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Quint interviews Zack Snyder about 300 and WATCHMEN at Comic Con!!!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with the first transcribed interview of Comic-Con 2006. As of right this very moment (Saturday night) I have done 11 one on one interviews (and have gotten one Academy Award Dirty Joke, but more on that later) and have 4 more scheduled for tomorrow. So, 1 of 15 and I start off with a bang.
I've been pretty vocal about my position on the DAWN OF THE DEAD remake (good movie, shouldn't be called DAWN OF THE DEAD) and haven't really known what the hell to expect out of 300. I honestly viewed it as a copy of Robert Rodriguez's Frank Miller adaptation SIN CITY and expected it to look exactly the same... The footage they showed at the panel was astonishing. Probably one of the most beautiful pieces of film I've seen in a long, long time. This film feels open and epic, whereas Robert's film is kind of down and dirty, intimate. Some truly striking imagery is in here and people went nuts for it at the con, asking for the footage to be replayed over and over again.
Snyder is also directing WATCHMEN, Alan Moore's "Citizen Kane of Comic Books," and luckily for us he talks quite freely about his take on the material and what his plans are or the flick. Enjoy the interview (and that badass 300 poster behind him)!
QUINT: I've been coming to Comic-Con for 7 years now and I don't think I've seen a reaction like that since Sam Raimi showed the Doc Ock operation room sequence from SPIDER-MAN 2 here... and he didn't run it 3 times.
ZACK SNYDER: Oh, really? You know, the thing with it... I like watching it. I was like, maybe we should just... I didn't know they were going to show it again right away, that was crazy. I was like, "Maybe we should watch it again... okay, here it comes..."
QUINT: I was going to start out asking about how close you stuck to Frank Miller's original, but now that I've seen the footage that question is already answered. I mean, I recognized single panels from the book, much like SIN CITY. Although, I think SIN CITY lacks that epic scope this film has because it's much more intimate...
ZACK SNYDER: Absolutely and an urban setting, you know? You're kinda like, "A brick building. I know what that is..."
QUINT: Who's doing the effects for 300?
ZACK SNYDER: It's a bunch of different houses. A company called Hybrid, a company called Fitzpatrick, there's Screaming Death Monkey... there's a bunch of other ones, too. Everyone's doing an awesome job... There's Meteor.
It's funny. The hardest part is having to educate the visual effects companies not to do reality, right? Because normally... (he picks up his cup and drops it back down onto the table) if I'm doing a CG cup, I know I've gotten right when it looks like a cup. You can tell. But for our movie, it's like "No... it's too real." I'll be like, "What the fuck? What is this mountain? This looks like a mountain." And they're like, "Ah, well... we took a... okay, we're sorry."
QUINT: But you had them make it more like Frank Miller's drawings.
ZACK SNYDER: Yeah. Grant, who is one of the visual effects guys. He does these... I forgot to announce (on the panel) that we're doing a making of book, Dark Horse is releasing... Debbie got mad at me...
DEBBIE: (sitting a table over looks up) I was mad at you.
ZACK SNYDER: I was like, "Oh, Jeez! I forgot to do that!" So, you guys have the exclusive now! (laughs)
QUINT: I hate to keep bringing SIN CITY into this, but I love that kind making of book, especially for films as high on the visual effects side of things as SIN CITY...
ZACK SNYDER: I like that book, too. When they came to me, they were like, "We want to put the script in the book." I go, "I don't want the script in there, because..."
QUINT: Then it'd just be the SIN CITY book.
ZACK SNYDER: Yeah. I was like, "You guys have enough material to fill a freakin' whole book." So they were like, "Maybe excerpts, not the whole script." Because I want more info. When you put the script in, half the book is just that.
So, anyway... Grant, he would build... he made these mini-books that we'd send to the vendors that'd explain how to make a rock, how to make blood, you know? They're like these little novels about our version... The blood itself, the blood... we even took some blood scanned off the front of the book, like that (he points to the 300 logo on the poster behind him, which is the same font and logo from Miller's book)... The shot where Eli punches the kid in the face? That's all 2-D blood. It's cooler to do 2-D blood than this wet, fake 3-D blood, so a lot of this is this cool 2-D weird, like moving through weird space. It's pretty cool. I'm pretty excited about that.
QUINT: I have to bring up WATCHMEN before they pull me away...
ZACK SNYDER: Ah, yeah. Of course.
QUINT: The one question more than any other that is on fan's minds is how the hell are you going to fit that entire story into one movie?
