Superhero Filmmakers: Where's Our Watchmen?

he's trying to save the world because he wants to prove that he's the only one who can (hence the self-important codename "Ozymandius").

Except that the name "Ozymandias" (as opposed to "Ramses II") is only remembered due to Shelley's poem (which is quoted in the comic):

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Picking the name "Ozymandias" is most likely foreshadowing on Moore's part, but you could also argue that Veidt must've known about the poem, and that he picked the name knowing subconsciously that he would ultimately fail.

Picking the name "Ozymandias" is most likely foreshadowing on Moore's part

You don't say.

nedzing!

I fished out my copy of the deluxe Graffiti Designs' Watchmen and some of the notes are kinda funny in retrospect. Bear in mind that these were shorthand notes on fleshing out the characters and not on casting decisions.

Dr. Manhattan: Bowie, Elric, permanent 25 going on 44

Ozymandias: Barry Foster (which is the most spot-on description ever), Michaelangelo's David, Julio Iglesias (!), white suit, high forehead, blond hair, Redford, Kennedy, rich, perfect, loner, sees world as organism with him at center

Nite Owl: Ordinary, fallible, human, heroic though not naturally courageous, Paul Newman, Furrillo (a.k.a. Daniel Travanti from Hill Street Blues)

Rorschach: Psychopath or saint?, quintessential Ditko, wild card, Bronson

The Comedian: Dirty Harry meets Nick Fury meets Hannibal of A-Team, one man version of the Dirty Tricks division of the C.I.A.

Silk Spectre: deprived childhood, Dunaway, Streep

see, now that's a cast. redford, newman, bronson, eastwood & streep. like at least 20 years ago. and, uh, elric. why didn't they go that way?

I think Ozymandias looks effeminate in his costume only because all the superheroes in Watchmen are supposed to look a bit silly. Shakey is right that inside the comic's universe Veidt is supposed to be seen as this perfect humanist superman, not as a suspicious pansy.

Though eighties was also the decade when effeminate guys were considered hot. I guess Gibbons just drew him according to the beauty standards of the era.

he's kinda effeminate-seeming in the comic, but in a radiant, manly, many-large-teeth sort of way. movie's portrayal seems more like depraved nazi bureaucrat

I hope they haven't made him too villainous in the movie, because that would ruin the surprise for those not familiar with the story. When I first read the comic I never guessed he'd be the bad guy.

THANK YOU FOR RUINING 2009

Guys Ozymandias is not a midget. Maybe Cruise would have made a good Big Figure.

― Pancakes Hackman, Friday, February 20, 2009 12:20 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

you realize that like every male lead in hollywood is pint-sized right? they have ways of shooting around that.

joeks, bruv.

see, now that's a cast. redford, newman, bronson, eastwood & streep. like at least 20 years ago. and, uh, elric. why didn't they go that way?

Because "movie stars" make piss-poor superheroes, esp. in movies like this one.

RogerEbert.com editor Jim Emerson on approaching the book and the movie as separate things.

Really well put together!

The presenter doesn't really look like 80s though, more like an 00s idea of the 80s. And it's a bit too obvious that "Veidt Music Network" should have Veidt as number 1.

But otherwise it's cool.

"Remember when VMN actually still showed music videos?" = best Youtube comment ever.

Because "movie stars" make piss-poor superheroes, esp. in movies like this one.

― Pancakes Hackman

??? not sure what you mean. thought keaton and bale were at least decent as batman. besides them, i can't think of many movie stars who've played superheros. cept in shit movies like batman forever and daredevil that probably couldn't have been saved no matter who was in 'em.

and what "movies like this one" are there? as far as i know, this is the first big-budget revisionist/subversive superhero flick.

this is the first big-budget revisionist/subversive superhero flick.

An argument could be made for The Incredibles, though it's coming at it from quite a different direction.

The "Sub QUantum Intrinsic Device" thing sounds interesting...

Bale was hardly a "movie star" at the time of Batman Begins. What was he most known for? A movie he made when he was 12, and American Psycho? Keaton, arguably, was a movie star, but certainly not of the Redford/Newman/Eastwood caliber. Otherwise, yeah, Clooney, Kilmer, Affleck, Halle Berry, Jennifer Garner . . . all of them have made terrible, terrible superheroes. If you want people to concentrate on the characters, use relative unknowns. Would the first "Superman" have been better with a movie star instead of unknown Chris Reeve?

as far as i know, this is the first big-budget revisionist/subversive superhero flick.

Argubaly "The Dark Knight," but OK, fair enough.

Anyway, lol fire:

Did you have previous experience with weapons?

