Watchmen Casting Announced

[Sauced]

There was a "secret" screening in Portland last Thursday, and of course I didn't have a chance in hell of scoring tickets.  But a friend of a friend had nothing but good things to say, although the effects did not look finished.  My friend wouldn't describe the ending to me, but would only say that he thought it was a cop out, for what that's worth, but he's a comic snob who doesn't think the movie can exist without completely fucking it all up.

[UnSub]

Fuck yeah. 

If this film doesn't live up to the trailers, it will break my heart.

Fantastic poster too.

[Velorath]

Brief comments from Snyder about the changes to the ending.  Possible spoilers for the movie.

[Velorath]

Yahoo Movies is debuting a new trailer tomorrow at 5PM PT.

[Velorath]

New trailer is up now.

Couple of nitpicks; Dr. Manhattan still needs some special effects work done on any scene where it shows him talking, and Rorschach sounds a little too much like Batman in The Dark Knight.

[HaemishM]

New trailer is up now.

Couple of nitpicks; Dr. Manhattan still needs some special effects work done on any scene where it shows him talking, and Rorschach sounds a little too much like Batman in The Dark Knight.

Gonna be hard not to make him sound like Batman, after Dark Knight was such a hit. I didn't mind the effects on Dr. Manhattan during the speaking scenes. They might have given away too much with the Comedian's death scenes at the beginning.

[Samwise]

Rorschach is a pipsqueak trying to sound really tough.  Doing the Dark Knight raspy voice makes sense.

[Raguel]

From the trailer, it sounds like "Watchmen" refers to the main characters as a group like the JLA. 

Rorschach says someone's killing off "costumed heroes" instead of masks.

It sounds like Ozy's taking over Captain Metropolis' role in terms of creating a new team.


Admittedly these are small changes, but they are annoying. Look, it's not like the comic had no weaknesses, but IMO these weren't one of them.

Turning them into the JLA and putting Ozy and the Comedian in direct conflict (ok, pure speculation on my part) diminishes the story.

[HaemishM]

Ozy did lead a JLA type outfit... for all the 10 minutes it lasted.

[Raguel]

If you're referring to the Crimebusters, that was Metropolis' idea. If you're referring to something else, I don't remember it at all.

[HaemishM]

DOH, you're right, it was the Capt. I was thinking of Ozy looking at the map after Comedian torched it like he had set up the idea.

I know that the Watchmen title was given to the collective group of masks by the rioters. Maybe they just adopted it a little more literally than the book did.

[Rasix]

Eh, seems like a marketting/exec decision.  "Watchmen, ok.  What, they're not called The Watchmen? I'm confused. Perhaps they should call themselves the Watchmen."

They're never called "Watchmen" at any point (to the best of my memory, friend is borrowing).  There's the graffiti, where "who watches the watchmen" is scrawled.  I don't remember if it's in English or Latin.

I can live with it, but it'll grate on me.

[nurtsi]

New trailer is up now.

Anyone know what the music is on the trailer? The first one had Smashing Pumpking but this I don't recognize...

[Phildo]

All they'd need to do is change any reference to the Minutemen to the Watchmen.  That doesn't seem TOO grating to me.

[schad]

Anyone know what the music is on the trailer? The first one had Smashing Pumpking but this I don't recognize...

First song is Philip Glass, from Koyaanisqatsi iirc
Second song is Muse, Take a Bow.

[Margalis]

Wasn't feeling the trailer. I'm afraid my original comments about it turning into a more typical super-hero fest complete with matrix-style slo-mo scenes may turn out right.

Also ending changes sound strange and Snyder's comments don't make much sense.

[Raguel]

Wasn't feeling the trailer. I'm afraid my original comments about it turning into a more typical super-hero fest complete with matrix-style slo-mo scenes may turn out right.

Also ending changes sound strange and Snyder's comments don't make much sense.

That's how I felt. If this had been the first trailer released  (and I read that quote) I would have been    instead of  Now I'm sort of on the fence, but hoping it will still be good.

[Evil Elvis]

Looks like the lawsuit's caused the release date to be pushed back another 2 weeks.

Edit: Actually, it might not be.  The trial has been pushed back, but every other site reporting this still says that the release date hasn't changed (yet).  http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/00020655.html

[Evil Elvis]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/25/business/media/25fox.html?_r=1

[Ironwood]

That new trailer is a mish mash messy fuckup.

