Is anyone nervous about the Watchmen movie?

Question

It's supposed to come out next year, directed by Dawn of the Dead's Zack Snyder, who is also supposed to be directing Frank Miller's 300. I know Alan Moore will think it's absolute rubbish. The man was a bit harsh on the Waschowskis for V For Vendetta. I read that his reasons for disliking it was because of minor flaws like the fact that British people don't really eat eggs in a basket, and that the mail system in the movie was called FedCo-Britain is not a Federation. Seems kind of nittpicky, but hey, its Alan Moore. Back to Watchmen, I'm excited to see how they'll adapt it to screen. I also look forward to seeing Dr. Manhattan, Rorschach, Niteowl, $#!T I can't wait to see this! I wonder if they'll have the hot grease to the face scene.

Answer 1

Eh, I don't think it'll be that good. How can you fit 12 issues of plot into one 2-3 hour movie? It can't be done, at least not well. It should be a miniseries. I liked V For Vendetta, but I don't think the story has the same complexity or detail that Watchmen does. (Don't get me wrong, I actually like V For Vendetta more than Watchmen.) However, not only is there the story, but there are the supplements at the end of each issue that gives the backstory to many of the running plotlines. I just don't think they can pull it off.

Also, the reason Alan Moore didn't like V For Vendetta is not because of the minor flaws that you mentioned, though I'm sure he wasn't happy with them. Ultimately, it all goes back to his feud with DC Comics. I'm guessing Watchmen is being done by Warner Bros. since they own DC Comics. Also, he doesn't like his work to be screwed around with AT ALL.

The comic series From Hell and the movie From Hell are very different, and the movie is just not very good. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is also very divergent from the comic series. V For Vendetta while keeping much of the main events the same, changes the viewpoint essentially. Instead of being a wholly British entity, the movie acts like an allegory for today's America. And the John Constantine in Constantine is pretty much not the character Moore created.

Moore is a very intellectual and careful writer. Whatever he writes, he has completely thought it through. He doesn't like what his work is turned into once it hits celluloid, so he refuses to have his name attached. However, he has whatever money he would have gotten from the movie given to the artist who drew the particular series.

Answer 2

My guess is it will never be made. I still remember that Sam Hamm, who wrote the screenplay for the 1989 Batman movie, wrote a screenplay for Watchmen right after Batman came out. Then, Terry Gilliam was going to direct it. That was over 15 years ago.

I'm not sure if I want to see this movie happen. Watchmen is one of the best. No matter how good or bad a movie is, elements from the comic will be changed and/or missing (there's no way the Black Freighter stories could possibly make it to the screen).

And yes, Alan Moore will probably hate it. His reasons for not liking V for Vendetta were much more involved that what you mention here. If you read Moore's V, you see that V put the blame on the people of Britian for letting the government get out of hand. His broadcast to the people explained this. The movie changed the entire tone of that speech and took away V's original point of view. However, I still think the movie works well by itself. It simply did not have the same voice Moore gave it.

Answer 3

Nervous, yes, optomistic, yes.
It could be great but I've been disappointed too many times with comics to movies. While V for Vendetta was good, League of Ex. Gentlemen was not. There is sooo much in the graphic novel,I don;t know how it can be made into a movie. Remeber how bad every attempt of filming Dune has been?

Answer 4

Yes-- i am nervous--because no matter how good the comic version is//// HOLLYWOOD WILL FIND A WAY TO SCREW IT UP!!!!////// iT'LL be fun to watch it though--but I bet its nothing like what we read!!