Snyder to make Watchmen movie

[Zinkovich]

Fans of Watchmen unite - the project is finally moving along positively! Director Zack Snyder, who's currently out promoting his Spartan epic 300, answered some questions to press about the comic book adaptation. Zack started off by saying, “I feel like the movie is in a pretty cool place. I think the script is starting to become pretty cool.” He also added that “we're trying to get a budget together now” and “I've been drawing away, you know. I think it's coming along, so they say.” Zack also discussed the movie's setting and CGI choices. Although he wouldn't reveal anything about the actors or who they might be, he did say that, “it's cool because in some ways you can get real actors, you don't have to go ‘Hollywood.’ ” And also about when production may start, stating “they have talked about maybe shooting in the summer” - which was also confirmed as a possibility at a later press conference by his wife, Deborah Snyder, who is an executive producer on both 300 and Watchmen. Zack also says he's setting his film in 1985 and comments: “There has been a push on I think everybody's… on the other scripts that exist about trying to update the movie or make it take place in present day, or things of that nature. I think that by setting the movie in ‘85, by having the Cold War, having Nixon, having all that stuff you reinvigorate what the story is about. It allows all the metaphors…” “I think what Alan Moore has, in his book, the comic he's made about authority and government and all those things, they're big themes. Maybe if you make that movie right, [then] what that has to say makes people think about what's happening maybe now or in their own lives. That's my hope for what the movie can be.” And finally, he discusses just how much CGI he may use: “The idea of Watchmen is not to do a CGI movie, but to do it when it's necessary. Like when Doc Manhattan goes to Mars, there's an issue here, we've got to figure that out. We can't go to Mars, I know, a lot people are going to be disappointed by that - but I just don't have the money. Antarctica also, there's no Carnac built there. I know, again, we should probably build it and then go film it there, but I don't think they're going let us do that. So those two things right off the bat you can think about. Dr. Manhattan himself, what do you do, how do you make him - how do you render him. Rorschach's mask. There's things that have to be dealt with and figured out. But I think that the appetite for me is to make a movie that feel's more like Taxi Driver than like Fantastic Four, again. So it's a balance.” Zack also says, “go see 300!” as the best way to help Watchmen (maybe even get a bigger budget) and includes that the studio doesn't “understand why it's not Fantastic Four. I have to remind them, I go, ‘look, it's much more Strangelove than Fantastic Four,’ which they don't like hearing.” So if you are a fan of Watchmen, go see 300, and stay tuned for what sounds like an incredible project that may be starting very soon.

Zack Snyder Reveals Watchmen Details - CGI Choices and More! « FirstShowing.net

Guys, to give you an idea of how big Watchmen is, it was in Time's 2005 list of "the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present."

It won a Hugo award, an Eisner award, and a Kirby award.

Trust me, if this film is screwed up, there will be a lot of pissed off geeks and fans. This is big news. I'm pumped for this and can't wait to see how it turns out. What about you?

[G. Adams]

Quote by: Zinkovich Zack Snyder Reveals Watchmen Details - CGI Choices and More! « FirstShowing.net Guys, to give you an idea of how big Watchmen is, it was in Time's 2005 list of "the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present." It won a Hugo award, an Eisner award, and a Kirby award. Trust me, if this film is screwed up, there will be a lot of pissed off geeks and fans. This is big news. I'm pumped for this and can't wait to see how it turns out. What about you?

Having seen 300 i'm worried he will produce an equally worthless bit of trash. Personally I'd rather it be left alone, there's too much story there for a film to justify it.

Now a Preacher film, that I'd get behind.

[Zinkovich]

Having seen 300 i'm worried he will produce an equally worthless bit of trash. Personally I'd rather it be left alone, there's too much story there for a film to justify it.

Snyder's not a bad director, I liked his remake of Day of the Dead and in his last adaptation he actually did respect his source material. If anything, the reason people think 300 sucked is because it was based off of a piece of shit comic by a piece of shit comic writer who is very much conservative in his attitudes and ideals.

Seriously, read up on Frank Miller. While he has done good work, whenever he inserts politics into his work everything in his plots go to hell.

Now a Preacher film, that I'd get behind.

I heard rumors of an HBO series coming about from some news source. You might want to look into it to see whether or not it was dropped or not.

Edit- Here you go:

Mark Steven Johnson, who has just signed a deal with HBO to adapt the popular Vertigo comic Preacher into an hourlong series, told SCI FI Wire that he plans to turn each issue of the comic into a single episode, which will be as close to the original source material as possible. "I gave [HBO] the comics, and I said, 'Every issue is an hour,'" Johnson said at a preview of his upcoming film Ghost Rider in Hollywood, Calif., on Nov. 30. "And it's exactly the book. ... I had my meeting yesterday, and [Preacher creator] Garth Ennis is on the phone, and we're all in the room, and Garth is like, 'You don't have to be so beholden to the comic.' And I'm like, 'No, no, no. It's got to be like the comic.' So that's what's so brilliant about it. It's just like, HBO, who else would do it but them? Nobody. ... HBO is just like, 'Bring it on.'" Johnson is no stranger to comic-book adaptations, having written and directed Daredevil and Ghost Rider, both based on Marvel comics characters. In the case of Preacher, however, he felt that a feature film would not do the story justice. "Well, Preacher is 70-something issues," he said. "There was going to be a movie made of Preacher a while ago, and I read the script, and it broke my heart. Because I'm like, 'Oh, it's not a two-hour movie. Preacher's six years—six dedicated years of the most incredible stuff you've ever seen in your whole life. So I always thought HBO was the only way to do that." Preacher centers on a Texas holy man named Jesse Custer, who is possessed by a supernatural entity that is half angel and half demon. Given immense powers, Jesse sets out on a journey to find God—who has fled from heaven—and hold him accountable for his actions. "He can do whatever he wants with that power," Johnson said. "And instead he says, 'You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to find God. And I'm going to make him pay. I want God to answer for everything he's done to people.' I think that's really honorable. ... God gets scared, and he leaves heaven because Jesse's so powerful. Jesse says, 'You know what? I'm going to find God. And I don't care how long it takes. And I want to make God give an answer to everybody and say why you've deserted your people.' It's honorable." Although the deal was just finalized this week, Johnson said he isn't wasting any time getting to work on the script. "I had my meeting yesterday, so I've go to get writing. ... Right now. Literally, when I get home." —Cindy White

SCI FI Wire | The News Service of the SCI FI Channel

Looks like I have two things to look forward to, although Ghost Rider and Daredevil aren't good marks on his record by any stretch of the imagination.