Rebel Moon | Behind the Scenes | Netflix

A breathless director rushes into a studio executive’s office – this creator is a composite of 2010s Denis Villeneuve and 1977 George Lucas. He storms straight through a production meeting and slams a 110-page script down in the middle of a conference table: 

“I’ve got it,” he says. “The epic space opera you need – it’s like Dune meets Star Wars meets Mad Max meets Blade Runner.”

The man’s chest heaves. He waits for undulating praise. A studio exec flips through the pages and looks up: 

“Zach Snyder is already doing this movie.” 

“But…but how?” 

“Been in the works for like, 20 years, dude. Here, this is everyone who has worked on it in post-production…” 

The studio exec slides a binder across the table that reads something like this:

The Rebel Moon VFX

According to The Art of VFX, Rebel Moon has employed a half dozen of the biggest VFX houses to complete work on a film being promoted as a planetary behemoth of scale and spectacle. They include Weta FX, Framestore, Luma Pictures, Mammal Studios, Rodeo FX, and Scanline VFX.

In a recent Netflix behind-the-scenes teaser video, Director Zach Snyder echoed this recurring sentiment:

“I just really wanted to make a giant, atmospheric space adventure.”

To help Rebel Moon get there, he’s drawn from a realm of talents familiar with space CGI. They include VFX Supervisor Farhad Mohasseb (Blade Runner 2049), Gregory D. Liegey (Thor: Love and Thunder), Mai-ling Dydo (AppleTV+’s Foundation), Justin Mitchell (Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2), and Ken McGaugh and Robin Hollander of the Weta Digital team who worked on the Avatar films. The Production VFX Supervisor is Marcus Taormina (Guardians of the Galaxy). 

If you want to create a proper space epic, it’s a decent idea to hire the VFX artists who know a little somethin’ about space.

The Rebel Moon score

Rebel Moon’s symphonic soundtrack was composed by Tom Holkenborg AKA Junkie XL. Holkenborg posted on Instagram in January announcing his Rebel Moon collaboration with Zach Snyder, their second in three years following Holkenborg’s score for 2021’s Army of the Dead.

The Rebel Moon camera gear

Obviously, this isn’t Post, but Snyder has talked about the production hardware extensively and it’s worth noting what he’s used to build a world that reflects scope. 

Snyder posted a series of photos on his Vero account in July 2022 that showed the custom anamorphic lenses designed by Zero Optik for Rebel Moon.

RED president and co-owner Jarred Land posted a pic with Snyder that shows him using RED’s V-Raptor XL camera, designed specifically for shooting wide open as Snyder needed tools that could capture a sense of intergalactic scale.

What can fans expect visually?

A Ping Pong Flix preview video posited that the custom anamorphic lenses used by Snyder will provide a similar depth of focus shown in scenes in Zach Snyder’s Justice League and Army of the Dead.

Snyder, shown filming with the V-Raptor XL, seems enamored with its capabilities.  Audiences can expect to see a space odyssey on steroids, with the steroids on steroids.

And the breathless director goes…

“This looks like Gladiator on Mandalore. I must see it.” 

The studio exec lights a Lucky Strike cigarette (because this fantasy office looks straight out of Mad Men) and responds: 

“December 22nd on Netflix. One epic. Two parts filmed simultaneously. Bring your popcorn.”