Watchmen (Zack Snyder, 2009)

[dx23]

After 9/11 some felt the story's themes were too close to reality ever to be palatable to a mainstream audience.

Who this guy think he is? Rudy Giuliani?

[Antoine Doinel]

The judge refuses to read Gordon's open letter, saying it's "improper communication".

I hope Fox makes a movie about the making of Watchmen. This legal wrangling is far more interesting than the movie itself.

[moviscop]

A friend of mine noted how cool the Glass intro was on the trailer and I thought the Muse song was cool in it as well.

But even the trailers are made up of 90% slow motion. I'm really starting to doubt the entire project.

[MyNameCriterionForum]

Yeah, if the film keeps slowing down, maybe it'll never get released.

[brendanjc]

But even the trailers are made up of 90% slow motion. I'm really starting to doubt the entire project.

People said the exact same thing about 300. I won't say anything more than that.

[Jeff]

producer Lloyd Levin issues an embarrassing open letter

The comments on that linked site are hilarious. They're all comic book fanboys going on about how those jerks at Fox don't deserve the movie, 'cause they don't understand Watchmen. My favorite comment is, "Someone doesn't deserve to own something of value if they never plan on sharing it with anyone else." Okay then, dipshit, I'll be taking all your money. If you're not going to share it, you don't deserve it.

The whole issue is absurd. Fox owns the rights to the film. Period. End of fucking story. Warner has been receiving notifications and cease-and-desists from Fox for years, but chose to ignore them. They fucked up, and don't have many options left. I hope that Fox is granted possession of the negative, then burns it in a ceremony televised on that video game network.

[Grand Illusion]

So a film not made by the original authors... without owning the rights... who made the project just for the love of it...

This has to be the biggest fan film ever, right?

[domino harvey]

I hope that Fox is granted possession of the negative, then burns it in a ceremony televised on that video game network.

Oh man, this made me laugh pretty damn hard. =D>

[dr. calamari]

A friend of mine noted how cool the Glass intro was on the trailer and I thought the Muse song was cool in it as well.

But even the trailers are made up of 90% slow motion. I'm really starting to doubt the entire project.

The slow motion is probably to add to the running time...as everyone here probably knows, there wasn't really enough in the source material for a feature length movie. They'll probably have to film and splice in all that pirate-comic crap just to fill it out to a full 2 hours. Maybe they'll run a newsreel and a cartoon before the feature, so people will feel like they're getting their money's worth.

[kaujot]

The slow motion is probably to add to the running time...as everyone here probably knows, there wasn't really enough in the source material for a feature length movie.

I couldn't disagree with you more.

[Max von Mayerling]

Of course, none of this litigation is about whether the film gets released. It's just about how much money WB will have to pay Fox in order to release it. What would be sweet is if Fox demanded a big up-front payment, and then the thing tanks, leaving WB doubly screwed on the project.

(And, I second Kaujot. I think that, if anything, the source material requires more time than is permitted for a feature length flick. I think this is part of the fundamental problem with making this movie in the first place.)

[chaddoli]

I believe the good doctor was being sarcastic.

[dx23]

A friend of mine noted how cool the Glass intro was on the trailer and I thought the Muse song was cool in it as well.

But even the trailers are made up of 90% slow motion. I'm really starting to doubt the entire project.

The slow motion is probably to add to the running time...as everyone here probably knows, there wasn't really enough in the source material for a feature length movie. They'll probably have to film and splice in all that pirate-comic crap just to fill it out to a full 2 hours. Maybe they'll run a newsreel and a cartoon before the feature, so people will feel like they're getting their money's worth.

As kaujot said, I could not disagree with you more. Watchmen has enough material to make it a HBO mini-series that runs for 12 episodes. We wonder how the hell Snyder has been able to make this great graphic novel into a film that is under 3 hours.

[solaris72]

[exte]

The new trailer looks fantastic. I don't know a thing about the source material, but hopefully the film delivers.

[dr. calamari]

Von Mayerling, kaujot, and dx23, you all need to get one of the above machines...chadolli is correct. I was being sarcastic. It is my only vice, but one I indulge as frequently as possible. Especially here.

Thanks to solaris72 for posting the image, it conveys in a picture what I needed words to communicate.

[Cold Bishop]

The new trailer looks fantastic. I don't know a thing about the source material, but hopefully the film delivers.

?

[Nothing]

No interest in seeing this, but I went back and read the articles re: the conflict.

I'm presuming Fox are arguing that Synder/the script were changed elements, therefore some age old turnaround clause was not fulfilled? Turnaround clauses are pretty revolting things really, allowing financiers who have spent a few pennies in development to weigh down a project they didn't seed and have no intention of making themselves. It doesn't set a very good precendent if this seeming failure by WB (a blurry one) results in Fox having "the right to distribute the film" - whilst they may possibly have the right to injunuct it until (modest, I would say) financial reparations are made, it would seem blindingly obvious that they don't have the right to distribute it, given that they have no contractual agreements with Synder or any of the the cast - ergo, this judge is a moron, either that or someone has slipped him a fat envelope.

[domino harvey]

And the world lives to see another Zack Snyder film

[swo17]

Yes, but is that really living?

[pianocrash]

And the world lives to see another Zack Snyder film

Yes, but is that really living?

Q: How do you sleep at night?
A: On top of a pile of money with many beautiful ladies.

[Antoine Doinel]

The New Frontiersman

[domino harvey]

Well, looks like Snyder had his priorities straight:

"Worry not, fans of brutal superheroes: The rape that's central to Watchmen's complex character dynamics will be featured in the movie without any censorship. Maybe just the opposite, in fact.

Talking to MTV, Jeffrey Dean Morgan - who plays the Comedian in Zack Snyder's movie adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' classic comic - said that the scene where his character is discovered raping Carla Gugino's Silk Spectre wasn't an easy one to shoot:

It was a three-day process shooting that particular scene, and it was hard... It was three of the hardest days of filming I have ever had to do. It was really very violent.

Violent, you may be thinking? Wasn't it kind of... understated in the original comic? Well, yes, but certain liberties have to be taken in adapting things into movies, Morgan explained:

When you’re looking at the comic book you only get a couple panels so there is a lot of stuff there that needs to be filled in, so we fill in the blanks there between three and four panels, and it turns out to be one hell of a violent scene. And it’s all intact, [Hooded Justice] comes in and interrupts the attempted rape — it’s all there. We stayed very loyal to it, and I haven’t actually seen the scene yet, but I did see a piece of playback when we were filming it and it’s a lot... It’s rated ‘R’ for a reason.

Call it a suspicious nature, but the glibness of "it's rated 'R' for a reason" (or, for that matter, Gugino calling the scene "pretty crazy" last year) concerns me for some reason. Am I really the only one who's worried that "filling in" things between panels is going to equal a glossy, sensationalistic gratuitous scene in this case..?"

Bragging about a rape scene has got to be as low as this project can get

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

When you’re looking at the comic book you only get a couple panels so there is a lot of stuff there that needs to be filled in, so we fill in the blanks there between three and four panels, and it turns out to be one hell of a violent scene.

See? You can't blame Snyder, it was already there in between the panels.

[Antoine Doinel]

Well, they had to get Carla Gugino naked for her obligatory topless scene somehow.

Oh yeah, another viral, this time a "news report" revealing Dr. Manhattan.