ZACK SNYDER: Hrmm...
QUINT: I know you probably don't want to go into much detail, but...
ZACK SNYDER: No, no, no, no, no... I don't mind talking about it. I love it. It's an awesome thing. It's a crazy and strange turn of events that it ends up on my desk with someone going, "Oh, you want to make this into a movie?" I'm like, "What? Are you kidding me?" Seems like a mistake, but also one that I'm not going to tell anyone about because, you know, I'm probably over-sensitive... maybe too much. You know, my experience with the material so far and the different drafts that had been written, including Alex (Tse)'s latest and the book itself... When I was introduced to it in-motion. I hadn't read the other drafts when it was in development.
Now, when we started they were like, "Hey, what do you think?" Boom, here's all the drafts in a big pile next to me.
Basically I got the book and the script and put them next together. For me, my copy of WATCHMEN is highlighted and things are written all over it. My first order of business, and it's a thing that I can't say anyone has got a handle on, except for me, is getting the ideas of the book into the screenplay. The (David) Hayter draft to some extent does and Alex's to some extent does, but I don't think anyone has cracked it.
The problem of WATCHMEN isn't the mystery of who is killing who, it's not the love story, it's not the betrayals or anything like that. I think the problem is that the screenwriters, and maybe rightly so... the mechanics is the first thing they worry about, you know? Of course, if you don't have the mechanics you can't hang story on it.
For me, the work of WATCHMEN is you take those stories and you figure out how you get at the essence of the book. The book is transcendent of the story. The philosophy of the book... that's what needs to get put back in the screenplays, in my opinion.
I'm waiting to see what Alex does next. I think beyond that my hope is to... now that we're finishing 300 hundred, my hope is to really set some good time aside to really roll up my sleeves and go, "Not only here's the ideas, here's the frames I love. This HAS to be in the movie..."
QUINT: Are you wanting to go for a more realistic, less stylized vision of the world?
ZACK SNYDER: No, I don't know that the filmmakers in the past who have been attached to this... I just don't know what their take on the actual frames were. I gotta believe that they kind of really... I mean, I don't know Paul (Greengrass). I like his movies, but he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would take a graphic novel and film it, you know what I'm saying? It's going to be verite-ish. Whereas for me, my style is, like, graphic novel. I want to be able to get as much as the graphic novel in the movie as I can. I want the experience of watching the movie to be similar to the experience of reading the graphic novel, but also be its own thing.
I think Alan (Moore) has said himself that the object of a book is to be a book, to be read by the fire and curl up with on a Saturday night. The object of a movie is different.
QUINT: Sometimes they mix together, though.
ZACK SNYDER: Absolutely!
QUINT: With a movie like Sin City and hopefully 300, the fans don't want to see someone's alternate take on this material. They want to see moving versions of their beloved comics. They want to see Frank Miller's SIN CITY, Frank Miller's 300.
ZACK SNYDER: Absolutely, absolutely. But I think the trick is... What we've done with 300, the connective tissue that a movie needs... that's the thing. The connective tissue has to be in the spirit of what was drawn. That's how you make the experience continue.
There you have it, squirts. That's it. Short, I know, but hopefully you have an inkling of what this guy will do. If WATCHMEN looks half as cool and gorgeous and breath-taking as the footage of 300 I saw today, then we're in for a classic.
Hope you enjoyed the chat! Back with more soon!!!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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he's wearing a Crye Precision Major League Infidel shirt. He's earning major brownie points.
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was it based on a true story or true events. this whole true thing is shady nowadays
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Spartan and Gates of Fire into google.
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I don't want the movie to be Frank Miller's version or Dave Gibbons's version, at least not exactly. Sin City was fun but I think it proves the silliness of adapting a comic so literally. In the spirit of the comic, capturing what's so great about the comic? Yes. A moving version of the comic? Fuck no. I already have the comic, now I want to see a movie. I do think Greengrass's "verite" approach to Watchmen sounded more interesting, but then again I have more faith in Snyder because there's no way in hell I should like a remake of Dawn of the Dead, but that guy pulled it off. So I look forward to these movies.
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but certain parts of his comments make sense . . . mostly the part about getting at the core of the book as the beginnings of adapting it. If he pulls off 300 (which it seems like he will) then I'll have faith in the Watchmen movie.
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Doesn't seem to be live just yet... http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/300/hd/ but the link for 'making of' feature 5 is http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/300/feature5/
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http://latinoreview.com/scriptreview.php?id=27 Are Alex Tse and Zach Snyder really ready to become the most hated people in the history of comic book movies?
