This is just a quickie, but seeing as how it is about Watchmen it merits a good post. As fans know, Watchmen has had a devil of a time finding its way to the silver screen. We've been teased, but nobody has delivered. Ergo, when a new round of Watchmen movie rumors started popping up, it was rather hard to have any faith in them. We wanted to believe, but our hearts had been broken too many times with Watchmen's false promises. We've got Zack Snyder attached to direct this time around, and as of this weekend we've got a writer as well -- one Alex Tse. Tse hasn't had much screen writing experience to date; according to IMDB the only real work he has done in the field thus far is a Showtime drama film with Spike Lee. So does the attachment of a writer give you any further confidence in the film's chances of actually existing? It seems like this studio is serious about the project, so maybe we'll get some action this time. Interesting to choose such an unknown for the writer, but I suppose he's got most of the primary themes already taken care of for him. He does have pretty solid source material, after all.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-25-2006 @ 12:18PM
Hammer said...
I hope it's not a fake, like it was before :-
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6-25-2006 @ 2:30PM
will said...
Didn't David Hayter already write a script the studio was gushing over? This movie may never get made in my lifetime. And even if it does we have at least a good 5 to 10 years before it sees the silver screen...
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6-25-2006 @ 3:17PM
Becca said...
Seriously are we talking about this again? I have so little faith that a practically untried screenwriter can bring a story as complex as Watchmen to life. I read an early Sam Hamm script for Watchmen about ten years ago and it was one of the worst things put to paper. When a filmmaker like Terry Gilliam tells you it's an unfilmable property then maybe it's time to move on.
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6-25-2006 @ 10:18PM
darkbhudda said...
Wow isn't that something like 20 different scripts that have been written?
I don't see how this would survive unscaved.
Somethings they will surely do.
Tone down the violence to get a PG rating.
Turn Rorschach into a guy who makes James Bond type jokes after he kills someone.
Make the Nite Owl a young hot stud.
Add some wacky sidekick or turn an existing character into the comic relief.
Change Dr. Manhattan so he's nicer. Plus, blue is like so 1980s.
Add some kids so they can get in trouble and need to be rescued.
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6-26-2006 @ 10:27AM
Rev said...
I don't think there is a way to translate Watchmen for the screen without totally killing it.
I wish the general public knew more about it, but I fear that a movie (espeically if its a bad one) is going to help things. When I reference Watchmen I usually have to explain that it is this amazing comic that reads like a novel...but after a bad movie if I metion Watchmen I'd get responses like "Oh, the movie?" or "Oh, that horrible movie" and I don't feel like trying to argue with people to say that the comic was better.
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6-26-2006 @ 2:43PM
Mike said...
This is horrible news. The simple fact that you are on the umpteen rewrite of a comic book that many consider one of the best ever written should be a red flag with warning bells and flashing light going off. No way Hollywood does it any sort of justice. Just take whatever bad plot they come up with and call it something else. Trust me, no one will know it was an adaptation of Watchmen. It's not like they will stay true or close to the original story. Calling it Watchmen is only a cheap marketing trick to get comic book fans to come see it. Can anyone say "Catwoman?"
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6-27-2006 @ 4:49PM
dg said...
There's just no way to properly translate this story into a 2-hour movie. Can't be done. They'll chop out 90% of the book, add unrelated scenes for filler, and it will end up as another Hitchhiker’s Guide – a great, meaningful book beaten into an incomprehensible mess.
The only way to do this properly is for the SciFi Channel or USA Network to make it into a multi-part miniseries (or “maxi-series”, if you will,) similar to the productions of Taken or The 4400. You just have to hope that Basic Cable would have the guts to show it intact.
It’s a shame, really. This is a great story given the current political climate. Paranoia, government intrusion, nuclear escalation....it’s perfect. "Who Watches the Watchmen?" means more than ever right now.
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