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Saturday, October 07, 2006

Who's Watching The Watchmen?


I'll tell you who's at least keeping a keen eye on them... Zack Snyder has been attached to the adaptation of Alan Moores acclaimed graphic novel for some time now. The script has been written and re-written numerous times, and its long been sitting just below the radar with plenty of sceptics throwing their tuppence worth in.
A few days ago, Snyder spoke with Empire Online about where the project is at, despite being utterly exhausted from putting the finishing touches to 300 (which I'm hugely looking forward to!).

"I think the script that Alex (Tse) has done for us is the closest to the graphic novel it’s been [since development started], for better or for worse. I feel like Alex has done an awesome job. It’s keeping all the things that are cool about the comic”.

Snyder, however, is not, as many assumed, updating the book's setting from the cold war to modern day. Thank God!

“1985’s a problem for people,” he continues. “The Cold War’s a problem for people. But these are things I’ve been trying to [tell people] would be cool. I like that Richard Nixon is the president in it. I think that’s important. Those kinds of things tell you exactly what kind of movie this is – it’s not Fantastic Four, you know”.
Here Here!

What this film needs to do, is not try to be something it isn't, because what the graphic novel unquestionably is, is the definitive superhero story. It puts its stamp on the genre down with authority, and if the movie falls anywhere short of shaking up the whole film superhero band wagon and making it realise its wearing the genre down to a pulp, then it most certainly won't shake Alan Moore's contempt for anyone adapting one of his works to film. He's a long standing naysayer of any director that lays a finger on one of his works, and rightly so if we're to go by previous nightmarish adaptations (*cough*league of extraordinary gentlemen*cough*).

Another thing we could be thankful for is his complete change of direction in his approach to realizing the settings in Watchmen, departing enourmously from the heavily stylized blue screen-tastic methods he employed for 300.

“There are places like Mars and Antarctica [which will need to be blue screen] and then there are certain places where you need to feel the reality…If you look at Sin City, a blue screen city, that’s kind of wrong for Watchmen…There are so many easter eggs in the frames (of the comic) so you want that level of detail in the movie itself. Even though it’s going to be harder to do…I did Dawn of the Dead and now I’ve done 300 and I feel like it’s a combination of the two. I feel like I know how to do it”.
Confidence. We like! this guy's got some balls, and thats just what the graph to film world needs right now before it descends into an array of *shoulda been straight to tv* excuses for films. *Ahem* Excuse my bluntness, but we can all see it coming, right?

He finally added that although the script is almost ready (penned by Alex Tse) noone has been attached in the casting department. Snyder insisting that its too early, despite a lot of interest from people.
Intrigue...
Fingers crossed for the day shooting starts!

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