Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

Director, screenwriter and producer Zack Snyder studied art at London’s Heatherley’s School and refined his talent at the prestigious Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, (where his classmates included Michael Bay and Tarsem Singh). Snyder began his career as an award-wining director of commercials and music videos before making his feature film directorial debut in 2004 with the horror thriller Dawn of the Dead. Dawn of the Dead earned him widespread acclaim and paved the way for his 2007 box office hit, 300. Snyder adapted 300 from writer-artist Frank Miller's Dark Horse Comics miniseries of the same name and the film was praised for its’ groundbreaking blend of live action and computer-generated imagery.

He and wife Deborah Snyder formed their own production company, Cruel and Unusual Films, which recently signed a two-year overall production deal with Warner Bros. Pictures. In addition to producing the upcoming adaptation of Watchmen, the drama The Last Photograph and the fantasy-adventure Sucker Punch, Cruel and Unusual Films is producing 2010’s Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole.

The family-friendly fantasy film is Snyder’s first animated feature. Based on the Guardians of Ga’Hoole books by Kathryn Lasky, it tells the story of Soren, a young owl enchanted by his father’s stories of a mythic group of owl warriors who battle the evil Pure Ones to save all of owlkind. However, jealousy and tension between Soren and his brother, Kludd, cause a chain of events that lead to both owls having to make a grand escape from entrapment by Pure Ones.

More on Zack Snyder

•Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

• Cruel and Unusual Films

• Zack Snyder IMDB