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So we tried to cajole our way into the Watchmen screening in Portland.  It’s the first test screening of Zack Snyder’s movie and unfortunately, they gave out tickets for it last weekend at the movie theater.  Also, I think the Mossad was doing the security for the movie, because there was no way anyone was illegally getting into the screening.  Believe me.

I also tried to buy a ticket off some poor sap, but once word got out what secret movie was screening no one was taking the bait.  Not even this elderly lady, there with her daughter.  They looked like neither had even heard of The Watchmen or Alan Moore or Zack Snyder, but the promise of a free movie was too enticing to them to give up their ticket to someone who actually cares enough.

If I had to guess, I’d say spoiler reviews, thoughts, ruminations on the flick will trickle in tomorrow on sites like AICN or Slashfilm.  I’m also going to hazard a guess and say that the movie will make it’s premiere at Harry Knowles’s annual Butt-Numb-A-Thon.  Just a hunch, nothing to go on.  But it seems to make sense, given that he premieres a huge movie that tends to open in March.

Still debating whether or not I want to go back to the theater at 10 p.m. and shoot some video of people’s reactions.

The only thing that anyone should care about in regards to this Fox lawsuit over the property rights to Warner Brothers Watchmen adaptation is whether or not the film is going to be released in March.  Unless, of course you’re the studio heads at either Fox or WB and a shit ton of money is at stake.

We’re not, so the devilled details matter nothing, except of course, whether we’ll be seeing the movie in March. Not to worry, former comic editor and copyright law professor Andrew Steven Harris says the movie will come out. The fiduciary interests of both studios will always win out in the end.

In that respect, fans should be encouraged that nothing about this litigation will realistically keep the movie out of theaters next year. At the end of the day, Fox wants money; it doesn’t want an unreleased and unreleasable film canister.

And, yes–while it’s true that Fox has also filed for an injunction to shut down the film’s release, that too should give the fans no alarm. It is, like Fox’s other maneuvers, just a negotiating tactic; a successful injunction simply represents the fastest way since God invented light of getting a settlement offer on the table.

I do know that Fox’s attorney’s say they’re not looking for cash; that copyright infringement is a serious matter and they’re litigating the entire thing to enforce their rights and their principles. But I think we have to call shenanigans on this one; if that were the case, then they’d have filed their lawsuit sometime well before this past February.

As always, it’s about the money.  After the trailer hit to a feeding frenzy, Fox saw a cash grab green light and took their chance.  Bravo to them.  For the movie goer, all that’s important is that the movie will come out.

Yowzers! I think it’s safe to say that Zack Snyder at least partially nailed it. He held nothing back in this trailer and it looks exactly like I’d want it to. Salient point: he even made Billy Corgan seem cool again, which, given his last few albums, almost felt impossible. The song used was actually “The Beginning is the End is Beginning” from the Batman and Robin soundtrack. Yup, that shitty George Clooney Batman movie. Much better used here.

Also, I’m a bit surprised that they showed Dr. Manhattan and featured him prominently as he’s the only character with super powers, but again he looks fantastic and that was always thought to be the most difficult thing to accomplish.

Also: EW has The Watchmen on their cover this week and they have a few new photos and an decent article about the movie. By the by it comes out on March 6, 2009.

Funny timing that director Zack Snyder would reveal five characters in costume from the highly anticpated, well at least for fanboys, adaptation of Watchmen, right after Michael Chabon lambasted the inherent silliness/pointlessness of the superhero costume. The movie is still a year away, but Snyder was kind enough to send along photos for everyone to gander at.

After the jump, you’ll get the chance to look at The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Rorshach (Jackie Earle Haley), Silk Spectre II (Malin Ackerman), Night Owl (Patrick Wilson) and Ozymandias/Adrian Veidt (Matthew Goode).

Two things to note. The production design looks pretty great. Customes have been updated for the contemporary look and feel of a superhero movie. Particularly good are the design of The Comedian, Rorshach and Night Owl (though he does look a bit much like Chris Nolan’s Batman). Not quite sold on Silk Spectre or Ozymandias. They look a bit goofy, a bit on the comical side of things. More Batsuit nipples that holy shit that’s awesome.

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Wow.  In under a year we’ll get the chance to watch Watchmen.  So while you think about that and make an effort to read the darn book or reread or reread it again, director Zack Snyder has given us this to look at.

Storyboard

Finished still

So who’s watching the watchmen?  I think it’s clear that just about everybody will be.

Despite facing a lawsuit to stop production, director Zack Snyder has wrapped shooting on his adaptation of Watchmen. This is great news for people who were worried the lawsuit would slow things down. And it still might, in post-production, but still.