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Story is the heart of WATCHMEN, it's very important, it's the backbone of the novel, the three way love triangle between Manhatten, NightOwl and Spectre, each one of them reflects "philosophy" of the book and the conflict within in, the different worlds in the book, THE PAST, MARS and PRESENT EARTH match the three characters too, everything revolves around them, i think that's the way to crack the book.
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And I would not want to be the poor bastard putting money into that film. It was a good read for sure, but nowhere did it look like a viable financial investment.. unless you add a bunch of uber action sequences in for Joe Sixpack (but then that kinda strays away from the regular schmo in a costume concepts).
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I hope it's good I really do...being Greek I have been uber pissed at how they have butchered the history in these "historical" movies. And Leonidas and his Spartans has always been my favorite battle in Greek history.
Μολών Λαβέ.
BTW Dawn of the Dead remake was ok but in no way compared to the original, shouldn't have been called DOTD. -
He sounds like a thoughtful guy who's trying to figure out a grand puzzle. And that puzzle is, how to respectfully bring The Watchmen to the screen. He has the graphic novel in his hands, which he has scribbled notes in. He has a stack of all the various screenplay attempts that have been done. And yet, he feels that something is missing from all the drafts he's read. I think he's being honest here with this, guys. He understands that this is not going to be an easy graphic novel to bring to the movies. And it may not even happen under him, despite his best efforts. He doesn't sound like an idiot, nor did he make any grandiose, Hollywood hype promises. It sounded like he's been thinking through this carefully, and he can't tell us anything more because he himself is still trying to figure it all out. To be honest, other than as an HBO miniseries, I myself cannot see how The Watchmen could be properly translated to the movies.
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"If WATCHMEN looks half as cool and gorgeous and breath-taking as the footage of 300 I saw today, then we're in for a classic."
Yeah, because only an asshole like you would call a film a classic if it looks good, regardless of story, right?
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But it will in no way reflect the comic's power or intelligence.
It'll be an abbreviated, ADD-afflicted action-fest, devoid of emotion and subtlety.
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I honestly think that Zach Snyder is a director that people should be watching closely. As someone mentioned above, DAWN OF THE DEAD should not have been any good by (it's a somewhat unnecessary remake of an absolutely classic movie). Yet, Snyder managed to make the concept completely original and completely fresh (not to mention DAMN scary). I was really interested in Paul Greengrass' take on WATCHMEN simply because, hearing him talk about it; he seemed to really "get" the material. However, with Snyder on board, while I'm not super-excited yet (because I've only seen one film he's done), I'm not worried either. I have a feeling this guy knows exactly what he's doing.
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He was planning on shooting the epic moments in super fast cuts, just hinting at was there, kinda like Bourne Supremacy, but with that movie it sort of works, with Watchmen you need the whole canvas. I'm please Snyder is trying to get the philosophy fo the comic accross not just the story, but really I think it should just be left until HBO gets a chance.
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Sorry but it was one of the worst if not THE worst remakes hollywood ever shitted out. When I heard he was attached to the Watchmen, I was very worried. Not so today. He seems to get it in a way others before him didn't. Also he seems to know he doesn't have a good script yet. Maybe there is hope for this project yet.
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Unfortunately I like the older version better. And I'm in the camp of those who've owned Watchmen for a while and read it multiple times. Faith. It's what a fan of the book needs to have. This project IS getting made. No turning back now. So we can only hope, that he is going to do good justice to the legendary novel. I have it, faith, do you guys?
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Ain't no way general audiences are going to pay to see a superhero movie where none of them do anything superheroic. This is a soap opera with silly costumes. People aren't ready for preachy, talksy superheroes. Lookit Hulk and Singerman Returns -- at least those had a few action pieces. Then lookit X3. Watchmen *can* be reasonably adapted, but it won't make bank. Folks aren't ready for it.
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Why does everything popular have to be turned into a movie? The pacing and chapterization of the Watchmen is perfectly suited for an HBO 12-part mini series. If it follows the mystery/history story properly, it couls pull in fans and non-fans alike making the DVD sales alone profitable. Cutting back on the true story would be like neutering a breeding dog before its balls drop.