Sure, I'm still excited about the film, but that trailer was awful.

[Tebonas]

Either that judge is retarded or your law is. You can sit on a license like that for over 20 years without doing anything to use it and your claim still is valid?

[Trippy]

Either that judge is retarded or your law is. You can sit on a license like that for over 20 years without doing anything to use it and your claim still is valid?

If your rights to it haven't expired, yes.

[HaemishM]

Either that judge is retarded or your law is. You can sit on a license like that for over 20 years without doing anything to use it and your claim still is valid?

Trust me when I saw it's our copyright laws. They are retarded beyond words.

[Merusk]

Hey, if the Copyright laws aren't there to defend the rights of International Megacorps whose entire business model is centered around a half dozen or so 90 year old "cultural icons" then what ARE they there for?

Clearly you just hate America.

[naum]

New trailer, at least new to me…

NBS Nightly News with Ted Philips, March 11th 1970
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd5cInmK6LQ

[IainC]

New trailer, at least new to me…

NBS Nightly News with Ted Philips, March 11th 1970
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd5cInmK6LQ

I linked it a week ago here. It's from the viral advertising site that appeared some time ago - New Frontiersman.

[ahoythematey]

Whelp, I finally picked up and read Watchmen.  That was really, really, really well-written.

Something concerns me, though: the movie trailers show what looks like something very close to the book, and while that is going to be unbelievably  if that is the case, it's also going to mean a lot of people, probably critics too, are going to hate the movie because of it's bleakness, especially with any ending where the whole of mankind is shown as fundamentally broken due to tribalism and can only sustain itself through lies, or where the two most interesting protagonists also have the saddest outcomes with one being killed to protect said lies, and the other self-banished from his home due to having no emotional connect left to preserve.

What an awesome book, what a hopefully-awesome movie, but I'm sure I'll hate ever trying to explain to people wanting another dark knight or Iron Man why Watchmen is so awesome and that they need to shut the fuck up with their belly-aching.

Also, I can't help but think the legal-bullshit shenanigans Fox pulled was planned all along once Warner started planning the movie so that they wouldn't have to actually pay for the production, since it's a real possibility that Watchmen will not do that well at the box-office.  It would be a very Fox-thing to do, and I actually get angry thinking about it.

[HaemishM]

it's also going to mean a lot of people, probably critics too, are going to hate the movie because of it's bleakness, especially with any ending where the whole of mankind is shown as fundamentally broken due to tribalism and can only sustain itself through lies, or where the two most interesting protagonists also have the saddest outcomes with one being killed to protect said lies, and the other self-banished from his home due to having no emotional connect left to preserve.

Fuck them in their tiny earholes. People who do not like Watchmen for that reason are mouth-breathing twats who need to keep their muffin hatches shut and are unable to process art.

[ahoythematey]

Oh, I agree.  I just know it'll be frustrating for a well-done adaptation to not get what's due.  I hate people.

[Phildo]

Fuck them in their tiny earholes. People who do not like Watchmen for that reason are mouth-breathing twats who need to keep their muffin hatches shut and are unable to process art.

But when those people are the majority...

[HaemishM]

No one ever said the majority wasn't mouth-breathing cunts.

[Samwise]

It seems like we've had a much stronger trend of late toward movies that don't have warm fuzzy happy endings, or even satisfying conclusions.  I don't think that in itself would be sufficient for people (especially critics, who usually want to avoid seeming mainstream or unhip) to hate it.

[Raguel]

A potential problem I see is, if the movie is generally faithful to the comic, how people are going to react to seeing a mini episode of Lost in the middle of the movie? Actually, better make that "several mini-episodes". I love the comic, but as much as bash Hollywood for deviating from the original source this is one time I think an exception should be made.

[Samwise]

Already covered -- the Black Freighter stuff is going to be an extra on the DVD, but will not be part of the main movie.

[Raguel]

I meant the origin/background stories, specifically of Rorschach, Dr. Manhattan, the Comedian, and the Silk Spectre. Those elements are very important to the overall story (and IMO the very best bits of the comic), but I don't think telling those stories in flashback form will translate well on film.