# Watchmen movie is in the works (again) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 3, 2005, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watchmen-movie-is-in-the-works-again/292703 "2005-03-03T04:08:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watchmen-movie-is-in-the-works-again/292703/21 "2005-03-04T01:00:08Z")
> [@Shirt Ninja 13](#): > > Alright, but the question is who would they get to do the various parts? > > I mean, if someone could _do_ that, the maxi-series idea (a la “Band of Brothers”), who would people like to see in the various parts? > > _bamf_ I’ll go first: I want to see [John C. Reilly](http://image.pathfinder.com/ew/itlist/2000/img/reilly.jpg) as Rorschach. ---
**Author:** ![sleeepy2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@sleeepy2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeepy2)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watchmen-movie-is-in-the-works-again/292703/22 "2005-03-04T02:18:07Z")
> [@ArrMatey!](#): > > Do NOT make me kill you! :mad: That’s what I get for attempting irony in print 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watchmen-movie-is-in-the-works-again/292703/23 "2005-03-04T03:17:20Z")
Now, I don’t know the Watchmen. But isn’t the projected 2006 release date a pretty bad sign in itself? I mean, they don’t have a cast yet, they don’t have a screenplay, they’re not even sure of the director, but they’re planning to be done in less than two years? That sounds awfully rushed to me. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watchmen-movie-is-in-the-works-again/292703/24 "2005-03-04T10:30:40Z")
> [@smiling bandit](#): > > I haven’t read Watchman, so I might not be “getting it” entirely, Im not trying to be rude, but you don’t seem to be getting it at all. > [@](#): > > but I think it could be a good movie if they refocus it on the super-hero world itself. It won’t be the Watchman from the comics, but the idea could be there. Everything about how a comic book world woul really be, in all its glory and crap. The world of Watchmen is very realistic in almost all respects. A few scientists have made a few amazing discoveries. There are no inventors cranking out antigravity devices, killer robots, and giant death rays everyweek. There are no hordes of superheroes. You could fit every superhero from the series on a standard schoolbus. I think you could fit all the supervillians as well, but I’d have to double check. > [@](#): > > Y’know, people dying because Baron von Evil (“That’s pronounced eeeh-Vvvilll!”) blasted a hole in the building, other people just sort of wandering by because there’s not really anything to do, Super villains being executed for mass murder, treason, etc… when they can find a way to do it. The characters have more realistic motivations, and most use more realistic methods. When Rorschach wants information, he doesn’t use a hypnohelmet, an amazing truth serum, or a clever bluff. He breaks fingers. Re Tales Of The Black Freighter You could tell the story without it, but the interweaving of that, the snippets of Under The Hood, and the rest are one of the things that make the Watchmen great. Watchmen has one of the greatest surprises I’ve ever read. All the clues have been strewn throughout story, but I didn’t realize it until it was finally revealed. "Only once."and all the other clues that the Comedian is her dad. I agree that it could be made to work as a miniseries. But, there’s no way to tell the story in two and half hours without cutting out major pieces ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2005, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watchmen-movie-is-in-the-works-again/292703/25 "2005-03-25T23:29:59Z")
Less than a month old, so **bump** with an interesting piece of news: [CHUD.com](http://CHUD.com) has a very long, very in-depth three-part interview with the director of the film, Paul Greengrass. [part one](http://chud.com/news/1914) [part two](http://chud.com/interviews/1985) [part three](http://chud.com/interviews/2017) He directly addresses a number of the concerns we all have about this adaptation, namely: How are you gonna cram it all into two hours? How are you gonna update the Cold War setting in a way that makes sense? How can you preserve the original’s theme as a deconstruction of comic-book heroes, in comic-book format, in a radically different medium? Remains to be seen whether he’ll actually pull it off, of course, but he’s at least focused on the right questions. And, notably, he says he read the material when it first came out, because he was interested in its politics, so he’s at least not a Johnny-come-lately. So, read and be, if not completely reassured, then at least mollified that he isn’t gonna Ratnerize the thing. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watchmen-movie-is-in-the-works-again/292703/26 "2005-03-26T03:20:19Z")
