site.btaBulgarian Illustrator Dido Peshev Makes Official Poster for Zach Snyder's Film Rebel Moon

Illustrator Dido Peshev has already made a name for himself in the global music industry as the artist of official concert posters for bands such as Metallica and Queens of the Stone Age, but with his latest work he has also broken into the world of cinema. And he did it in style. On Tuesday, he presented his first movie poster - one of the official posters for Netflix's new film Rebel Moon, directed by Zac Snyder (also director of 300, Justice League, Man of Steel and Aquaman).

The movie premiered at the end of December 2023, and Dido Peshev presented his poster for it this week on social networks. The offer came in the spring, and the reason he was approached was his work on the Metallica posters, which the film's creative team really liked, Peshev said. During the process, he received guidance personally from director Zack Snyder, while the character he was to portray was voiced by Sir Anthony Hopkins.

"It was completely unplanned, although I always wanted to work on a movie poster as well. One night I just got an email with an offer from the Netflix marketing department, but everything was kept secret, of course," Peshev told BTA. He added that the only thing that was mentioned to him at the beginning was that a big new production was being prepared, which would be released in the winter.

"The biggest challenge came in the beginning because I had to work on a film I had not seen. But then I had several video meetings with the team in Los Angeles. They were extremely well and professionally prepared and in the first meeting I got a lot of information about the characters, the plot. Then I also saw the trailer and realized that Anthony Hopkins was involved," explained Peshev.

He added that the production team sent him specially created photos of the character he had to draw, of the locations where the film was shot, and of other little details related to the film's universe.

He had to work on a character named Jimmy, a robot voiced by Anthony Hopkins. "Jimmy's mechanics, texture, colours and pose had to be absolutely accurate, as well as every detail of his figure," Peshev stated. He also identified this as a major difference with his previous projects, in which he created the images more freely, based on his idea of them, whereas in this case he had to interpret very precise instructions.

The first few developed poses were sent to director Zack Snyder, who joined the process with his own ideas.

"That is how we developed his image in the wheat fields, standing heroically in the same way that the first part of the film ends. There, Jimmy "transforms" himself into the character with cape and horns, ready to meet the returning rebels and join the battle. In this first part of the film, Zack Snyder only hints of him. His real encounter with the audience will be in the second part," Peshev commented.

He added that he had secretly wished to work exactly on this character when he was first introduced to the project. "I think it will be the one the viewers will be most fond of as well," the artist said.

Currently, the posters for the film are not available anywhere. "However, I was able to include in my contract the sale of a signed and numbered poster by me in a limited print run of only 50. This will make it extremely rare," Peshev added. He specifies that the sale date will be announced at a later stage. "I want it to happen in the spring when the second part of the film comes out - somewhere around mid-April," he noted.

As for his work on posters for major music bands, he said there will be new projects in 2024, but he cannot mention them yet because of his contracts.

"It also should be noted that projects that are approved and finalized may not be used afterwards. That happened to me in 2023 when I had posters approved for Def Leppard, Motley Crue and Pantera. This is no exception. When the production is so big, often a band's management can change the concept of what will sell on a tour at the last minute. There have also been times when I have had to decline because making a poster requires a lot of preparation and time," Peshev explained.

Declining an offer by legendary rock band Kiss 

This happened during his work on Rebel Moon, when an offer arrived to do a poster for legendary rock band Kiss for their last concert at Madison Square Garden. "As much as you do not want to say no, you have to do it because of the responsibility you have to a project that has already started. Behind every poster is a tremendous amount of discipline, focus and meeting deadlines," Peshev pointed out.

Dido Peshev also manages to find time for the day-to-day activities in his shop, as well as rehearsals and his work as guitarist for the bands Last Hope and Nocktern, with whom he is preparing new material. "We will have concerts for sure, but no dates have been announced yet," he said.