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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Watchmen Movie

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Kristina Winn

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Curious on peoples thoughts. I'm pretty excited for it. Little wary as well because I don't want the book to be ruined by the movie if it doesn't end up being good. High hopes though.

Trailer looks pretty sweet. :)

http://watchmenmovie.warnerbros.com/

Kristina
 
I attended the Watchmen panel at Comic Con this weekend, and everyone on the panel spoke with great reverence toward the source material, and Dave Gibbons was there showing his support and raving about how faithfully the comic came to life.

Snyder said in answer to the question of why he decided to take on Watchmen (paraphrased): "When I was finishing up 300, Warner asked me if I wanted to do Watchmen. My first impulse was to say no, but I realized that they were going to find someone to do it anyway, and if it got screwed up by the next guy, it would still be my fault, in a way. So I figured if it was going to be my fault either way, it might as well actually be my fault if it gets screwed up, and hopefully I'll be able to avoid that happening at all."

He also said that there were many times that a member of the cast would bust out the graphic novel during the shoot and say "My character says this." They were really focused on staying true to the original. They resisted the urge to update the material (it still takes place in an alternate 1985), saying that trying to bring this story and these characters into the modern political climate "felt wrong."

The last time I heard an entire team speak with such love and respect for source material was LOTR. Take that how you will, I guess, but I'm excited. The footage they showed didn't hurt, of course...
 
Reverence is one thing.

The thing about an adaptation that many people miss is you are adapting - more than anything - the spirit and idea of the book. Kubrick understood this.

Jackson and Snyder don't. They're adaptations are littered with token scenes "taken straight from the book" which do nothing to convey the essence of the story.

Clockwork Orange is a perfect example. Kubrick changed many things, but at the end of the day, despite being very different, the film creates many of the same emotions and feelings as the book. I feel the movie conveys the message as well or better than the book (although I love both).

LOTR was laughable in this regard. 300 was as well.

This would have been a film for a real filmmaker, there's lots of them, not for a paint-by-numbers make-it-look-like-the-book-I-skimmed-because-I-lack-the-literary-knowledge-to-comprehend-a -text director.

Sorry for the rant, these movies tick me off.
 
I thought the trailer looked great. I have some concerns about jazzing up watchmen with those 300-type speed ramps and slowdowns, but in the end the movie looks and feels like the novel.

Also I disagree about adaptations having to always only capture "the spirit" of the book. Tastes aside, 300 and Sin City work because they stuck as close as possible to the graphic novel frames. You may not like that, but its what makes those movies fresh and different.

Sometimes you adapt something loosely, sometimes you stick to every last word. It's your job as a filmmaker to know what's the right move given the material.

If you hate one particular approach, it has more to do with your taste and sensibilities than a right or wrong way to do things -- But I'd figure that's pretty obvious.
 
I'm not advocating an approach to interpretation, that's up to the filmmaker. I'm saying interpret the right thing: the meat of the story, what it's about.

There's no point in any interpretation if you get it wrong, and, in my opinion, filmmakers usually get it wrong.

Capturing the spirit of the book is sort of the minimum condition - it's great if you can capture as much as possible, but if you miss the spirit of the original, fans of the original won't be satisfied.

I guess I'm saying you need to understand your material, and I find that people often don't bother - because they think getting specific details right is enough (again, looking at you, Zack Snyder).
 
well, I guess we're sort of agreeing then?

Though having read 300 and having seen the movie -- I'm confused by your frustration with Snyder. It's not perfect, but it captures the intent and themes of the book almost to a tee. Not sure what you feel was way off? Curious about this now.
 
I just finished reading Watchmen for the first time, and I've gotta say after seeing the trailer it seems they've nailed the look and the feel of the graphic novel pretty well.

My biggest concern will be how they go about condensing some of the denser scenes (Doc Manhattan on Mars, Ozy's lengthy monologue at the end) and integrating the flashbacks or the intercutting with the Pirate comic. If they can pull these sections off while retaining the core of each, I think the film will be nothing short of brilliant.

A side note: if you've watched any of the behind the scenes footage, it seems everything was shot with ARRI film cameras. I wonder if this was a stylistic choice, or something more practical because of the immense amount of slow motion/speed ramping - or maybe both.
 
I was wondering the same thing about the flashbacks/pirate story. I think the pirate story is one of my favorite parts of the book. Course, if they can pull it off and don't need the pirate story/flashbacks, then I won't mind if they aren't included.

Good to see people still shooting film.
 
misskrissy said:
I was wondering the same thing about the flashbacks/pirate story. I think the pirate story is one of my favorite parts of the book. Course, if they can pull it off and don't need the pirate story/flashbacks, then I won't mind if they aren't included.

Good to see people still shooting film.
Click to expand...

I think I read that Snyder shot the Pirate story with Gerard Butler, for inclusion in the DVD cut. Might even end up in the theatrical cut -- depending on running time.

For me that was one of my favorite parts of the book.
 
Dimeworth said:
I think I read that Snyder shot the Pirate story with Gerard Butler, for inclusion in the DVD cut. Might even end up in the theatrical cut -- depending on running time.

For me that was one of my favorite parts of the book.
Click to expand...

Nice. I hope that's true. I'm interested in seeing how the whole movie looks, but it will definitely be fun to see how they shoot the pirate story. If in keeping with the book, stylistically, I suspect it'll be different than the whole.:nerd:
 
I saw the whole movie over at Warner Bros. a couple months ago and it had a run time of 3hrs or so. Only some of the VFX were done and most were in a very rough stage or not even there. Even at that stage the movie was kickass.
 
misskrissy said:
Nice. I hope that's true. I'm interested in seeing how the whole movie looks, but it will definitely be fun to see how they shoot the pirate story. If in keeping with the book, stylistically, I suspect it'll be different than the whole.:nerd:
Click to expand...

Yeah, from what I read, the Pirate story was going to be shot greenscreen, in the style of 300, since its a story within the story.
 
Looks like I need to rent 300, see what it looks like. Did they shoot 300 on both blue and green screen?
 
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