A new month, a new video from the set of Watchmen! Zack Snyder gave this one to JoBlo for posting, and they have kindly provided an embed code so you could watch it without leaving the comfy confines of Cinematical.
This video has me seriously geeking out. It is a guided tour from costume designer Michael Wilkinson, who happily explains everything from police uniforms to the iconic outfits our heroes will be sporting. The hero costumes should help quell some of the "Oxymandias isn't gold enough!" cries that were going around, because the sketches look perfect. Nothing like the first character still.
As you may remember, I'm a costume nerd, and I can spend hours studying their construction. I would give anything to be a research gopher for someone like Wilkinson; I would live out my days happily compiling books of photos and fabric scraps. (And speaking of the designer, one of my biggest disappointments was not getting to meet him last year at ComicCon. I was under strict orders to show him the Queen Gorgo dress, and I missed him by ten minutes. Regrets!)
I am loving that first shot of what has to be Sally Jupiter -- her dress! Her hair! She's perfect. May this movie be half as good as it looks.
See, this is why I like Zack Snyder so much. He's always involving the fans, and he does it in the right spirit. Now, he's partnered with YouTube to encourage Watchmen fans to enter a new contest and submit commercials for Veidt Enterprises. His intro video explains all (see below), and from there you can see what Veidt product moves you. Snyder has supplied all the product framework, all you creative types have to do is cobble together a commercial. The ones he likes best will win all sorts of prizes, as well as a chance to appear in the actual film. There are two samples up now for you to get an idea; one is for Veidt's Nostalgia cologne (80's flashback indeed!) and the other is for a sneaker.
If anyone enters, please keep us updated! I want a Cinematical reader to appear onscreen! More information on rules and such can be found on the main contest page. It's nearly as fun as the grindhouse trailer one Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez did. Watchmen opens on March 6th, 2009.
You can -- or at least you will. Two action figures from the upcoming Watchmen movie have debuted over at Entertainment Weekly. This is sure to fuel the "Zack Snyder is screwing it up!" flames because there's no paunch on Nite Owl. He's boasting a lean and muscular frame, and a very shiny costume. However, I am willing to take a wait and see approach -- maybe this is a very young and fit Nite Owl, a figure from his glory days. Hmm. They did successfully sculpt Patrick Wilson's jaw, though.
Two additional figures are going to be unveiled at the New York ComicCon on April 18th -- I'm betting Oxymandias (especially since he had his own line of action figures in the book) and the Comedian, but the temptation for a near-nude Laurie may prove more tempting to sculpt. They don't go on sale until January 2009, but they will market for the very reasonable price of $14.99. I'm going to hold out for the Black Freighter playset -- I just hope it comes complete with sharks.
Now here's a genre I never thought Zack Snyder would tackle -- kids films! Variety reports that Snyder has signed on to direct Guardians of Ga'Hoole, an animated children's film based on the books by Kathryn Lasky.
The story is set in the Forest of Tyto, where Barn Owls live in peace until their kingdom is threatened by an evil that could destroy their home. There are currently 14 books in the series out of a planned 25 -- man, kids books just go on forever these days. It makes Harry Potter look like a picture book. Anyone have kids who are into this series? Is it any good?
It's being penned by two excellent adapters -- John Orloff, who scripted A Mighty Heart, and John Collee, who wrote Master and Commander. There must be something good there to warrant those two. Few realize that Snyder has young children (his son is a young and battered Leonidas in 300), so he's probably aiming to make a film they can actually watch. It's being put on the fast track by Warner Bros with an expected release of 2009 or 2010.
Zack Snyder has released the first video journal for Watchmen, and it's airing exclusively over on ComingSoon.net. There are eleven more to come, each to be released on the 6th of each month, every glimpse bringing us that much closer to awesomeness or total despair.
Journal #1 is all about the set construction and we get glimpses of everything from Doc Manhattan's lab to The Comedian's apartment. I'm honestly blown away by the level of detail they have achieved here. I think everyone was expecting Snyder to fill in with blue screen, as he did before, but everything has been constructed from scratch which fills my heart with joy. The CGI of Hot Gates may have been a grand sight, but there's just no replacing good old fashioned movie making. (I'm going to echo a friend of mine and say what a smart choice it was to hire Alex McDowell!)
