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!)

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.

Everyone up to speed on The Golden Compass rhubarb? Claims are that the new film adaptation tends to soft-shoe some of the pretty clearly anti-fundamentalist religion elements in Philip Pullman's source novel. Here's Ryan Stewart's Cinematical item on Nicole Kidman going public with the "watering down" last August. Now, on MTV's movie blog, director Chris Weitz reaches for a time-tested defense: "Philip Pullman likes to quote James M. Cain on this issue. Once, when somebody asked him if he was worried what a movie adaptation would do to his book, he said, `What do you mean? The book is right over there, on the shelf.'"

Now, let me digress for a second. The only time I ever met Allen Ginsberg (wonderfully played by David Cross in I'm Not There, BTW), I wasted my thirty seconds in his presence listening to the same comment regarding Cronenberg's Naked Lunch. When a sage like Ginsberg says this bit about the unruined book you listen. But here's other claimants: In the blog Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule, a correspondent is complaining about V for Vendetta, a film disowned by the source writer Alan Moore: "I keep meeting people who love this movie and my only solace in my bitterness after seeing what they did to Moore's brilliant work is a quote from the author himself:

"Interviewer: 'How do you feel about Hollywood ruining your work?'
Moore: 'What are you talking about, they didn't ruin my work, it is right up there on the shelf.'"

Here, a person worried about the then-upcoming film of Lord of the Rings cites Stephen King as the one who knows where his unruined books are, right on the shelf; here, it is Larry Niven calming the fears of those who feel his book Ringworld will be ruined as a film. Just for good measure, from the Portland, Oregon blog "Book Pusher," is a list of five good books that are waiting to be ruined, and the best way to ruin them. Can you wait for the The Farrelly Brother's wild comedy Me Talk Pretty Some Day with Adrien Brody as David Sedaris (does the hero have to be gay)?
My point is: let's don't hear this time-worn excuse anymore. Here's one from Evelyn Waugh instead: "Each book purchased for motion pictures has some individual quality, good or bad, that has made it remarkable. It is the work of a great array of highly paid and incompatible writers to distinguish this quality, separate it, and obliterate it."

For some reason, the lovely and talented Carla Gugino has really struck a chord with the movie geeks over the last several years. Let's start at the beginning and see if we can figure out why. Like a lot of actress, Ms. G cut her teeth on bit parts in TV shows like Who's the Boss?, ALF and Saved by the Bell. Her first movie appearance came in the dire Shelley Long* comedy Troop Beverly Hills, and she followed that up with parts in Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael, This Boy's Life, Miami Rhapsody, and the only halfway-watchable Pauly Shore comedy: Son in Law. She also contributed a fine supporting role in De Palma's Snake Eyes, if memory serves.

But it was the role of "hot mom" Ingrid Cortez in Robert Rodriguez's Spy Kids series that made Gugino a semi-household name. (Well, around my household anyway.) That role led to a very memorable part in Sin City, which...

Oops, I think I just figured it out why all the movie geeks love Carla Gugino these days. This is a family-friendly blog, so I'll keep this PG-rated, but ... she bares her boobies quite clearly in Sin City, and (to quote a beloved Seinfeld episode) they're fabulous spectacular! Since that wondrous revelation, Ms. Gugino has appeared in Night at the Museum, The Lookout and (yuck) Rise: Blood Hunter. She'll also be appearing opposite Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe in Ridley Scott's American Gangster later this year ... but here's the big news already:

According to ComingSoon.net (who got it from The Hollywood Reporter, although I can't find it on the THR website), Carla Gugino has joined the (very slick) ensemble cast on Zack Snyder's adaptation of Alan Moore's Watchmen. She'll be playing a character known as Sally Jupiter (aka Silk Spectre, aka the mom of another Silk Spectre), who is not only a superheroine, but an (ahem) burlesque dancer as well. (As if I didn't already want to see this movie, right?) Carla joins a cast swollen with solid names: Patrick Wilson, Billy Crudup, Jackie Earle Haley, etc., etc. (For more on this highly-anticipated project, check out our previous reports here, here and here. Or heck, just throw "Watchmen" into our search bar. Everyone's been covering the hell out of this project!)

* I do believe this marks the very first time that Shelley Long's name has ever been mentioned at Cinematical. A toast to Shelley Long!

Well, Comic-Con hasn't even "officially" started yet (although it is Preview Night right now) and already there's some fantastic Comic Book-related casting news to bring you. According to the Hollywood Reporter, casting for most of the roles in director Zack Snyder's upcoming adaptation of Alan Moore and David Gibbons' classic graphic novel, the award-winning Watchmen, have just been announced.

So, who will be playing your favorite characters like Rorschach, Ozymandias, Silk Spectre and Dr. Manhattan? Well, according to the article, here's what we can expect in the way of casting: Jackie Earle Haley will be playing Walter Kovachs (aka Rorschach), Billy Crudup will play Dr. Manhattan, Matthew Goode has been cast as Adrian Veidt (aka Ozymandias), Jeffrey Dean Morgan will play the Comedian and Malin Ackerman will play Laurie Juspeczyk (aka Silk Spectre).