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i finally got around to reading it the other day. i thought it was pretty good, better than the Sam Hamm script. i'm fine with the orbital laser weapon replacing the fake alien invasion and even Dan at the end killing Adrian with his owl-a-rang. gives the story a good exciting kill the baddie resolution type thing which all good summer action movies have to have. all the most important scenes are there, from the beginning to the middle and the end. the only thing that didn't make sense was giving Laurie super-powers, with that sling shot energy beam. 'cause at the end, hayter keeps the scene where dan's asking adrian about the assassination attempt and adrian says, i guess i would have caught the bullet and dan's like, no, really, and adrian smiles. and then he has the scene where laurie confronts adrian and says, you're an asshole and she tries to kill him, but instead of trying to shoot him with a gun, SHE THROWS HER SLINGSHOT ENERGY BEAM AT HIM! AND HE CATCHES IT! THE SCENE PLAYS OUT EXACTLY LIKE THE BOOK, BUT WITH THE SLINGSHOT BEAM INSTEAD OF A BULLET! he keeps the earlier scene with adrian talking about catching a bullet but then later instead of a bullet, he catches an energy beam. it didn't make sense. catching a bullet, fine, it's possible, but catching a pulse of energy? He even keeps the line, "hm, another thing I wasn't sure would work." that whole sequence was weird and weak. other than that, i really think this script would have made a great movie.
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and the other thing i didn't like in hayter's script, the focus on the beatle's abby road. when dan and laurie are in the owl ship making love, he has dan playing "The End" from Abby Road. It has to be The End because that's the only song with the line "and in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you give." i imagine that scene having some slow moody blues song, maybe billie holliday's you're my thrill, as mentioned in the book, but instead he has dan playing abbey road's the end. any of you heard this song? with ringo's pounding bass drum and george and john's slamming guitar riffs and paul's screeching lead vocal? that's not the song i'd put behind a tender love scene. i'm sure this would have been cleaned up in a later draft or in the actual fimling, but i think this scene was hayter being lazy. he thought the beatles quote would be perfect way to get the goverments of the world to work together, without thinking through how dumb it would be to actually have that song booming in the background while dan and laurie are making love. other than that though, i thought this script would have made a fine movie.
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This movie probably won't do too well at the BO unless they inject mindless numbing action scenes into it (I hope to God Tse's "Dr. Manhattan fighting Islamic terrorists" crap is cut. Sounds AWFUL). I'd much rather have a great Watchmen movie that makes 70 mil and disappears (of course I'd rather have a good Watchmen movie that shatters every record in the book . . .). It's not like any Watchmen fan would ever want to see a sequel, so in the end the box office won't really matter to us fans.
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Watchmen is unfilmable.
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I still don't think WATCHMEN should be made, because it probably can't be made effectively as a two-hour film. Maybe, as has often been repeated, it could work as an HBO mini-series. I am a huge Alan Moore fan, and WATCHMEN was a big influence on me when it first came out (and it still influnces me today). It is a very important work to me. As such, I would be very unhappy to see a failed film version. It would just leave a bad taste in my mouth. Basically, I would prefer not to see a movie version made. Still, it is occasionally fun to speculate on casting and such. Snyder seems to be a thoughtful, well-intentioned guy, but that does not help the fact that WATCHMEN is basically impossible to do as a feature film.
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you betcha its true...check out my full take on the footage @ http://www.movietack.net/r945-comic-con-frank-millers-300-movie-news.html
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sorry 2 deviate from the topic at hand. just felt compelled to note this after coming across his obit. in the LA times
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If you look at the comic, each chapter is only really twenty or so pages. Considering one comic page would take a minute of film at the most, that narrows it down to a six hour miniseries. Then you have all the stuff that can be taken out. The newsstand guy and the comics kid have to be in there for the fans, but no need to cut to them every couple of minutes. The Vietnam stuff would be a bit ridiculous cause that would make the characters well into thier sixties. Just focus on Rorschach investigating, Nite Owl and Silk Spectre falling in love, Dr.Manhatten on Mars and have it all come to a conclusion with Ozymandias, and I think you could get a good two and a half hour movie out of this.
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I believe that no one will be happy with this film no matter who makes it and no matter who likes it, who hates it, how many Oscars it wins or how much money it makes. Even if Alan Moore says "this is the best movie ever made!" many people will hate this movie because the expectations for it are at a stellar height. Because it's a great and comples work. Which no movie or HBO series will ever capture 'just right.' I have my opinion on how I would do it, but even if I had the opportunity myself, I wouldn't dare. Every time I read it, I'm a different person and the comic is a different story, with different highlights and focus. It's just a great comic. Even if it was done frame for frame, word for word no matter the cost and the running length, it will divide audiences of the comic and the film. If it's going to be made, I'll probably see it. I truely hope Snyder springboards some new talent with casting because if I see famaliar faces just reading lines of dialogue and if he's relying on style to pull this off, it's not going to please me. Does anyone have any suggestions for casting? What about Rorschach for example? Would Dr. Manhattan have full frontal nudity in the film? And who the hell would be The Comedian without being extremely annoying and irritating? Snyder may have some 'ideas' and scribbles in his personal copy, but the details will make or break this film. And the love story is VERY IMPORTANT! I hope Snyder has the heart in addition to the addreline to pull this off. I have my doubts, very much.
