I saw a trailer for the movie adaptation during the Superbowl. At least they seemed to get the look right.
It just so happens that I read the graphic novel for the first time about a month ago. I liked it. I think in some parts it topped Watchmen, but in some parts it fell flat in comparison.
So, how good do you think the movie is going to be? How would you adapt it?
Stuff I hope they leave in:
-“Bollocks!”
-Blowing up the building to the 1812 Overture (That part was so amazing)
-The Vicious Cabaret- I want him to sit down and play it. Maybe have a montage, but that would be risky- if not done right it would be lame.
I hope they don’t play him up too much as a superhero. I wonder how they’ll handle the imprisonment of Evie- will they try to make him more sympathetic?
Moore also wrote the comics that inspired the movie From Hell, but the Hughes Brothers made some MAJOR changes. I still think it was a good Jack the Ripper movie, but it wasn’t a very faithful adaptation of From Hell.
Alan Moore, despite his genius, is what I would consider much too much of a whinger. He’s always going on about how he’ll never forgive this person or company for this or that. Sometimes it makes sense. But not too long ago he said he’d never work with Marvel again because they got the copyright indicia wrong on a book of his, which they fixed in later printings. OK, it’s not nothing, but get over yourself dude. (Also, buy a razor.)
So IMO, the fact that Moore likes or dislikes any particular adaptation of his work means exactly nothing as to whether the adaptation will be any good or not.
Also, IIRC, the reason Moore took his name off this particular production isn’t because of any changes, I believe, but because someone was quoted saying that he’d approve of the way the movie was put together. Whether that’s an overreaction or no, AFAIK it has nothing to do with the actual content of the film.
Anyway, I thought the Matrix trilogy brilliant and I really dug the comic, so I’m definitely looking forward to this.
The LXG movie was crap, but what did Moore have to do with Constantine? From what I understand (I haven’t seen it), the movie’s based on Garth Ennis’ storylines.
I was really looking forward to V for Vendetta, but Wachowskis ran out of steam after the first Matrix movie, IMHO, and really didn’t do anything impressive writing-wise with the other two. Perhaps it’ll be visually intriguing, though.
It was based on Ennis’ “Dangerous Habits” story arc for the most part, but Moore co-created the John Constantine character in Swamp Thing, and I believe he and the artist (John Totlebein?) got screen credits for that.
There was a great article in a recent Rolling Stone about Wachowski & his Troy McClure-esque sexual issues. Bottom line was that neither Wachowski is very involved in V for Vendetta anymore, if they ever were. Their names will be attached, in the same way Walt Disney was attached to the Lion King.
I’ve posted this before in related threads, but I saw V for Vendetta back in December and I thought it was completely awesome. It’s a very faithful adaptation, though a few details are sensibly updated for the times. For instance,
The devastation caused by nuclear weapons in the book is now caused by biological weapons, and the war between America and the Soviet Union became a war between America and the Middle East.
The performances are wonderful. The segment with the “Valerie” story is positively heartbreaking. V isn’t really softened to make him more sympathetic, and Evie’s imprisonment is quite intense. I’m very excited to see it again next month.
Marvel’s head honcho (at the time) Joe Quesada had been making major overtures to certain comic writers and artists for the way Marvel mistreated or alienated them in past dealings, something MANY comics creators will attest to. According to Moore, a key provision of their initial agreement that in order for him to consider creating new material for Marvel, Marvel would, as a good faith gesture, include for the first time copyright indicia indicating his and Alan Davis’ work on the newly reprinted Captain Britain trade. According to Marvel, they did agree to that, but this very important trade paperback was somehow printed and shipped to stores without ANYONE at Marvel Comics catching their omission. So of course Alan reinterated his distrust with Marvel and refused to work with them again. This was a major, major screw-up on Marvel’s part, starting with whoever was running the trade paperback design division and finishing with Joe Quesada, who should have looked over that issue with a microscope before allowing it to be distributed since he knew that was key to appeasing Moore.
Of course, Alan Moore’s deteriorating relationship with Marvel Comics goes back at least to their early 80s flap over Marvel 1) refusing to buy or distribute Moore’s new proposal for Marvelman after Warrior Magazine folded because the character was British and 2) later, legally forcing Alan Moore’s new Marvelman publishers at Eclipse Comics to change the name of the character and comic to Miracleman, even though Marvelman – Britain’s first superhero (and a Captain Marvel analogue) – preceded Marvel’s existence as a comics company by some twenty years.
So some of this can be placed as much on Marvel’s short-sightedness and bullying legal tactics, too, rather than be entirely the fault of Moore’s ego.
Heh. The funny thing is, I never forgave Garth Ennis for turning such an interesting and conflicted character into a coarse and cold-hearted jerk who merrily tossed his friends into harm’s way. I really liked the Jamie Delano run on Hellblazer, and I think one of the recent writers (Mike Carey?) did a nice job, too. I have a Swamp Thing collection with what I think is the first Constantine appearance, and although he’s interesting there, I didn’t really think Moore was investing a lot in the character. Seems pretty minor.
I thought it was Rick Veitch on that run of Swamp Thing, but it could be Totleben. I have a vague impression that Totleben might have done covers when he wasn’t pencilling, too.
I read all the Moore Swamp Thing TPBs during a very short time period and don’t own any of them, so I’m not sure where John Totleben, Rick Veitch, and Steve Bissette’s art runs begin and end, and I always forget which artist designed Constantine to look like Sting.
Very much with you there, but I do think the Dangerous Habits storyline is one of the best in the run of the series. It’s a shame so many writers afterwards (I think Ennis and Azzarello are particularly at fault) have made the character unrecognizeable placed next to Delano’s character.
Yeah, I know, i just don’t think a rational person would have blown a gasket over it. Of course, it’s unlikely a rational person could have written Promethea, either, so I recognize the trade-off.
Thanks for the sneak peek, I’m very excited about this as well. At first I was a little hesitant because I loved the graphic novel, and I realize they often don’t translate well to movies for various reasons. However after watching both trailers and hearing good things from fans, I’m really looking forward to it!
If anyone didn’t know, you can view the trailers (and many others) at http://www.apple.com/trailers/ although I think they might require Quicktime.