Yes, Watchmen is about retired superheroes in an alternate United States where a Doomsday Clock counts down to nuclear war and one of their own is murdered. But there's also The Tales of the Black Freighter, a comic within a comic that details the adventures of a castaway and a phantom pirate ship. (Because, in a world where superheroes are real, who wants to read comics about them?) Since Zack Snyder already had a solid 130-140 page script without the Freighter material, it was decided that the story would become a special DVD feature.
Unsurprisingly, 300-star Gerard Butler's name was immediately connected to the side project in rumors, and now, he's finally confirming them. In a discussion with Empire, the actor says: "I'm going to do the voice of the captain. They're going to do it in the style of a Japanese anime, and I'm totally stoked... It's this decent into madness but explained in such a sane way that you totally feel it yourself. By the end, my heart was pumping!" Butler's over-the-top romance with Hilary Swank may not have inspired the masses, but maybe a return to carnage will -- one that will have him, or rather his anime character, making rafts out of gas-bloated bodies. Isn't that crafty?
So, we've got Gerard's voice leading the Freighter, and it will be done anime. Sound off, Watchmen fiends: Is Zack Snyder right on track with this, or do you think he's off-base?
Zack Snyder, director of 300 and the upcoming Watchmen, has posted a thank you to the film's cast and crew on the film's official website. Filming has now wrapped and unlike the constant video features from 300, Watchmen tidbits have been kept under incredible lock and key. (At last, we have an answer as to who watches the Watchmen. . . )
But Snyder hasn't forgotten about us and has given fans a wrap gift -- a new still from the movie. We still don't get a glimpse of Ozymandias, Nite Owl or Doc Manhattan, but a violent Rorschach is always nice. And Slashfilm has already done a lovely comparison of the comic book panel versus the finished product. As with his work on 300, Snyder has tried to keep the faith and remain true to the original panel. (Will the other guys being torched be CGI'd in?)
It looks cool, but is just vague enough to drive Watchmen's diehard fans into a frenzy that he's mishandling it. I can already hear the howls and fierce nitpicking. Personally, I have faith that Snyder will deliver a solid and faithful adaptation. He has so much passion for the book that I think it would kill him to fail as much as it would destroy his audience.
Regardless, I want more! Let's see some set videos, stills of other characters, or an actor interview or two. As fun as the anticipation is, I want to see my faith in Snyder justified. Or at least proof he improved Laurie's costume.
Just as Zack Snyder wraps production on Watchmen and gets ready to bring it all together into an alternate universe, superhero showcase, 20th Century Fox is getting litigious. The Hollywood Reporter has posted that the company is preparing to battle Warner Brothers "over the rights to develop, produce, and distribute" the film based on the uber popular graphic novel.
On Friday, Fox sued, claiming it holds all the rights. They say that between '86 and '90 they "acquired all movie rights to the 12-issue DC Comics series and screenplays by Charles McKeown and Sam Hamm." In '91, there was a quitclaim to Largo Int., but Fox retained "exclusive rights to distribute the first motion picture." Then, Largo dismantled, and the rights went to producer Lawrence Gordon. "Under a 'turnaround agreement' between Fox and Gordon, the producer agreed to pay a buy-out price to Fox if he entered into any agreement with another studio or third party to develop or produce Watchmen, among other things." They say that neither Gordon nor Warners paid out.
Got all that straight? In other words, Fox said they had the rights and that producer Lawrence Gordon and WB didn't honor it like they should have. I imagine WB will do what they can to wrap this up quickly, and not let it interfere with the March 6, 2009 release date. At least, I hope so. Otherwise, they might get some masked vigilantes on their tails.
I've had a thing for lounge covers of popular songs ever since I heard Jaymz Bee's take on Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know" and Loverboy's "Turn Me Loose." But those were all Canadian covers. Stateside, Richard Cheese & Lounge Against the Machine take care of the big lounge covers, and Watchmen filmmaker Zack Snyder really likes them. He likes them so much, in fact, that he just wrote a blog post about them for MTV.
Considering the fact that he is in the final weeks of shooting the film, I would say that he's probably got a lot on his mind. Maybe it's a jump, but I wonder if he would be writing an 880 word blog post right now that isn't, somehow, specifically linked to the film. Snyder mentions the feature, and thinking about music for the film, but doesn't specifically connect the two and state that lounge covers will appear in the movie.
