# Speaking of The Watchmen, guess who wants to be Rorschach? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 18, 2003, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-the-watchmen-guess-who-wants-to-be-rorschach/189464 "2003-07-18T20:24:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-the-watchmen-guess-who-wants-to-be-rorschach/189464/41 "2003-07-21T23:34:40Z")
I don’t mean so much by physique as how he carries himself or reacts unflinchingly at sudden violence. So we’re on the same page. I just hope he can go, ‘Hurm.’ ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-the-watchmen-guess-who-wants-to-be-rorschach/189464/42 "2003-07-22T00:50:22Z")
Askia’s ideas (except for Tim Blake Nelson) seem like perfect fits to me. Well, Neal McDonough may not be physically perfect for Veidt, but he could play it so well! And those eyes! ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Tambo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@Mr\_Tambo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Tambo)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-the-watchmen-guess-who-wants-to-be-rorschach/189464/43 "2003-07-22T02:09:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Askia \* > \*\*I don’t mean so much by physique as how he carries himself or reacts unflinchingly at sudden violence. So we’re on the same page. I just hope he can go, ‘Hurm.’ \*\* Ahh. I see what you mean. On a related note, the prison scenes are some of my favorite bits in _Watchmen_. I assumed that Rorschach would go to pieces without his mask from that single panel where it’s torn off and he screams for them to give his face back. But Alan Moore actually turned the twist into a double twist -Rorschach is just a freckled little runt in real life! - But he’s _still_ fucking scary! ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-the-watchmen-guess-who-wants-to-be-rorschach/189464/44 "2003-07-22T02:35:28Z")
Remember, kids, always keep a spare face on hand for emergencies. Another valuable PSA from your friends at _Watchmen_. Next week: _Don’t play inside the Intrinsic Field Subtractor!_ ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-the-watchmen-guess-who-wants-to-be-rorschach/189464/45 "2003-07-22T02:50:40Z")
I’ve read the Watchmen movie script. The movie ends differently. Ozymandius’ plot involves time travel and he wants to prevent Dr Manhattan from being created. He succeeds and Ozymandius, Silk Spectre, and Nightowl end up in our world. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Tambo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@Mr\_Tambo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Tambo)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-the-watchmen-guess-who-wants-to-be-rorschach/189464/46 "2003-07-22T03:21:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Little Nemo \* > \*\*I’ve read the Watchmen movie script. > > The movie ends differently. Ozymandius’ plot involves time travel and he wants to prevent Dr Manhattan from being created. He succeeds and Ozymandius, Silk Spectre, and Nightowl end up in our world. \*\* I don’t want to sound like a typical self-important comics fanboy but… Doesn’t this kind of make the whole conspiracy thing a little too ‘friendly’? I mean, all along through the book, the whole motif is of blood slowly dripping down the doomsday clock, and each time we see that triangle bisecting the circle design, we get a little more scared. If the big surprise is Veidt going “Ha! Gotcha! I’m gonna change history by removing one guy’s superpowers”, doesn’t it make the whole mystery investigation, attempt to stop him and… err, pretty much the whole book, kinda pointless? Or is there more to it than that? ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-the-watchmen-guess-who-wants-to-be-rorschach/189464/47 "2003-07-22T03:26:53Z")
Time travel. Huh. I like the nations of the world being tricked into cooperation theme better, somehow. Uh… so I guess the 'disappeareance of hundreds of gifted painters, musicians, writers and the psychic never happens. Is there still a deadly pyramid conspiracy? Does the Comedian still find the island, and instead of finding artists working on a monstrous clone, he discovers how they’re creating time travel? ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-the-watchmen-guess-who-wants-to-be-rorschach/189464/48 "2003-07-22T04:49:51Z")
I think Rorschach would be best played by David Caruso. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-the-watchmen-guess-who-wants-to-be-rorschach/189464/49 "2003-07-22T05:26:05Z")
