mostly slow-motion, and liberally peppered with violence and some brief nudity. In other words, it’s a Zack Snyder film.