But really, if done right, lounge covers could completely make sense in the alternate reality of Watchmen, where the same pop figures pop up, but in a different context since there were, for a time, masked heroes helping to keep the streets safe. Snyder says: "Although tonally they are vastly different in many ways, the film and the Cheese-y music share an in-your-face look at the world, calling bullsh-- on pop culture in an unapologetic way."
Here, here! But please, Mr. Snyder, check out Jaymz as well.
In the midst of all the speculation regarding the big-screen version of Watchmen, the musical score probably wasn't all that high on the list -- but it can be just as important. As any moviegoer knows, sometimes the music can make or break a movie (for a good example of how music can ruin a flick, look no further than The Perfect Storm or The Last Samurai). ComingSoon.net is reporting that Tyler Bates has been signed to compose the score for the film.
As any fan-boy can tell you, Watchmen is Zack Snyder's adaptation of Alan Moore and David Gibbons classic graphic novel. The story is set in a fictional New York in the 80s where "masked vigilantes" have affected the events of everything from the Vietnam War to Watergate. Over the last year, the rumors flew fast and furious about the cast until Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Patrick Wilson were all officially announced.
Tyler Bates started his career back in 1993, when he wrote the music for a sci-fi B-movie called Blue Flame. By 1997, he had already released his own album with his band Pet, but the album failed to become a hit and he has been in the movie business ever since. Bates has a long standing relationship with director Zack Snyder, having done the score for 300 and Dawn of the Dead. Snyder was quoted as saying that Baker's Bates' score for 300, "...moves the film into mythology cauterizing the images as you view them, making them something they could never be alone." So, I guess he is looking for the same kind of magic for the equally mythic story of Watchmen.
Bit by little bit on his blog, Zack Snyder has been pulling back the curtain to reveal his big-screen vision for Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen. Last up was some shots of Gibbons' visit to the set, and now Zach is sharing some storyboards that he made for the film -- two pages that feature Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley). As he explains it: "Alongside the graphic novel, I always keep a copy of my storyboards with me on set." He goes on to explain how they're a vital part of his process to envision how the film will look from beginning to end. This vision, from all that has been shown thus far, and nibbles I've seen that are yet to come, looks like it will definitely be bringing Watchmen to life. Stay tuned! Maybe next time we'll get to finally see Nite* Owl's ship.
Well, we probably all should have seen this coming when you consider that Alan Moore seems to hate the movies Hollywood makes from his works just as much as Hollywood loves to make them. In an interview with Wizard Universe, the comic book legend spoke about his current involvement (or lack thereof) in Zack Snyder's big-screen version of Moore's Watchmen. According to Moore, he has officially (read, legally) washed his hands of the whole thing. Moore says, "I got a piece of paper a couple of months ago saying, "I, the undersigned, hereby give you permission to take my name off of the film and to send my money to Dave Gibbons." So I sent that back to them all signed and sealed, which means that now I don't have to rant and spew about the film. I'm just simply not interested in it". Watchmen is one of the most respected comic books out there, so you can imagine there is a lot riding on Snyder getting it right. There has already been plenty of discussion about casting choices, but so far, most fans seem to be cautiously optimistic about the whole thing.
In the past, Moore has battled with filmmakers over other film versions of his books like V for Vendetta and the famously crappy The League of Extraordinary Gentleman. But it would seem that Moore has learned something this time around, and instead of kicking up a fuss, he just walked away from the whole project. As for Moore's original Watchmen collaborator, Dave Gibbons, he seems a lot more positive about the whole thing. On the official production blog for the film, Gibbons waxed poetically after viewing the sets, saying, "Finally, tired but happy, arms around my new buddies, costumed and otherwise, it's my turn to smile for the camera. A month later, I'm smiling still". Well at least someone sounds happy about the whole thing. So while this is the last we are going to hear from Moore on the subject, that doesn't mean there won't be plenty more Watchmen updates to come before the film hits theaters on March 6th, 2009.
This seems strangely appropriate. An actor best known for portraying a staple of 80s pop culture has been cast in a film that takes place in a parallel universe during the 1980s. The MTV Movies Blog is reporting that Matt Frewer, who first entered the public eye as the allegedly computer generated television character Max Headroom, has joined the cast of Zack Snyder's hotly anticipated film Watchmen. Frewer and Snyder have worked together before on the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake, and the actor will be joining the Watchmen cast as the costumed villain Moloch. The character is known for battling several of the masked crusaders in the Watchmen universe including Dr. Manhattan, Ozymandias and Rorschach.