The production has a lot to prove, but so far Snyder and company have gone a long way to set aside anyone’s fears that this movie will suck, even if comic creator Alan Moore could care less.

From executive producer Herb Gaines:

I think back to January 2007 when I first met Zack and he walked me through his drawings for the title sequence. I remember my initial reaction was, How can we shoot all of it? Why do we have to shoot all that? And if we do, how do we shoot all of it? We spent the next two months scouting, researching and budgeting locations all over the world, including Australia, London, Prague, Spain — at one point we even considered New York — and, of course, Los Angeles.

I now sit in my Vancouver hotel room one year later, and guess what? We did shoot all of it — every frame of it, and not just the title sequence drawings but all of Zack’s drawings are now committed to film. The combination of modern-day technology and the level of artistic ability of so many people has made the Watchmen experience second to none. The spirit behind the making of this film was nothing short of total pleasure and love. As I wandered from room to room at the wrap party, there was not only a sense of accomplishment from everyone involved but a feeling of sadness that it’s coming to an end. The one thing that remains for me is the anticipation and excitement of seeing the finished product, knowing that we’ve all worked on something very special.

Interesting. Can hardly believe that were getting the superhero movie made and it stars Jackie Earle Haley as the lead, with a cast of capable, if somewhat not-so-A-List talent involved. That’s just crazy to me.

Also: Zack Snyder sits down with a Q&A with fans. It’s separated into Part I and Part II.

I’m just blown away by the attention to detail that director Zack Snyder has put into the set for his alternate Cold War-esque New York City. Snyder posted some photos and info on the Watchmen’s official site and it just boggles the mind, but also gives geeks a real understanding of why Snyder got the job of developing a seemingly undevelopable project.

It looks like NYC circa 1985 doesn’t it?

Snyder says of the Vancouver, B.C. constructed set, “In addition, the backlot needs to function as many different parts of the city, countless store fronts, street corners, alleys, etc. So, with that in mind, we set out to build own own custom backlot here in Vancouver, BC. In my opinion, the results speak for themselves.”

So what exactly does that set include?  Well, here’s a rundown for ya:

• 5,800 feet of neon requiring 24,000 watts of power
• 100 unique and custom-designed graphics created for the various storefronts
• 5,000 square feet of custom posters
• Street had to work for 1938, 1945, 1953, 1957, 1964, 1974, 1975, 1977, and 1985
• 1,040 feet of 1:1 scale New York streets
• 98,400 square feet of exterior scenery
• 12,500 square feet of interior scenery
• Building heights range from 23′9″ to 42′6″
• 10,325 16-foot 2×4s
• 3,600 sheets of OSB (plywood-like construction material)
• 384,000 square feet of foam brick
• 200,000 nails
• 3,500 tubes of construction adhesive
• 160,000 lbs. of steel I-beams support the facades
• 300 cubic meters of concrete
• 6,000 square feet of glass
• 4,800 square feet of plexiglass
• 20,000 donuts were consumed by the construction crew
• 20,000 gallons of water and 3,000 gallons of Gatorade was drunk by the crew

Via: Slashfilm.  See all the rest of the photos after the jump.  MORE »

I know it’s not going to happen, but I still have this pulling the rug from my feet feeling when it comes to Zack Snyder’s Watchmen adaptation.  But each week, it seems another casting puzzle piece falls into place.Carla Gugino will be portraying Sally Jupiter.  Word on the street is that Snyder wanted to cast the part of Sally Jupiter for the flashbacks that take place and age the actress for the present day scenes in 1985.  The flashbacks are the bulk of Sally Jupiter’s, aka The Silk Spectre, screentime.

The original Silk Spectre was a member of The Minutemen.  In the present day totalitarian 1985 she has become a lowly burlesque dancer and mother to the New Silk Spectre, who’s being played by Malin Akerman.

I think that’s a good decision, because it would seem it’s easier to age someone that to deage them, despite that nifty trick at the beginning of X-Men 3.  

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to some of you, others might not even care. However, casting announcements have been made for six parts in Zak Snyder’s adaptation of Alan Moore and David Gibbon’s Watchmen.

Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley, Matthew Goode, Billy Crudup, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Malin Akerman have been cast in the Warner Bros. movie, which Zack Snyder is directing. Larry Gordon, Lloyd Levin and Deborah Snyder are producing.

Set in an alternate America, “Watchmen” follows costumed hero Rorschach, who is living a vigilante lifestyle because most masked heroes have retired or been outlawed. While investigating a murder, Rorschach learns that a former masked-hero colleague has been killed, prompting him to begin investigating a possible conspiracy.

