#Zack Snyder to Receive First-Ever Valiant Award from Hollywood Critics Association

Zack Snyder will be given the first-ever Valiant Award at the 4th Annual Hollywood Critics Association Film Awards ceremony on Friday. Snyder, who helmed Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, and the upcoming Zack Snyder’s Justice League, is being honored for how he and his wife Deborah responded to the death of their daughter by suicide in March 2017. At the time, Zack Snyder stepped down from his directing duties on Justice League and the pair have since worked to raise money to help prevent others from experiencing the same pain.

“As a fan of Synder’s ever since Dawn of the Dead, I couldn’t be happier that we will be acknowledging his visionary filmmaking and resilience to overcome any obstacles,” HCA chair Scott Menzel said in a statement on Wednesday.
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In a statement of her own, HCA chair Ashley Menzel added: “As someone whose own life was impacted due to suicide, I was extremely moved by how Zack and his wife and business partner Deborah turned their incommensurable pain into altruistic action, spearheading an effort that has helped countless individuals and families.”

In December, Snyder and his fans helped raise over $500,000 for the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention. Additional efforts to raise money for the charity will be carried out during the HCA Film Awards. The HCA plans to purchase Snyder’s merchandise on the Ink to the People fundraising platform to give away on social media during the ceremony.

Snyder’s next big movie will be releasing later this month. A four-hour extended cut of the 2017 movie, Zack Snyder’s Justice League will be premiering on HBO Max on March 18. Because Joss Whedon heavily changed the original Justice League with reshoots and rewrites, fans had been campaigning for years for Warner Bros. to let Snyder complete the original vision he had for the movie. While some new footage has been shot, the four-hour cut will mostly feature scenes Snyder had filmed years ago.

Speaking about the movie recently, Snyder also revealed that the original plan for Justice League was to launch a new DC movie trilogy. He doesn’t see Warner Bros. ever ordering the two unmade sequels, likely due to the high costs involved in such endeavors, but releasing the Snyder Cut is still a pretty big win for fans. It reportedly cost the studio around $70 million for Snyder to complete the four-hour cut.

After making his directorial debut with the Dawn of the Dead remake in 2004, Snyder also makes his return to zombie horror this summer as well. His new movie Army of the Dead is set to be released on Netflix in May. Featuring an ensemble cast led by Dave Bautista, the feature follows a group of mercenaries planning an Ocean’s Eleven-style heist on a casino vault during a zombie outbreak. Snyder will also produce a German-language prequel along with an anime series adaptation alongside Deborah.

The 4th Annual Hollywood Critics Association Film Awards will stream on March 5 on the official YouTube channel, as well as on the organization’s official Facebook page. This news comes to us from The Hollywood Reporter.

Topics: Army of the Dead, Justice League, Snyder Cut, HBO Max, Netflix