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Reading this interview really made me want to bang out the Watchmen script I've been wanting to write for ages as fast as I can and send it to Snyder somehow. What he's saying about the scripts totally clicks with me, I think this is the one comic book movie that cannot afford to deviate from the source material at any cost. Zack Snyder: If you are reading this, give me a sign that you would give my script a look if I could complete it by the end of August. If nothing else, I need a good excuse to start tearing out the extraneous pages of my copy of the Watchmen; that's the first thing I need to do before I start writing. I want more than anything for this movie to be a masterpiece, the type of comic book film Stanley Kubrick would make. It has to be to the comic book film what the Watchmen was to comic books. I think I could do it too, I have the film in my head honed down to the most important elements. However, with a full time job, a full time girlfriend and an upcoming move I really need a reason to devote all my spare time to writing a spec. script that will most likely get usurped by Alex Tse a few days earlier. YaknowhatImean? ZACK SNYDER, I AM YOUR MAN. I CAN WRITE THE WATCHMEN SCRIPT YOU ARE WAITING FOR. The rest of you, carry on.
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There have, of course, been a lot of ideas about this, and even if you do not think that a WATCHMEN movie should be made, it is still fun to play the casting game. That said, here are some ideas: ***Rorschach- Gary Sinise (Rorschach needs to be short but in good condition, crazy and threatening. Sinise fits the bill, in my view);*** Nite Owl II- Alec Baldwin (some have mentioned John Cusack. I have felt that he is still too young to play Dan Dreiburg/Nite Owl II. The actors and characters are supposed to be middle-aged super-heroes struggling to get back into action after retirement. Their age is part of the pathos of the story. Thus, the actors cast should not be too young. Cusack is, of course, getting a bit older since talk of this film began many years ago, and so is becoming a better candidate for this role, but I will stick with my original choice, Alec Baldwin); ***Silk Spectre II- Julianne Moore- she is a good actress, the right age, and looks a bit like the character. Plus, I think she can play sassy, tough but wounded, as Laurie is (perhaps Sandra Bullock as an alternate casting choice); ***Ozymandias- Jeffery Nordling- this guy is a rather unknown character actor. I was channel surfing one day and came across a showing of one of the Mighty Ducks movies, in which Nordling plays a tough coach. I was struck by how much he looked like the Veidt character. Nordling has been in a bunch of stuff, and his IMDB listing says he is a skilled stagefighter, which would help greatly in playing Veidt, who is, of course, a superhuman martial artist (in addition to being a genius); ***The Comedian- Tom Berenger- I think Berenger's performance in PLATOON is amazingly like that of the character of Eddie Blake. Perhaps Berenger could be CGI transformed to look younger in the earler flashbacks when the Comedian was just starting out; ***Dr. Manhatten- Christian Bale- this was a tough one. I used to think William Hurt would have been good for this role, but Ostermann/Manhatten doesn't age, so perhaps a younger actor would be more appropriate. Others have suggested Bale, and it makes a certain amount of sense, so here it is. Of course, one would wonder if Bale would be reluctant to play another superhero-type, as he is already playing Batman well into the foreseeable future; ***Silk Spectre I-Faye Dunaway or Gena Rowlands; ***Nite Owl II- Paul Newman or James Garner; ***Moloch- John Hurt or Christopher Walken; ***Rorschach's Psychiatrist- Forrest Whitaker; ***The Newsman- Peter Boyle.***So, there you have some casting ideas for WATCHMEN.
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That's "Nite Owl I- Paul Newman or James Garner", not "Nite Owl II-"
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Grrr this frustrates me. It's not a romance. It's not a mystery. Those are smaller stories in the big theme: WHAT MAKES US HUMAN.
