Superhero Filmmakers: Where's Our Watchmen?

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I can't believe they are still trying to do this as a movie.

Alex in SF, Friday, 9 March 2007 23:12 (seventeen years ago) link

well you know Hollywood, loathe to let fo of "hot properties" and all that

Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 9 March 2007 23:13 (seventeen years ago) link

Yeah, they should do it as a Broadway musical!

HI DERE, Friday, 9 March 2007 23:13 (seventeen years ago) link

I have a very dim memory of once making a poor attempt to write lyrics for a watchmen musical on ILC.

chap, Friday, 9 March 2007 23:15 (seventeen years ago) link

Haha I was thinking that it might be possible as an HBO series. But you can't cram 12 very dense issues into a 3 hour movie.

Alex in SF, Friday, 9 March 2007 23:15 (seventeen years ago) link

HBO series is a better idea than a feature film - the book is definitely served well by its episodic nature (every other issue focused on a diff't character, etc.)

Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 9 March 2007 23:18 (seventeen years ago) link

Also no studio pressure to shoehorn action sequences into what is essentially a detective story/character piece.

chap, Friday, 9 March 2007 23:21 (seventeen years ago) link

haha

"shouldn't there be a car chase here?"

Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 9 March 2007 23:23 (seventeen years ago) link

What? Doctor Manhattan only blows up ONE guy's head?

chap, Friday, 9 March 2007 23:28 (seventeen years ago) link

Superman Returns is going to be legendary

Dr. Superman, Sunday, 11 March 2007 16:07 (seventeen years ago) link

One movie doesn't make much sense but a trilogy might make more (than a TV series also).

blueski, Sunday, 11 March 2007 17:09 (seventeen years ago) link

Christ, this is now actually in the production? I really can't see much good coming out of it. I mean, the V for Vendetta movie was better than I expected, but at least the comic had a straigthforward plot that was relatively easy to trim down to two hours, which isn't the case with Watchmen. Imagine, for example, if they decide to leave out the whole pirate comic story, since it doesn't contribute to the main plot.

Tuomas, Monday, 12 March 2007 15:23 (seventeen years ago) link

Is the Cruise as Ozymandias thing for real? Because that'd be a brilliant cating choice! He just needs to do the smug thing he's so good at.

Tuomas, Monday, 12 March 2007 15:26 (seventeen years ago) link

yeah why would you cast aaron eckhart when you can pay 400x as much for an idiot loon who needs platform shoes and hair dye to even start to look right for the part?

I'm going to give you guys credit that you can go compare and contrast aaron eckhart's resume with the character of adrian veidt without my help

TOMBOT, Monday, 12 March 2007 15:32 (seventeen years ago) link

at any rate yeah this is going to be completely god-awful

TOMBOT, Monday, 12 March 2007 15:33 (seventeen years ago) link

Well Zack Snyder is directing it so I wouldn't expect anything else.

Alex in SF, Monday, 12 March 2007 15:33 (seventeen years ago) link

Cruise it not playing Ozymandius, I think it was just a rumour. I read somewhere that Snyder intends to include the pirate comic, which I would've thought would be the first thing to go.

chap, Monday, 12 March 2007 15:34 (seventeen years ago) link

Whoops, I should've read that interview before posting, because the pirate thing is mentioned there:

You’re really going to shoot the Tales from the Black Freighter, huh?

That’s my hope. My hope is to shoot the Tales from the Black Freighter as a supplement for the DVD, for the ‘real’ Watchmen.


Funnily enough, if they leave it out, that'll make the story more open-ended than the supposedly open "I leave into your hands" ending of the comic, since the pirate story serves as (among other things) Moore's condemnation of Veidt's actions.

Tuomas, Monday, 12 March 2007 15:38 (seventeen years ago) link

I'm actually glad Greengrass isn't doing this either, actually. He's a million times better than Snyder, but I'd rather see him make his proposed film about Vietnam War Ambush/Dow Chemical Protest or even the third Bourne film.

Alex in SF, Monday, 12 March 2007 15:39 (seventeen years ago) link

three hours might be do-able, but not 100-120 minutes.

That one guy that quit, Monday, 12 March 2007 15:46 (seventeen years ago) link

Superman Returns is going to be legendary, unless it's a Waterworld, but I doubt it.

yeah, this was my fave bit, among S_P's many genius postings here

kingfish, Monday, 12 March 2007 15:52 (seventeen years ago) link

Superman Returns is better than Waterworld. Marginally.

chap, Monday, 12 March 2007 15:54 (seventeen years ago) link

Oh that's such a bunch of BULLSHIT what you just said

TOMBOT, Monday, 12 March 2007 15:56 (seventeen years ago) link

All it is is Supes lifting progressively heavier objects with some boring stuff in between. I liked the bit with the plane, though.

chap, Monday, 12 March 2007 16:12 (seventeen years ago) link

it comes down to kevin spacey vs. dennis hopper, though. waterworld was a lot more enjoyable.

TOMBOT, Monday, 12 March 2007 16:21 (seventeen years ago) link

three months pass...

http://www.fortunecity.com/tatooine/niven/142/img/op4401.jpg

UPDATES:

-Filming allegedly begins in September with a modified (inferior, apprently) modification of David Hayter's script.
-No one is cast yet, but Gerard Butler will still be in the film, Cruise still possible for Veidt, and maybe: Thomas Jane, Keanu (Dr. Manhattan?), Jude Law (Veidt).

I want Mel Gibson for the Comedian.

poortheatre, Sunday, 1 July 2007 01:45 (sixteen years ago) link

yes, a modified modification.

poortheatre, Sunday, 1 July 2007 01:45 (sixteen years ago) link

Jesus H. Just film it, release it direct to DVD and ignore it.

