Did Zack Snyder Really Ban Chairs from His Army of the Dead Set?

Recently, reports started making the rounds suggesting that director Zack Snyder banned chairs from the set of his latest movieArmy of the Dead. It was particularly believable, given that the filmmaker made the reveal himself. But one star from the Netflix zombie flick has added some important clarification to the matter.

Zack Snyderhas been making the rounds in the press as of late to promoteArmy of the Dead. During a recent appearance on The Fourth Wall podcast, the filmmaker explained that he banned chairs from the set, which helped to create, in his words, an intimate experience. Here’s what he had to say about it.

“I banned chairs from the set. But the nice thing is, it’s really intimate. I can just talk to the actors right there. I’m not back in a monitor across the room. It was definitely the most purely engaged I’ve been making a movie.”

This garnered attention for several reasons. For one, it seems like a peculiar and perhaps unnecessary practice. Similarly, Christopher Nolan, director ofTenetandThe Dark Knight, garnered some negative attention last year when it was reported that hedid not allow chairs on his sets. Though later statements refuted those reports. What Zack Snyder said seemed to echo the Nolan debacle. Yet, that doesn’t appear to be the whole story. In a more recent interview with Insider, Army of the Dead star Ana de la Reguera was asked about the no chair situation. Here’s what she had to say in response.

“There were chairs. They were just really far away from set.”

If we are to read between the lines, it seems what Zack Snyder is saying is that he didn’t allow chairs in the immediate vicinity of the set. Instead, the chairs were a bit further away so that if anyone wanted to sit, they weren’t right where the action was happening. Snyder, it seems, was not being some needlessly cruel auteur immersing his actors and crew in a zombie-filled world.

Army of the Deadis Zack Snyder’s first feature directorial effort sinceJustice League. While the theatrical version was released in 2017, the so-called Snyder Cut, officially titled Zack Snyder’s Justice League, was released on HBO Max earlier this year. The zombie flick centers on agroup of mercenaries who head to Las Vegas, now infected by zombies, to try and pull off the greatest heist ever attempted; retrieve $200 million that is sitting in a vault beneath the Vegas strip. The catch? The government intends to nuke the city within 32 hours.

The cast includes Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Theo Rossi, Huma Qureshi, Omari Hardwick, Tig Notaro, Hiroyuki Sanada, Garret Dillahunt, Matthias Schweighofer, Raul Castillo, Nora Arnezeder and Samantha Win. Netflix is already planning a whole universe or projects set within the franchise, including a prequel movie and an anime series.Army of the Deadis streaming now onNetflix. This news comes to us viaThe Playlist.