Really, that blurb doesn’t do the book any justice if you’ve been following our slew of Watchmen hysteria.  It’s like the “Anna Karenina” or “War and Peace” of comic books.  It’s genius is empirical.

So for your information… Jackie Earle Haley is playing Rorschach (he got an Oscar nom for his turn in Little Children and is best remembered as the greatest little league baseball player ever from Bad News Bears), Matthew Goode is  going to be Ozymandias (best known for odd turns in movies with British folk like Match Point), Billy Crudup will take on the ethereal detachment of Dr. Manhattan, Jeffrey Dean Morgan (the hotchick’s dead fiance from Grey’s Anatony) will be gun-toting vigilante The Comedian, Patrick Wilson (also from Little Children and the creepy Hard Candy) will be The Nite-Owl, and Malin Akerman (the hot blond chick with supple breasts from Harold and Kumar) will take the reins of The Silk Spectre.

So what’s it like for your favorite geeks to geek out over something? It’s an interesting question, mostly because you never think of writers, directors, or comic book guys as being geeks (or at least I don’t, I have this image of them as all being super cool like Vincent Vega).

Regardless Wizard Magazine sat down with Damon Lindeloff (Lost), David Goyer (writer of Batman Begins, Blade Trilogy), Brian K. Vaughn (Y: The Last Man) and Ed Brubaker (comic god in general) to talk about nothing but Alan Moore’s seminal piece of literature Watchmen.

This interview is pretty awesome and provides a nice primer for either folks who haven’t read the book yet or for folks trolling for more information before Zak Snyder’s film adaptation comes out. It’s an excellent companion piece to all the casting rumors being bandied about lately.

Yes, we have entered the stages of digging up any and all information about Watchmen that we can.

Billy Crudup, who we are still convinced, will become more of a household name one day, even though he’s been on the perch for about ten years now; he has allegedly signed onto Zak Synder’s Watchmen adaptation as Dr. Manhatten.

The role of Dr. Manhattan has already been spurned by both Jason Patric and Keanu Reeves (his vacant expressions and wooden method acting would have been perfect). But Crudup (Almost Famous, Big Fish, Mastercard Commercial narrator) seems to be the choice.

A very reliable source tells me that Snyder has settled on Crudup for the role of Watchmen’s only super-powered character, a scientist who accidentally gets annihilated on an atomic level and reconstructs himself into a big, naked, blue, floating demigod.

Again, I would expect an official announcement at Comic Con, or the days leading up to it, but in the meantime, go rent Almost Famous and Jesus’ Son to get a look at who Dr. Manhattan is. By the way, a superhero film starring Patrick Wilson and Billy Crudup and Jackie Earle Haley? Could this be the first Oscar-contender superhero movie? Feels like it…

FYI Jackie Earle Haley was recently seen in Little Children and the remake of All the King’s Men. He’ll be playing Rorshach and Patrick Wilson was dynomite in Hard Candy. That was a creepy and claustrophobic affair, certainly worth renting. He’ll be playing The Night Owl. And yes, this does feel like an Oscar-contending cast, and with the source material and director the possibilities are endless.

Expect announcements aplenty during The Watchmen panel at Comic-Con. And if you really want to see Billy Crudup shake his shit, then go rent Stage Beauty right now. His performance will leave your jaw on the floor.

Zak Snyder has pretty much tossed off any notions that he couldn’t possibly be the man to direct Alan Moore’s Watchmen. Not after the grandiose spectacle of 300.

It’s interesting that when Snyder was chosen, it followed Darren Aronofsky dropping the project and then shaky-cam god Paul Greengrass dropping out. Both times, it seems, folks were excited about each director. However, when Synder was given the reins for the flick, the reaction was a loud “who? huh, what?” And then 300 hit theatres and damn everything changed.

Now word comes that Snyder is seeking look alikes to be cast for various roles in the movie. Among them include:

Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, H.R. Haldeman, Ted Koppel, John McLaughlin, Annie Liebowitz, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Fidel Castro, Albert Einstein, Norman Rockwell, JFK and Jackie Kennedy, Andy Warhol, Mao Tze Tung and Larry King.

Now all of these people play a role in Moore’s comic book. Especially Richard Nixon who is still the President of the U.S. after leading a fascist takeover of the gov’t. In the mid-80s he’s still the man in charge.  Maybe we can take this as word that Synder is sticking with the comic book, in terms of setting and timeline.  He’s not going to update it to the present.