Now that would increase my desire to see this movie tenfold. Now if only we could stick Christopher Walken in there somewhere.
I don’t think you guys have to worry; they’ve been (ahem) plotting this movie almost as long as the comic’s been out (and from what I’ve read, Gilliam’s been “attached” most of the time). If he can’t figure this one out, no one would be dumb enough to try.
Besides, if they were going to translate it, the change the ending, you don’t think anyone could take it seriously, do you? (Hell, most people barely could in the comi).
Have you all got your shuddering practice in?
Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher) was interested at one point in playing…
…are you ready?
Rorschach.
Accepting that there’s no way Watchmen would work as a movie – as pointed out already, it’s too long, too complex and too dark – there is still some fun to be had in trying to cast it.
I rather like William H. Macy as Rorschach. I don’t think Steve Buscemi would really work in that role – he just doesn’t do the blank-yet-menacing thing as well as WHM.
Cusack as Night Owl would be okay. He’d need to put on some weight.
Bruce Willis as The Comedian?
Nah, it’s just not working. Casting known actors would just add more certainty to the chance of it sucking.
And hey, underwhelming though Leage of Extraordinary Gentlemen was, it wasn’t half as sucky as The Avengers. Assuming you set your Expect-O-Meter at zero, it was rather enjoyable. For one thing, it didn’t have the giant plot holes that Mission: Impossible did.
Just the prospect of hearing Rorschach’s voice is driving me insane. I’m not supposed to know what he sounds like! I’ve got it all worked out in my head! Gah!
And will they even keep the flashbacks to the Minutemen and the Crimebusters? Can they even fit all the Doc Manhattan stuff, the Comedian/Silk Spectre stuff, the Nightowl 1 and 2 stuff, and the Rorschach and Ozymandius stuff? I mean, that’s a lot of stuff.
That said, I’ll see it. Because I hate myself and want myself to suffer.
Wonder who’ll play Silk Spectre…
Apparently, once one of his works has been optioned for a film, Moore wants nothing to do with it. He may talk about what he could see for the movie, if someone asks, but he wants to know nothing about the film adaption, and doesn’t want to get involved in the adaption in any way. He will also never see any of the films. And I don’t blame him.
And by the way, Moore has recently ended his ABC line of comics, and the only comic he may ever work on again is more League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Though I don’t think he’s working on any League stories at the moment. Aside from League, he’s basically retired from comics…
I also see this movie being dicked over, most likely worse than League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. That comic still had quite a bit of action in it, but Watchmen was more a psychological detective story. There’s really no action with the exception of a few moments here and there, and those are always rather short lived. I see a Hollywood adaptation being more drawn to the super-fast-punch-kick-flingofsomethingfancy-explosion kind of movie that’s really going to suck. Unless they do the movie pretty much from the perspective of Rorshack, or possibly Night Owl, I can’t see anything good coming of this.
So, at what point does the actor playing the Comedian shoot a pregnant Vietnamese woman?
Assume they blow off all the WW2 stuff and the earlier versions of the heroes (i.e. the original Nite Owl and Silk Spectre etc), they might start the movie with Osterman getting Manhattanized in the late sixties, just in time to win the Vietnam War. Say his arrival on the scene prompts people to dress up as superheroes (much like Hooded Justice did in the comic) and their arc of popularity rises through the early seventies, finally collapsing in the riots of '77, forcing all but a rogue Rorschach into retirement by 1985.
Hmmm, I still think it would be hard to remind a modern audience of how scary the cold war was, and the overriding threat of nuclear war is really the only thing that can justify Ozymandias’ actions. If they market this thing to kids by playing up a lot of wire-fighting action, forget it. They need to target baby boomers:
[ul][li]Who remember reading comics books as kids;[/li][li]Who have found out that life doesn’t turn out the way you thought it would when you were younger (the heroes are now mostly burnouts); and[/li][li]Who remeber Nixon’s red-baiting and the Cuban Missile Crisis and how Soviet bombs could be arriving any day.[/ul][/li]
A critical element of the comic series was the “Doomsday Clock” that gradually ticked toward midnight (I wonder if Moore ever acknowledged the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists?), but that image now seems quaint and dated and possibly unfamiliar to a young audience.
I look forward to seeing an audience reaction of 35+ types nodding with understanding while 25- types scratch their heads and say “Uh, I don’t get it?”
The only choice to play Rorschach is Gary Oldman. He’s even the perfect age: 46 to Rorschach’s 45.
I’m sorry to bump such an old thread, so I have cookies for you:
[Cookie] Watchmen movie news:
[ul][li]I hate hate AICN, but, according to them, Darren Aronofsky signed on as director in April (although their site is so poorly designed it’s hard to find the frigging publication date).[/ul]I can’t imagine a good Watchmen film (the 80s screenplay is horrifying), but I really like Aronofsky as director and Hayter as screenwriter. There’s no casting news, so I figure nothing’s really happening with it. [/li]
[Cookie] I’ve been hungrily searching archives for old Watchmen discussions. The best discussion I could find was posted as the issues were being published on Usenet. It’s fun to read contemporaneous fan speculation. It also has the best commentary after the whole run:
[ul][li]Watchmen Talk (archive found here)[/li][/ul][Cookie] The Annotated Watchmen is also good:[ul][li]The Annotated Watchmen [/ul][/li]
Sounds good. We can squeeze in the original Night Owl during Dreiberg’s obligatory origin flashback. Hooded Justice can be vaguely referenced in a Jupiter flashback. The Comedian must come into play in various flashbacks. Silk Spectre is a live character. That’s four of the eight Minutemen in the Christmas photo. I can live with that.
I think you’re right. I am 28 - can not really remember the cold war apocalypse fear. I think people my age and younger would need an explanation of the Doomsday Clock and perhaps a refresher on the cold war. The Clock must be in any film.
I happen to be a military buff, and have read about that stuff. I knew about the Clock, etc. I LOVED the book. Watchmen was so good, I stopped reading after Chapter 4 and resolved to save it for my vacation, whereupon I started over from the beginning and read it with a blissfully clear head. I got back two weeks ago thinking it was perhaps the best thing I’ve ever read.