It's about Dan being weak, being strong, and how a man can be both of these at once. It's about Laurie fucking up again and again but always landing on her feet. It's how Ozy tries to deny his humanity, tries to be something more which only isolates him, not exhalts him. It's how Doc Manhatten DOES stop being human and becomes an outside observer, a tabula rasa, and how he thinks back to what he has lost. It's about how Laurie's mom falls in love with a man she should hate, a very human act. And its about how the only characters to have a happy ending are the ones who accept what we all are: just human. That's the damn story. Argh. -
I trust him about as much as I trust Greengrass on Watchmen.
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Just like Rorschach does in the comic?
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I still don't think it can be pulled off, but maybe this guy will try and get closer than perhaps some hack or studio bitch would.
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You said the trailer was awesome but don't even describe it.
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Easily my favorite movie!
The snooze fest was the original IMO. Cant wait for 300! -
events where three-hundred Spartans attempt to hold back an invading army of Persians. Oh, and Zach's Dawn of the Dead sucked. There were two good scenes and the rest of the movie was a bunch of idiots doing the exact opposite of what they should have. Pretty much par for the course when it comes to horror movies.
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You realize that in Hollywood, what you described is nigh unfilmable, right? I like all of the hoighty-toighty types here going on about how Joe Sixpack needs punching for Watchmen to make money. No, he doesn't. He needs a story that actually MEANS something. Anyway, we would all flip if someone would actually get Watchmen. But, they won't.
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that the book is so pessimistic. We can barely get a pleasant superhero film off the ground. The public has not had time to tire of happy superhero stories, because they never really arrived. So the tone of the film could sink it (see Superman Returns).
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...yea yea I know but hey we gotta dream right? (of course, I would argue, if they managed to get the right balance of action and "ump" that means something in the story... well they would have a huge hit and Oscar gold on their hands... again though we can only dream... sigh).
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don't ruin watchmen...please...
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...of WATCHMEN-- the movie will be fine.
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BECAUSE IT FUCKING IS A MISTAKE!!! The Watchmen is one of the comic books that THEY SHOULD NEVER MAKE into a movie. EVER. It won't be right. It was PERFECT as a comic book and any attempt to adapt it will fucking FAIL.
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...I can't agree with the "make the movies look just like the comic books!" ethos. The whole "the Black Freighter must be in Watchmen, Sin City's the best comic movie ever because it's so loyal to the comics it's almost literally translated from the page to the screen!" I'm not even sure I get where it comes from in most people ("Because 'we' like to know that the material we love is being treated with respect," etc., which still doesn't guarantee the movie is gonna be any good). Honestly? I don't think it works very often and I'd prefer it if filmmakers avoided it. In Frank Miller's case, especially with "Sin City" and probably because the atmosphere was supposed to be a little claustrophobic anyway, the panels lended themselves to camera shots rather easily -- though it should be said that even then, they had to be tweaked. I haven't read "300" so I don't know what the deal is with that, but I HAVE read "Watchmen" and I think that very seldom do panels in that series lend themselves to camera shots. There are a few iconic ones, maybe. And like Snyder said, getting the theme of the book and bringing it out in subsequent drafts is more important than anything else, including the visual metaphors of perfume and sugar cubes. I liked what Snyder had to say about the movie, and as I am beginning to suspect he's a thoroughly talented cat, I'm kind of excited about what he has to offer, but I still miss Greengrass. That opening (pre-viz'd) shot that Mori described where it looks like the Comedian is flying and it pulls back to reveal he's plummeting to the sidewalk sounded bloody fantastic, and though I'm 99.99% certain that it won't be used in Snyder's version I really wish it would. Eh well. ***** Also glad to hear that the "300" footage rocked the house. If this movie is popular, there'll be an added bonus of Snyder's stock going up, which might allow him to do some things with "Watchmen" that he wouldn't have had permission to otherwise.
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Yes, yes this will fail. Why? Two reasons: Watchmen is probably the most complex graphic novels of all time, a theatrical attempt is futile. They could barely handle 3 story archs of Sin City, and that was much less complex and had a much more able production team. And 2, they'll fuck it up.
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If they wait another five years and allow for superhero films to actualy (possibley) gain more creedance for being dramatic, then they could pull off a big budget addaption that follows the core of the book, albeit at least around 3 hours long.
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I hate this arrogant jerk and I already can't stand 300.
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(1) it will never happen; (2) if it does happen, it will be crap because no studio would permit a faithful adaptation of such downbeat material; (3) even if it was faithfully adapted, it would still be a turkey because the original hasn't aged well and has a very silly ending.
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and that's not a good thing.
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WB is going to be gun-fuckin-shy about handing Watchmen any budget over 125. I'm not sure if that's bad or good, though.
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These reports have been great!
