Joel Silver On What He Wanted 'Watchmen' To Be
Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom
Notwithstanding the general and persistent unprofessionalism of many of the journalists in attendance at this weekend's Los Angeles press junket for Orphan - which is noteworthy, but not worth going into specifics about - a few valuable tidbits of information did actually come out of the interviews (although for details on the film itself, check in later this week from our hopefully more successful New York team). But during an interview with producer Joel Silver, the subject of Zack Snyder's Watchmen came up; and Silver, who was scheduled to produce his own version of the acclaimed graphic novel series in the early 1990s, had a few things to say about Snyder's film, not to mention what his own Watchmen might have looked like.
Discussing his upcoming slate of films, Silver explained that the preponderance of graphic novel adaptations and comic book-themed material was nothing new to his eclectic filmography.
"We bought Watchmen and V For Vendetta in the late '80s, both of them," he said. "I mean, I lost Watchmen over the years, I wish I hadn't, but I've always been interested in them. When I read Watchmen, it changed my view of so many things. It was the first time I'd read a graphic novel really like that. So I mean, but look, we made Richie Rich in '94 so I've been involved with comic book stories for a long time. Predator might as well have been a graphic novel. It wasn't, but it read like one."
In terms of Watchmen itself, Silver suggested that his interpretation – which by all accounts would have been directed by Terry Gilliam, a filmmaker only occasionally accessible to the mainstream - might have turned out a little more audience-friendly than Snyder's deeply faithful rendering of the material. "I love Zack and I love his work, and I think he's very talented, but the script that we developed, I think was better than the movie they made," he said. "I don't want to say he was a slave to the material because he made changes anyway, but I think it could have been a little more satisfying movie. I think Zack made a great movie, though; I don't want to minimize what he did. But I think at the end of the day it was more kind of tuned to just the big kind of fanatics of Watchmen as opposed to a broader-based audience who didn't maybe know the original comic."
What do you think? Could Joel Silver have put together a better Watchmen movie than the one you saw? Let us know!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-19-2009 @ 10:36PM
Dirk2112 said...
Could Silver have .... [insert disbelieving stutter here]. Bro, are you high? The simple fact that Silver thinks of Watchmen and Richie Rich in the same breath basically answers your question.
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7-19-2009 @ 10:38PM
Todd Gilchrist said...
not that i am committed to defending joel silver, but he was discussing the two films in the context of a question asking why he seems to be pursuing a lot of comic book-related projects. i don't think in any way he was correlating watchmen and richie rich, just using rr as an example of his ongoing interest in comic-related properties.
7-19-2009 @ 11:24PM
madeyematthew said...
I don't know whether or not he could have made it more acceptable to a mainstream audience, but I'm a fan of the graphic novel. From what he's saying here, he would have been less faithful to the original material, and that would definitely be a downgrade.
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7-20-2009 @ 12:08AM
cubitfox said...
I'm sorry, I love Terry Gilliam to death, he's one of my all time favorite directors and Brazil is one of the greatest movies ever made, but it would have been an awful movie if he made Watchmen. The graphic novel and his sensibilities as an artist are way to far apart. That would be like Snyder adapting Ghost World. It would not mix well.
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7-20-2009 @ 3:43AM
Slappy said...
"the general and persistent unprofessionalism of many of the journalists"...not cool mentioning this and then not explaining.
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7-20-2009 @ 1:33PM
Todd Gilchrist said...
hi slappy (that feels like an insult),
here's that story i promised:
http://www.cinematical.com/2009/07/20/the-five-dumbest-questions-asked-at-the-orphan-junket/
7-20-2009 @ 3:47AM
Todd Gilchrist said...
a story is coming, i promise...
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7-20-2009 @ 4:07AM
confidenceman2 said...
The book could never truly be a movie. Its inherent with adapting material between mediums. Having seen Watchmen several times I feel the existence of a Terry Gilliam helmed Watchmen would have been a far more interesting pop culture occurrence.
instead of, you know, a really fucking boring one. it wasn't THAT bad. it just doesn't really justify its own existence. I feel the version proposed by silver would have it least separated itself from the source material enough to be interesting. maybe not even better. perhaps just not as dull an overall experience.
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7-20-2009 @ 1:11PM
Peter said...
I really liked this book too. My book True Love Is Not Common; www.eloquentbooks.com/TrueLoveIsNotCommon.html, has similar main characters. I grew up reading this author since high school. I hope that my book one day will reach many people as this author. While writing this book, I did a lot of research on this title, and events that are shaping our lives today.
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7-20-2009 @ 1:41PM
lainix said...
More profitable does not mean its better. not that i say silver could have been. I am very happy with the one i have now.
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7-20-2009 @ 1:10PM
Stunbunny said...
Silver's given us a couple of great movies (and many more some duds) so it's definitely something I'll always wonder about.
As much as I enjoyed Snyder's version, I think I was more pleased that Watchmen got made at all with so many of the original details intact. But, at the same time, I wondered what a more mainstream-friendly film would be like. Anyway, with the current re-make trend, I'm sure Silver will get his chance in 5 years or so.
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7-20-2009 @ 1:09PM
juwan808 said...
Never read the book. Enjoyed the movie a lot. Love Terry Gilliam, but he could have possibly made the worst rendition of a superhero film in history. He's not mainstream at all. What is Silver smoking?
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7-20-2009 @ 1:08PM
Pmac3522 said...
I will say that I enjoyed V for Vendetta much more than Watchmen as far as the movies go, even though Watchmen was the better graphic novel. So through the power of deductive reasoning, I would have to say that I would like to see a Watchman movie from Silver, and it most likely would be a better movie than Snyder's film.
Silver took a lesser graphic novel and made a superior movie, so yeah, I would be all for it.
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7-20-2009 @ 1:33PM
Justin Michaels said...
V for Vendetta was a bit of a mess, and while Watchmen is not a perfect film - too long, some bad acting and a dumb ending - it is an enjoyably ambitious one. Silver may have helped bring us some terrific action movies down the years but I think it was a good thing his paws didn't get on Watchmen. The real question is, though, could Silver have made a better 300? - http://rossvross.com/2009/03/09/watchmen-v-300/
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7-20-2009 @ 2:38PM
Eric Melin said...
Snyder was not "deeply faithful." Having main characters who can break bones, punch through walls, and do superhuman feats in slo-mo is completely antithetical to the myth-destroying that was happening in the book. Please use the words "visually faithful" from here on out when referring to Snyder's version. Let's not cast this movie in a light that connects it too strongly to the book, since it missed the book's point completely.
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7-22-2009 @ 8:26AM
grendel_khan said...
Took the words right out of my mouth. The Comedian murder scene clinched it right away: This is a comic book movie, so it's dumb, right? And there's lotsa awesome fights, martial arts and the like, no? I think you nailed the problem with the movie better than I have in all the rambling arguments I've had about it. Well said.
7-22-2009 @ 8:26AM
grendel_khan said...
Anything, even a totally miserable failure of a Joel Silver cheesefest would have been more interesting than Snyder's color-by-numbers experiment. "Fans" don't have any idea what makes a great movie...they just want to be cinematically fellated. I really think Watchmen should have been the end of fandom's grip on the Hollywood blockbuster, but someone's bound to try making The Dark Knight Returns.
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