I wish both Greengrass and the interviewer could stay on topic. Not to belittle the Troubles, but I didn’t click the link to read articles on them. What’s with the questions on Bourne? Greengrass goes off on enough detours without encouragement. Re Moving the story to the present Won’t work. With all of his graphs etc, Adrian was able to predict a fullscale nuclear war between the USA and the USSR. How would he have predicted 9-11? Why would he have used his Architects Of Fear plan? As the Comedian says, and he having all kinds of top secret military clearance would know, all-out nuclear war would turn the earth into a “cinder”. All out war between the USA and Al Qaida hasn’t really done that. Where’s the ticking armageddon clock? Why would Adrian expect his AOF plan to work today? He knew that the USSR and USA would cooperate against a common enemy based on the fact that they’d already done so in WW2. What reason would he have for thinking the USA and Al Qaida would call a cease-fire and team up? ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watchmen-movie-is-in-the-works-again/292703/27 "2005-03-26T06:29:02Z")
Hell, I wonder if you could keep it “relevant” to our times by _keeping_ the US/USSR conflict—and just using that as a metaphor or an analogy for whatever modern socio-political setup you want the audience to connect with. (Kind of like works made during the Cold War using analagous stand-ins for the US and Soviets. Like the Klingons vs. Federation on “Star Trek.”) Aw, who am I kidding? I predict that they’ll cast Ben Affleck as Nite Owl II; the film will be threatened with an NC-17 rating that’ll be lowered after they cut out an extremely tame scene of Rorschach ripping off a rubber finger; Ozymandias will be “re-imagined” as a rebellious young computer hacker who’s played by an actress who happens to have a “hustler” centerfold; and the whole thing will end at a “rave” taking place in an abandoned steel mill. Soundtrack by Puddle of Mudd featuring Amy Lee. Be sure to play the Playstation 3 game with really crappy controls and players that die if they walk into a wall. Sorry, I’m pre-bitter. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watchmen-movie-is-in-the-works-again/292703/28 "2005-06-07T21:00:26Z")
Bump again: [Paramount has put the project into turnaround](http://chud.com/news/3251). In Hollywood parlance, that means, “We don’t want to make this, but if you can find another home for it, we’ll try to smooth the transition of the project from our house to theirs. Otherwise you’re vapor, pal.” I predict with the coming success of _Batman Begins_, the producers of _Watchmen_ won’t have any trouble setting up a dark, adult-oriented superhero project. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watchmen-movie-is-in-the-works-again/292703/29 "2005-06-07T21:54:35Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > **The comic-within-a-comic**. The conceit that, in a world where superheroes exist, people read comics about pirates just made me very happy. The grue of the comic was very powerful. They could perhaps show a character watching a TV screen of a pirate-show, but it just wouldn’t be as effective, I think. Easy. Simply have a Tv showing idealized Superoheros in action, and have a person turn off the show, since they don’t care to watch the history channel, and instead turn to a film about pirates. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watchmen-movie-is-in-the-works-again/292703/30 "2005-06-07T22:07:32Z")
> [@Scott Plaid](#): > > Easy. Simply have a Tv showing idealized Superoheros in action, and have a person turn off the show, since they don’t care to watch the history channel, and instead turn to a film about pirates. I agree with **LHOD** that this would not be as effective. Besides which, you’d have to alter the timeline of the Watchmen story, have the movie last an awfully long time, or lose all the overlaps between Tales Of The Black Freighter and Watchmen. Plus, we read Tales Of The Black Freighter because a kid who hangs out on a corner by a news stand reads it, without paying for it, then he puts it back. The relationship between the kid and the news stand owner helps build the world of Watchmen. They’ve known each other for years but never bothered to learn each other’s names or anything else. Anonymous, never seen before or again guy, watching a movie doesn’t do that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watchmen-movie-is-in-the-works-again/292703.md?page=1)