After a Decade-Plus Journey, Zack Snyder’s ‘The Last Photograph’ Will Finally Premiere at TIFF

Nearly a decade ago, word on what was then Zack Snyder‘s “next” project — expected to arrive after his “Justice League,” which certainly turned into its own time-sucking debacle — hinted at darker story removed from the world of superheroics.

In December 2016, The Hollywood Reporter shared that Snyder would take on “The Last Photograph” before directing “Justice League 2” (truly, this was a different time). The smaller-scale action thriller “center[ed] on a war correspondent in Afghanistan who is the only one to survive an attack on a group of Americans. When a special ops soldier in search of a family member shows up, the two team up, with the correspondent hoping to score the story of his life.”

Not only would Snyder’s next film take him a new direction, the trade shared, it was also one he’d wanted to make for years. THR also noted that Snyder first “set up the project in the mid-2000s, after the success of ‘300,’ but the rights lapsed.” In 2011, the film was set to star Christian Bale and Sean Penn. The 2016 post-“Justice League” version of the film didn’t have any on-screen talent attached at the time it was seemingly revitalized, and that film never panned out.

In August 2025, Deadline reported the film was finally happening, this time with Snyder’s “Rebel Moon” stars Stuart Martin and Fra Fee. Now? It’s got a world premiere set. The Toronto International Film Festival on Monday announced that the film will debut as a “special screening” on Sunday, September 13, in the John Bassett Theatre, TIFF’s new screening venue at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

The film comes with a refreshed logline, and will now “follow an ex-DEA agent seeking revenge in a South American jungle where dangerous terrain and inner demons intermingle.” Martin plays the ex-DEA agent, with Fee on as troubled war photographer who aids him on his quest.

Snyder told Deadline, “The idea of taking camera in hand and simply making a movie in an intimate way is very appealing to me. ‘The Last Photograph’ is a meditation of life and death, embodying some of the trials that I have experienced in my own life and the exploration of those ideas through image making.”

Snyder directed the film from a screenplay by Kurt Johnstad (Snyder has a story-by credit on the film). Snyder, his wife Deborah Snyder, and Wesley Coller produced through Stone Quarry, and the film is also a continuation of their creative partnership with Gianni Nunnari, who produced through Hollywood Gang Productions along with co-producer Alisha Stickney.

The 51st edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, presented by Rogers, runs September 10–20.