Oooh, that is a good one, **Enola.** The way he’s f------d over his TV career, who wouldn’t secretly believe he was pathologically unstable? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-the-watchmen-guess-who-wants-to-be-rorschach/189464/50 "2003-07-22T12:02:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Askia \* > Silk Sectre: Demi Moore > > Nite Owl: Bruce Willis Seeing as these two actors got divorced a while back, it might be tricky casting them as lovers in a _Watchmen_ movie. On a semi-related note, Willis has a bit part in _Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle_, and is killed by Demi Moore (though she’s wearing some kind of ninja suit and is never recognizable) so she can steal his ring with all the information inscribed on it. Hmmm, shoot your ex in the head and steal his ring? Now THAT’S a divorce! ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-the-watchmen-guess-who-wants-to-be-rorschach/189464/51 "2003-07-22T13:35:08Z")
**Little Nemo** - is there a “The Watchmen Script”? I have heard bits and pieces about it being in development - is there a working draft that is moving towards being filmed? If it is more like “the latest version” then that is one thing - if it is “The Script” then, based on your spoilers I would have cause for concern. Actually - not really. No superhero movie has gotten the plots letter-perfect - the issue has always been “have they captured the spirit, the intent, of the character and story”. And then a story is developed within that with an eye towards sequels… But the Watchmen is self-contained - which means it is double-doomed: not only will the story change, but it will not have the ring of finally key to the existing story. And, because it is a cult thing not a mass appeal thing (granted, it has the rep of being the greatest comic ever written, it is still a cult) it won’t have the fanboy power to keep it true. I really don’t see how this one could ever be made into anything remotely close to the original… ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-the-watchmen-guess-who-wants-to-be-rorschach/189464/52 "2003-07-22T13:36:35Z")
er…that’s “ring of _finality_”… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-the-watchmen-guess-who-wants-to-be-rorschach/189464/53 "2003-08-12T01:46:44Z")
Sorry for the delay of this response. Technical difficulties beyond my control and all that. Anyway, [here](http://www.angelfire.com/oh5/daveworld1/Movies.html) is a link to the script Sam Hamm wrote back in 1987. I’ve read that Terry Gilliam extensively revised it (eliminating The Comedian character for example) when he was planning on directing it. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-the-watchmen-guess-who-wants-to-be-rorschach/189464/54 "2003-08-12T03:44:36Z")
I got a hobby since this thread was last on the boards: download episodes of OZ. The more I think about, the more I think Watchmen could be filmed as a multi-part cable miniseries. Lose the Comedian? BLASPHEMY. Still, I’ve saved the link and intend to print out the script soon. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-the-watchmen-guess-who-wants-to-be-rorschach/189464/55 "2003-08-12T03:50:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Big Bad Voodoo Lou \* > \*\*I always thought Steve Buscemi would be the perfect Rorschach, particularly for all the unmasked scenes. \*\* Out of my head! Now! :eek: [sub]I was just thinking that when I saw the thread title and before I opened this thread[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-the-watchmen-guess-who-wants-to-be-rorschach/189464/56 "2003-08-12T05:26:54Z")
Astro, were you thinking of the word “kitty”? ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Tambo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@Mr\_Tambo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Tambo)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-the-watchmen-guess-who-wants-to-be-rorschach/189464/57 "2003-08-12T07:02:22Z")
Hmm… I can never really do much long-term reading on the computer; I find something about it just too difficult. Still, I skipped down to the ending, since the proposed changes to that were what worried me the most, and it doesn’t look too bad. The ending has been softened, but not all the bite has been taken out of it. I still don’t really see the need for a _Watchmen_ movie, though. It was designed for the comicbook medium. It does things with art and background detail that no movie could convey. Without them, _Watchmen_ is just a darker-than-average superheroes/conspiracy story. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-the-watchmen-guess-who-wants-to-be-rorschach/189464/58 "2003-08-12T15:05:51Z")
\*\*Manatee \*\*has it right: William H. Macy as Rorschach. He’s got the look and is a brilliant actor. I had thought of Macy myself, so it’s cool to see that someone else thought of it too. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-the-watchmen-guess-who-wants-to-be-rorschach/189464/59 "2003-08-13T10:18:25Z")
I thought about this thread on the ride home tonight, and Tom Berenger came to mind as The Comedian. I think they really look alike, and Berenger can really pull off the macho sneer when he wants to. Jennifer Garner as Silk Specter is brilliant, Mockingbird, btw. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-the-watchmen-guess-who-wants-to-be-rorschach/189464.md?page=2)