Ned Raggett, Sunday, 1 July 2007 01:50 (sixteen years ago) link

HBO really needs to wise up and buy the rights to this

river wolf, Sunday, 1 July 2007 02:42 (sixteen years ago) link

http://www.rorschachsjournal.com/

latebloomer, Sunday, 1 July 2007 03:01 (sixteen years ago) link

HBO needs to wise up and buy rights to a lot of comics. this, but i want an HBO series of 100 bullets really badly.

max, Sunday, 1 July 2007 03:07 (sixteen years ago) link

animated spawn to thread. (you were so much better than the live action grubkiss)
m.

msp, Sunday, 1 July 2007 03:59 (sixteen years ago) link

but i want an HBO series of 100 bullets really badly.

otm x 100

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Sunday, 1 July 2007 05:13 (sixteen years ago) link

three weeks pass...

SPOILERS!

One thing I've thought about the movie version is, how the hell are they gonna do the ending after WTC? Okay, V for Vendetta had V blowing up the houses of parliament, but it wasn't implied that anyone was in there (except maybe the bad guys). You'd think some producer would find Moore's ending a bit too shocking for public sensibility, especially since Veidt gets away with it.

Tuomas, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 13:07 (sixteen years ago) link

This is one of many problematic things about a film adaptation (as is the book's sense that nuclear war is otherwise inevitable).

The Real Dirty Vicar, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 14:25 (sixteen years ago) link

You'd think some producer would find Moore's ending a bit too shocking for public sensibility, especially since Veidt gets away with it.

how is this different from dick cheney IRL (/cheeky)

El Tomboto, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 14:27 (sixteen years ago) link

Adapting Alan Moore movies does not have a good track record. I do not want to see a Watchmen movie ever ever ever.

That said, Alan Moore (along with Daniel Clowes and the guy that did Maus whose name I forget) are going to be on the Simpsons as themselves Oct. 7th.

jessie monster, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 14:47 (sixteen years ago) link

What, holy shit! Is that gonna be some special comics issue?

Tuomas, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 15:59 (sixteen years ago) link

This is one of many problematic things about a film adaptation (as is the book's sense that nuclear war is otherwise inevitable).

To be honest, the whole "let's scare them to peace with a massive alien" bit was always the weakest, least credible part of the comic. I've never understood whether Moore really thought it was clever (he does have a tendency to do pompous, over-the-top finales), or whether it was meant to be a homage to ridiculous old-school superhero comic endings.

Tuomas, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 16:05 (sixteen years ago) link

Alan Moore (along with Daniel Clowes and the guy that did Maus whose name I forget) are going to be on the Simpsons as themselves Oct. 7th.

!!! wtf

(was Grant Morrison unavailable?)

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 16:15 (sixteen years ago) link

I wonder how many Simpsons viewers will mistake Moore for some random homeless dude.

jessie monster, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 16:20 (sixteen years ago) link

To be honest, the whole "let's scare them to peace with a massive alien" bit was always the weakest, least credible part of the comic. I've never understood whether Moore really thought it was clever (he does have a tendency to do pompous, over-the-top finales), or whether it was meant to be a homage to ridiculous old-school superhero comic endings.

-- Tuomas, Tuesday, July 24, 2007 4:05 PM

The funny thing is that I read it for the first time many years ago, and for some reason my fuzzy brain managed to "remember" an ending where the good guys saved the world!

Needless to say, I was pretty shocked when I re-read it.

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 16:22 (sixteen years ago) link

To be honest, the whole "let's scare them to peace with a massive alien" bit was always the weakest, least credible part of the comic. I've never understood whether Moore really thought it was clever (he does have a tendency to do pompous, over-the-top finales), or whether it was meant to be a homage to ridiculous old-school superhero comic endings.

-- Tuomas, Tuesday, July 24, 2007 4:05 PM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

i think it's more the latter, but either way it doesn't bother me much considering one of the novel's central characters is a nude, radioactive blue man.

latebloomer, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 16:22 (sixteen years ago) link

give more a little credit, I don't think realism was what he was going for with the book - its more a hyper-real interpretation of comic book tropes, kinda a halfway point between genre conventions and believable "realism"

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 16:27 (sixteen years ago) link

I mean I don't think anything in the book is remotely "credible" and why should it be.

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 16:27 (sixteen years ago) link

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ag44dRO8LEA

latebloomer, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 16:28 (sixteen years ago) link

i think it's more the latter, but either way it doesn't bother me much considering one of the novel's central characters is a nude, radioactive blue man.

Yeah, but Moore puts a lot of effort to make him into a believable radioactive blue man, whereas the ending somehow feels much less credible (for me, the fact that Moore had to back it up with the bit about the psychic's brain hints even he kinda doubted the whole resolution).

(xx-post)

Note that I'm not talking about literal realism rather than internal credibility. Even though Watchmen has some supernatural stuff in it, the way people act, and the way things begin to escalate into war is presented in a relatively realistic way, whereas compared to that Veidt's final resolution and the fact that it works (for now) seems much less believable.

Tuomas, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 16:34 (sixteen years ago) link

Really don't want to see this happen at all...this and that Confederacy of Dunces movie they've been 'making' forever that stars (*cries*) Will Ferrel in a fat suit as Ignatius.

Abbott, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 22:33 (sixteen years ago) link

waht

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 22:35 (sixteen years ago) link

I'm with Tuomas on this one, actually.

Who knew.

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 22:37 (sixteen years ago) link


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