Zack Snyder Talks "Watchmen"By Garth FranklinThursday March 15th 2007 5:59am
In the wake of the success of "300", director Zack Snyder has become searingly hot property this week and he talked about his proposed plans for the "Watchmen" comic adaptation to Comic Book Resources:
When Is It In Production
I'm doing "Watchmen" next for sure. That's what we're focusing all our attention on...It's the best thing out there. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but I feel like "Watchmen" is the coolest thing ever and I have to do it.
Can It Be Made For Sub-$150 Million?
I think it can. We have ideas and I think there's a way to do it...really, none of this is real yet. The reality is that it's still an R rated movie, it's an R rated super hero movie, something that's never been tested before and no one knows what the hell that means
Tom Cruise's Involvement
"I don't think he's doing it. I wish he would, but I think Tom's busy and our schedule is making that tough. We've had a lot of great conversations about it and he's a bit of a "Watchmen" fan now, but I don't think he'll do it."
Costumes
A lot of what we're doing will look exactly as it does in the book, but there are a couple of things we'll update, like the girls. Not update in the sense that it won't be 1985, it'll still be 1985, but to give them a little sexier look or to update the outfits a bit. A lot of graphic novels and comic book heroes have been made into films since 1985 and despite how cool "Watchmen" is, it needs an ever so slight tweak for today's audience.
Changes Of The Assorted Hero Designs
A little bit... I think Rorschach will look exactly as he does. Dr. Manhattan will look probably exactly as he does. Night Owl will be pretty close, but we're trying to make him look a little scarier. Ozy I want to make just a little cooler. He's kind of got a Luxor aesthetic and I want to have more of a realistic look. I always thought that if Ozy had Egyptian artifacts, he'd have the real thing, no repro stuff.
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Watchmen is a twelve-issue graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. Originally published by DC Comics as a monthly limited series from 1986 to 1987,[1] it was later republished as a trade paperback.[2] It was one of the first superhero comics to present itself as serious literature, and it also popularized the "graphic novel" format. Watchmen is the only graphic novel to win a Hugo Award,[3] and is also the only graphic novel to appear on Time Magazine's 2005 list of "the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present."[1]
Watchmen is set in 1985, in an alternative history United States where costumed adventurers are real and the country is edging closer to a nuclear war with the Soviet Union (the Doomsday Clock is at five minutes to midnight). It tells the story of a group of past and present superheroes and the events surrounding the mysterious murder of one of their own. Watchmen depicts superheroes as real people who must confront ethical and personal issues, who struggle with neuroses and failings, and who - with one notable exception - lack anything recognizable as super powers. Watchmen's deconstruction of the conventional superhero archetype, combined with its innovative adaptation of cinematic techniques and heavy use of symbolism, multi-layered dialogue, and metafiction, has influenced both comics and film.
20th Century Fox has filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Pictures claiming it holds the exclusive copyrights and contract rights to Alan Moore's graphic novel "Watchmen". Warners has been in production on the film version of the acclaimed book for several months with Zack Snyder ("300") at the helm.
Fox claims that between 1986 and 1990, it acquired all movie rights to the comics and screenplays. In 1991, Fox assigned some rights via a quitclaim to Largo International with the understanding that the studio held exclusive rights to distribute the first motion picture based on the comic according to the lawsuit.
When Largo dismantled, the rights were transferred to producer Lawrence Gordon. Under a "turnaround agreement" between Fox and Gordon, the producer agreed to pay a buy-out price to Fox if he entered into any agreement with another studio or third party to develop or produce Watchmen, among other things.
Fox claims that neither Gordon nor Warner Bros. has paid the buy-out price or advised the studio of any other conditions required under the agreement, including procedures necessary to acquire the rights to Watchmen from Fox.
Scotsman Gerard Butler has confirmed to Empire Magazine that the animated "Tales of the Black Freighter" supplement in the original "Watchmen" graphic novel will be shot for the upcoming DVD release of the film.
The comic-within-a-comic tells the tale of a castaway's mental and physical deterioration and damnation as he tries to intercept a ghost freighter headed for his hometown.
"I'm going to do the voice of the captain. They're going to do it in the style of a Japanese anime and I'm totally stoked" says Butler.
The official site for "300" director Zack Snyder's adaptation of acclaimed Alan Moore graphic novel "Watchmen" has been updated with the first photos showing off five characters.
Click below for larger versions of Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian (absolutely perfect), Patrick Wilson as Nite Owl (too Batman-esque), Matthew Goode as Ozymandias (could've been better, but more believable than the comic's purple mini-skirt), Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach (spot on), and Malin Akerman as Silk Spectre (spot on).
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The film itself opens one year precisely from today - March 6th 2009: