Read More after the Jump....
Snyder turned out to be a huge comic nerd who had extreme reverence for the source comic book. He planned on making the film with the same precision and attention to detail that he had used when adaption 300... and he didn't care how long the movie ended up being. He planned on filming an animated accompaniment for The Black Freighter comic book story within a story from the original novel, as well as one featuring the early tales on the Minutemen. He had a plan for the finale, the one pitfall that all the critics of a film adaption to Alan Moore's groundbreaking graphic novel always pointed out as impossible to translate to film. And he made it happen.
He cast a group of mostly unknown but perfectly matching actors for the roles of the Watchmen (with the exception of Billy Crudup most of them had minimal exposure prior to Watchmen and have become much bigger actors after) to act in the film, had a rock solid adaption in place, and was ready to make it all happen. Before filming the Internet was abuzz with how Snyder wasn't the right guys for the job... how a guy like Gilliam with his weird sensibilities would be perfect for the material, and that it was too deep and sprawling of an undertaking for a young dude like Snyder to handle. Turned out those people were idiots. The movie, in my humble comic book nerd opinion, is perfect. The changes are minor at best, and his ending (albeit slightly different from the comic) was close enough to be chalked up to cinematic necessity. He didn't just change shit to change it... everything that needed to be in place to convey the tone and feel of the original comic was present in the film. It was as close to perfect that I could have ever hoped for. And most people that I have encountered that know the original source material feel quite the same way. The film was a middling success, making a ton of moeny but not living up to the expectations (ie: HOPES) of a huge payout DC had dreamed of. Oh well.. doesn't mean the movie isn't great.
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| The Comedian is not amused at your criticism of his film !!! |
In a recent interview with The Huffington Post to discuss his newest film, the Liam Neeson airplane thriller Non-Stop, Joel Silver couldn't help himself from taking shots at Snyder and his version of Watchmen. Silver talked out of his ass using quotes like Snyder was "too much a slave to the original material" and vowing that his and Gilliam's version would have turned out much better. This is ironic, considering Silver has been involved in his fair share of bombs over the years and Gilliam has many of his own difficulties getting his own films done. Since Snyder is himself on the circuit doing interviews for 300: Rise of and Empire, he was then asked to responded to Silver's assertions. As usual, Snyder did not disappoint!
Snyder found all of the comments laughable, but killed all of the noise with one simple comment. He said he made Watchmen for one reason and one reason only: He made the film for himself, and to save it from guys like Silver and Gilliam. Wow. That is amazing. Ya see, Snyder was a comic fan long before he ever picked up a camera... and any REAL comic book fan knows how much reverence REAL comic book fans have for continuity and story lines. He was weaned on books like Watchmen... and these dudes thought they could have done better? Get the fuck outta here. Need more proof? Check out Silver's comments of about Gilliam's plans for the final act:
"Instead of the whole notion of the intergalactic thing, which was too hard and too silly, what he did was maintain that the existence of Doctor Manhattan had changed the whole balance of the world economy, the world political structure ... he had the Ozymandias character convince Doctor Manhattan to go back and stop himself from being created, so there never would be a Doctor Manhattan character. And in the vortex that was created after that occurred, these characters from Watchmen only became characters in a comic book".
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| Even Dr. Manhattan is horrified by Gilliam's vision !!! |
Here is a link to Snyder's Huffington Post Interview and Silver's interview from last month.