I got to go to the firing range quite a few times. It was a blast. I loved that part of it... There was a flame thrower range in the warehouse, that was a trip... The day that I did the scene where I have to keep the flame on this guy for ten seconds, do a ten count in your head, which is an exceedingly long time to pointing a flame thrower at some guy who has a little gel on him. You're just nailing him with these flames, and I kept pulling up early. I thought I'm going to really hurt this guy and I can't deal with that. And Zack's like, "Do it again man, and you're enjoying this too."

I kept having to redo it because I was pulled up. And I'm smiling and having my little moment but, so finally the last time I did it, I held it on this guy, but in the mean time I'd done it so many times that the rice paddy had been covered with gasoline from shooting this thing. So I'm burning this guy up and I do it and I'm like, "yeah you fucking bastard," and I look down and there's flames coming at me, and it comes right up my leg and there's no one near me. I'm in the middle of a rice paddy. And I look up and I see Zack and his eyes are this big (makes big circles over his eyes) and all I can think is "I can't ruin the costume."

The guys did so much work on the costume and I thought I'm just going to have to put it out myself. It was a nightmare (laughs). They're imperfect heroes. I kept the cigar lit the whole time, I just sucking on that.

Jackie Earle Haley (Rorschach) interrupts:
Rorschach would have been like "27, 28..." (Laughs)

Otherwise, yeah, Clooney, Kilmer, Affleck, Halle Berry, Jennifer Garner . . . all of them have made terrible, terrible superheroes.

cage too. but i don't blame the actors. all the folks you mention starred in irredeemably shitty movies. and while chris reeve was exc for superman, that doesn't really prove that serious actor-types are unsuited to superhero roles. my point about the cast wasn't that they're big stars (though they are/were), but that they're enormously capable, charismatic, sort-of-superheroic screen personalities. would have liked to see a bit more of that kind of firepower (charisma and acting chops) in the watchmen cast.

At least Kelly Leak appears to get the "Hrrm" right.

what the hell is going on with those music cues

I know, sounds like the music from a bad 90s SF tv show.

Also he couldn't sound much more different from the Rorscach in my head.

they're probly temp/tracking cues

Rorschach is nearly creepy/pathetic enough.

rorschach voice is crazy retarded. doesn't sound at all natural, rather like some nerd affecting a "tough & creepy" tone. like bale's batman voice in the dark knight. :(

mask is cool though

OTOH, if the idea is that rorschach really IS a nerd trying (and failing) to act "dangerous", then congrats

rorshach =

Yeah, I do hope the "rough" voice is supposed to be just a part of Rorschach's tough guy act, and if/when they show flashbacks of him pre-Rorschach, he'll have a squeaky geek voice or something.

They do that with lettering in the comics. Oh, and balloon borders.

Speaking of balloon borders, I'm not sure if everyone's noticed this, but in Watchmen in the scenes that take place in the 1940s the speech balloons are kinda soft and cloud-shaped, whereas the 1980s speech balloons are rougher and angular, and the 1960s balloons are somewhere between those two.

That's some crazy attention to detail, I didn't even notice it until I read the comic for the fourth time or something.

Can't wait to find out what they do for the

PASSWORD INCOMPLETE: DO YOU WISH TO ADD RIDER?

scene

If they don't get that one right I'm boycotting this motherfucker

Best yet:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3549/3308946065_61b604fa06_o.jpg

hey wait, why didn't Dr Manhattan just magic up enough food for everyone

I'm guessing he couldn't be bothered.

fuckin' guy

those are some weird lookin starving kids

OTOH, if the idea is that rorschach really IS a nerd trying (and failing) to act "dangerous",

thats the impression i always got from the book

FAILING to act dangerous?

What?

with his voice, not with his psychotic killings/maimings

he's the dylan klebold of grim n gritty

Well, yeah he's a maladjusted little pipsqueak without the mask and lift shoes, and maybe he's coasting on his rep when everyone is intimidated by his very presence, but I can't recall anything that suggests people ever failed to take Rorschach seriously as a threat. Eric, or whatever his secret identity is, sure, no one cares about that guy.

Uh he's not exactly shy and retiring when he's unmasked and in prison.

i never read him that way. i always figured that there was no element of pose to rorschach - that he was very "pure" is his creepy, psychotic anti-heroism. that he wasn't trying to impress or scare anyone, rather his basic character was scary by nature in ways he didn't even understand. i took the "spooky" word bubbles as indicative of a pathological lack of affect, a genuinely weird speaking voice, and the muffling effect of his mask. comics give you a lot of room for interpretation tho...