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the movie was barely mediocre and you don't have to pimp it for Snyder. Jeez!
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That's quite a post there. My question is, is it possible that if 300 bombs before the Batman Begins sequel goes into production, and Legendary is fucked and their deal with WB falls apart, is there a chance that the Batman sequel could be delayed as WB looks for the money to make it?
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...Any of those seamless scene transitions from the book... you know, the visual match-ups (linking flashback to present or comparing two different characters) from this and other Moore books like V for Vendetta and The Killing Joke. If memory serves, I think they actually did use a couple in the V for Vendetta adaptation, especially in the opening scene... ?
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Jul 24, 2006 11:04:41 AM CDT
Does anybody have a working link to the Hayter script?
by theoneofblood
I'd love to read it.
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...on Watchmen, I was excited. Maybe that's because of the way Moriarty wrote about his time with the man, but I was jazzed and pumped and all of those appropriately enthusiastic words concerning the adaptation of my second most beloved comic property to the big screen. With Snyder, I'm optimistic. I enjoyed Dawn of the Dead (as both a movie and a social commentary, I find it superior to the original...but that's probably because I prefer my social commentary to be more subtle, which Romero just isn't capable of). And the fact that Snyder seems to recognize just how difficult it will be to render an acceptable film version of Watchmen gives me hope that he will, at least, approach the material thoughtfully. It can be done, with minor deviations in story (mostly time-spefcific references) and the elimination of some subplot material (the comic wihtin a comic loses some relevance int his medium and could be sacrificed without hurting the overall power of the story). I just hope Snyder didn't think Quint was speaking for all fans in holding up Sin City as an example of how to make a Watchmen movie. As much as I respect Sin City as something very unique and experimental, if more comic book movies were made like it, I think the inherent flaws in that sort of adaptation would be less forgivable (and Sin City would become a worse movie for it). I definitely do not agree that a comic book movie watch look like a series of flash animations of comic book panels.
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I don't know if the cinema verite style would work with Watchmen. I don't necessarily advocate a hyper stylized glossy version either, but I think there's a certain polish and cinematic quality to the book that should carry over to the film. I picture a lot of bright colors and well composed shots that aren't done on a hand-held. I'm sure Greengrass is capable of doing something different than his usual style, but would he? He's a good director though. On the other hand, I'm sure he'd be Alan Moore's preferred choice over Zack Snyder. Maybe 300 would change his mind, we'll see, but I doubt the man would be too enthusiastic if he heard that his crown jewel was being directed by the a guy who's only directing credit is the Dawn of the Dead remake.
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I have searched the net and I can't find a single one.
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I don't think it's all that encouraging. I for one liked the idea of Greengrass because I truely believe the film needs some reality. New York needs to really breathe; have that Michael Mann tint to things. Yes, it's difficult to mix comic book with that reality, but that's why Watchmen would be so different from say Spiderman.
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The best way to describe the trailer, is by referencing the Playstation 2 game God Of War. That's what it looks like, minus Kratos.
You see the Spartans in their capes, helmets and loincloths with their spears. Lots of violence. Lots of blood, an eyeball being slashed out, mutated, deformed creatures. A lot of slow motion stuff, the King of the Spartans kicks one of the other leaders into a pit, very stylized. Also two women kissing, they part and one is deformed in the face. Those are just some of the images I remember.
I got into the panel late so only got to it shown once. Which I was happy for, because after listening to them talk about the film I had to see the trailer.
It does look absolutely incredible. -
Don't make it. We already live in the post-deconstructivist era of the conflicted hero mythos. Making a movie of this would be wasteful and would not impact audiences as much as if they weren't already used to this approach. In its day, it was revolutionary. Now, it is standard. Move on.
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Is simple. In the comic, it's the comic within a comic that helps push it's significance. In the film, make it a film or a tv show that the kid is watching(perhaps on a portable tv or dvd player to allow him to sit at the newstand). Cutting to it every time you see the kid for a few seconds or so would do the trick just fine. You don't even have to pay me for this idea, folks. Just take it.
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You could count decent comic book movies on one hand. He should leave Watchmen alone he is way out of his depth. Directors think they are more famous than the superhero thats why Hulk, Daredevil, Punisher and the rest failed.
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...with good reason. There are certain works of art that cannot be translated into another medium. Ulysses, by James Joyce. Gravity's Rainbow. Watchmen has some interesting characters, and a nifty plot, fine. But the reason it's legendary is how it tells it's story through innovating the medium. Switching media misses the point. Geeks debating casting decisions is fun and all. But I believe the creator's wishes should be respected, even if only because he's fucking right.