The character as drawn by Dave Gibbons in the graphic novel upon which the film is based has a gaunt appearance, particularly later in the story when he is suffering from cancer, so Frewer has definitely got the look, and I can see him fitting into the pointy vulcan-like ears the role calls for. Frewer joins the previously announced cast members Jackie Earle Haley as the demented vigilante Rorschach, Billy Crudup (who makes the jump from golden god in Almost Famous to powder blue god in Watchmen) as the omnipotent and blue-skinned Dr. Manhattan, Matthew Goode as the hyper intelligent Ozymandias, Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the government backed ass kicker in a mask The Comedian, Malin Ackerman as the modern Silk Specter Spectre, Carla Gugino as the original Silk Specter Spectre, and Patrick Wilson as the noble Nite Owl. While some major plot points depend on him, Moloch is a relatively minor character in the graphic novel. Perhaps, however, once the story has been whittled down to feature length, he may end up with more screen time. Who knows. Frewer's scenes are currently being shot, and the film is set to open in U.S. theaters on March 6, 2009.
Well, since it is Halloween after all, it makes perfect sense to get a little horror-related news. The Hollywood Reporterannounced that Artfire Films and Romero-Grunwald Prods. have already given the go-ahead to a follow-up of George Romero's Diary of the Dead. This means they must be pretty eager considering the first film is not expected to be released until next year. Diary of the Dead centers on a group of young filmmakers in the middle of making a low-budget zombie flick who have the unfortunate luck of running into the real thing. According to THR, the sequel will focus on survivors from the first film, "Fighting their way out of a mansion through a horde of ravenous zombies, the survivors of "Diary" escape to a remote island only to be plunged into another battle with the dead".
So if you are not a fan of zombie movies (and I know there is at least one of you out there), it's going to be a rough year at the box-office . Only yesterday, Zack and Deborah Snyder confirmed that the follow-up to Dawn of the Dead now has a completed script and that they are on the hunt for a director. So we can add Diary of the Dead 2 to a growing list of films about the 'living-challenged' slated for 2008 (with my personal votes going to Brad Pitt's take on World War Z and the Vampire-Zombie hybrid, Virulents). Diary of the Dead is slated to begin principal photography this coming Spring.
You know, sometimes it's like the universe wants to prove you wrong. No sooner did I make one little offhand comment that Zack Snyder had probably abandoned his follow-up to Dawn of The Dead when his wife and producing partner, Deborah Snyder, tells Shock Till You Drop that Army of the Dead is alive and well (sorry, I couldn't resist). The script was written by Snyder and Awake's Joby Harold. Deborah Snyder summed up the story to Shock as follows: "Basically, something happened in Vegas and there was this huge outbreak of these zombies that were killing people...So to contain it they basically contain Vegas. The city is this wasteland with walls around it and all of these zombies are inside" -- and it could just be me, but that sounds awfully similar to Resident Evil: Extinction.
As we all know, Zack Snyder is hard at work on his big-screen version of Watchmen, and he will only produce the 'sequel' to his 2004 remake of George Romero's zombie classic. Deborah Snyder tells Shock that they are currently on the hunt for a director for the project, but that it is "...a little hard [to do] because we're here [on set] and every day is killer. We want the right person for it. The script has been turned in to the studio and they're really happy with it, with pretty minimal notes back, so they said, 'Hey, let's get a director.'" As soon as they do find their director, we'll be here to let you know who it is. Any ideas?
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Zack Snyder has released the first video journal for Watchmen, and it's airing exclusively over on 
Yes, 
Just as 
I've had a thing for lounge covers of popular songs ever since I heard 
In the midst of all the speculation regarding the big-screen version of 
Well, we probably all should have seen this coming when you consider that 
This seems strangely appropriate. An actor best known for portraying a staple of 80s pop culture has been cast in a film that takes place in a parallel universe during the 1980s. The 
Well, since it is Halloween after all, it makes perfect sense to get a little horror-related news. The Hollywood Reporter 
You know, sometimes it's like the universe wants to prove you wrong. No sooner did I make one little 
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