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I *liked* "V For Vendetta" and thought it was an awesome way to put that story into a movie format. No, it wasn't perfect, but no book-to-movie ever is. The point, though, is that MANY people will NEVER EVER EVER read Moore's books. Never. The movies expose those people to his great stories and concepts. For us geeks, the movie is just another layer, but it doesn't replace the original. I really wish he'd get off the whole Watchmen thing, because if done right, it could be an incredible tale on film. Not the same as the book(s), but something that will make non-comic readers go "Wow!"--- And that's cool.
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Oh shit. That's not what you want to hear AT ALL. I'm pretty sure that's what Joel Schumacher said right before he pointed the camera at Arnold Schwarzenegger in a Mister Freeze suit.
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He sounds like my kinda guy and I think he's got a handle on how to make movies right. But then again, talk is cheap and so's your mother--so time will see.
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Was more entertaining than the original Dawn of the Dead. And the acting was a hell of a lot better too. Plus, it had Sarah Polley, the wee Uma Thurman. There, I said it.
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Leave Watchmen alone.......JUST LEAVE IT ALONE.
IF YOU THINK YOU CAN MAKE A WATCHMEN MOVIE....WHICH IS UNFILMABLE.
Maybe 300 is an unfilmable mess..... -
Bad quality, but it's something nonetheless:
http://tinyurl.com/k8sot -
Tse draft: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OPNJAKEE
Hayter draft
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RNFK6LNE
well, the Tse draft isn't written as well as the Hayter draft. I agree with latinoreview that the Tse reads like a quick rewrite of the Hayter. Why bring in another writer if he's gonna stick so close to the other writer's script? I don't know. latinoreview complains that there's a fight scene with Rorshach every five pages. I didn't see that. There were only two fight scenes that were extraneous to the story. One where Rorshach beats up a soldier to steal his uniform so he can sneak onto the Dr. Manhattan compound that first time (a completely useless scene)and one where Laurie beats up one of the government agents watching her after Manhattan has left for Mars (this could work in a slam bang action oriented Watchmen, if you want to go in that direction). Tse has a twist on Hayter's laser station resolution that gets rid of the Beatles' motif and substitutes something that actually could look pretty good. Everything else is pretty much the same. Tse adds in a bunch of dialogue from the book that wasn't in Hayter's but takes out some of the best dialogue that was in Hayter's. I don't know, maybe they should bring in Hayter to rewrite Tse's rewrite, see how that looks. -
a drama and not an action flick. The action is an afterthought while the story of the aging superheroes and the world crisis is the central theme and story.
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Is me, muthafucka! All you fools out there who want some sort of epic Lord of the Rings 3 part movie are out of your minds! Watchmen can only be made into a 90 minute flick with a script by the bastard love child of Michael Bay and Ann Coulter. My movie would go for all the great laughs with a cast including brilliant funnymen Carlos Mencia and George Lopez. And let's not forget the great acting abitlites of The Rock and Jim Belushi. Seriously, the last time I watched According to Jim, I laughed so hard, I had a miscarriage and accidentally killed the unborn love child of Don Henley. Watchmen cannot rely on drama to sell movie tickets! You people are all homosexuals who watch too much Sex in the City. Maybe if you had been watching The Hulk Hogan's Greatest Matches Deluxe DVD Box Set (Complete with a complimentary Hulk-a-Mania! headband) you'd be thinking like real Americans and not a bunch of communist pinkos! You can't sell movie tickets with moving, emotionally gripping storylines. Didn't you see After Sunset? Yeah maybe if you were one of those few pinko queers! All the real Americans were busy having sex with their prostitute while they watched Ultimate Avengers! "Do you think this letter on my forehead stands for France!?" Hell no! It stands for ass kiccking the asses of godless, vegetarian pinko bitches! If you want to watch a serious movie, go make one in your commune's basement with a digital camcorder and a rubber lobster, ya hippie! More importantly, be sure to watch my new independent film, Dread Lobster (Only available for real red blooded, motorcycle riding, wheelin' dealin', airplane stealin' hard liquor fueled sex machine/god/goddess, commie hunting, minority beating/minority killing, white bread loving, pussy eatin', puttin mayonaisse on their sandwiches AMERICANS. God bless Toby Keith. God Bless John Mellencamp. God Bless Bruce Spingsteen. God Bess The New England Patriots. God Bless Mel Gibson. God Bless THE U.S.A.
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