With all the buildup to this movie and with all the casting rumors being bandied about of late, its great to finally have some definitive answers. Although, I'm not sure how much I love some of the casting choices. I was still sorta interested in seeing Keanu Reeves as Dr. Manhattan back when that was among the rumors. I thought he would have made an interesting choice. Still, with Snyder's track record of late, I guess we should give him the benefit of the doubt here -- at least until we see some more of the film. If it starts to not look so good at that point, then we can start complaining.

Well, we should probably just get used to sorting through the latest casting rumors for Zack Snyder's big-screen version of The Watchmen. Latino Review, who've scooped big news in the past to various success, has reported that Malin Akerman is set to play Laurie Juspeczyk (aka Silk Spectre) in the film. The last actress rumored to be up for the role was Kate Winslet, but if Latino Review's source can be trusted, it looks like Akerman has scored the part. Akerman is probably most familiar to fans of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, as the wife of "Freakshow". But lately Akerman has been landing some high profile roles in the upcoming remake of The Heartbreak Kid from the Farrelly brothers, and Nicole Kidman's The Invasion.

Last month, Warner Bros. had released a brief synopsis of the film, and while most of the original story seemed to remain intact, it looks like there will be a few minor changes on the way. As fans of The Watchmen graphic novel well know, the story is set in an alternate version of America; one that's on the verge of nuclear war with The Soviet Union. Superheroes are now outcasts, and when one of their own is murdered, a greater conspiracy is revealed. There have been rumblings that Jason Patric was also being considered for the role of Dr. Manhattan, but the latest buzz has Billy Crudup as the frontrunner for the part (that has yet to be confirmed). According to the source at Latino Review, WB will be making some casting announcements at this week's San Diego ComicCon. There is bound to be plenty of Watchmen talk at the convention, so stay tuned to Cinematical's upcoming coverage for any news that comes our way.

UPDATE: Latino Review also confirms that Jackie Earle Haley has officially been cast as Walter Kovacs (aka Rorschach). Look for formal announcements to come during this week's ComicCon.

I brought you some casting news last month on Zack Snyder's highly anticipated adaptation of the beloved graphic novel Watchmen. The big news at the time was that Keanu Reeves, Jude Law, and Patrick Wilson had been offered roles in the superhero flick. Reeves was rumored to have been offered the role of Doctor Manhattan, Law was rumored to have been offered Ozymandias, and Wilson was rumored to be playing Nite Owl. (The Reeves choice in particular didn't seem to appeal to the Cinematical commenters!). At the time it was just hearsay, but an interview with Snyder over at MTV.com confirms it. Kinda. Almost. When grilled about the accuracy of those reports, Snyder responded "Um -- you know what? I would say 'No,' but then you'd call me later and go like, 'Dude, what are you doing?' I don't know who's leaking this stuff, but they're good." So make of that what you will, but it's pretty far from a denial.

The other big question has been whether or not Gerard Butler would be involved with the film. "Yeah, we'll find a spot for him," says Snyder. "They'll let him (off the other sets for a while); he's not gonna get out that easy." Shooting on Watchmen starts this September, and Snyder is eagerly anticipating directing the film's opening scene: "At the beginning of the movie there's a character called the Comedian. He gets in a fight with a guy that we don't know who it is, and (the Comedian) gets thrown out a window. That's what I'm working on right now, and it's pretty intense." Written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, Watchmen is considered by many to be the finest graphic novel ever made. Directors such as Paul Greengrass and Terry Gilliam have been circling the material for years. Do you think Snyder will do it justice? One last tidbit for you 300 fans -- Snyder briefly mentions a sequel in the article, saying "If Frank (Miller) wrote it, and drew something cool, absolutely."

Last week, I posted about Keanu Reeves' new movie Night Watch. Its title recently changed from The Night Watchman to Night Watch to avoid confusion with Zack Snyder's upcoming superhero movie called Watchmen. I found it odd at the time that the filmmakers aren't concerned about getting mixed up with Night Watch, Nightwatch, or Nightwatch. Believe it or not, this title hopping is about to get even more complicated -- Keanu Reeves has been offered a role in Watchmen! My head hurts. Sources say Reeves has been offered the role of Doctor Manhattan, AKA Dr. Jon Osterman -- the "big blue superbeing" with god-like powers like superhuman strength, telekenesis, the ability to teleport, and clairvoyance. In the immortal words of Reeves himself: "Whoa!"

Jude Law is expected to take on the role of Adrien Veidt, or Ozymandias -- "the smartest man on the planet." Law is a longtime Watchmen fan, and was expected to get the role, although Chris reported a couple months ago on rumors that fellow fan Tom Cruise was interested. Little Children's Patrick Wilson is expected to play Dan Drieberg -- Nite Owl, a hero similar to Batman. Watchmen is a twelve issue graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, and is considered by many to be the pinnacle of the form. It is the only graphic novel to have been featured on Time Magazine's 2005 list of the 100 best English language novels from 1923 to the present. Zack Snyder is directing Watchmen as his follow-up to the smash hit 300. The star of that film, Gerard Butler, has been linked to Watchmen as well, but now that three of the leads seem to be nearly finalized, that may not come to pass. What do you guys think -- are these good choices?There are still a lot of Watchmen roles up for grabs, who would you want to see round out the cast?

There aren't too many movies that necessitate sequels. Unless a movie is part of a pre-proposed series or is an adaptation of a series of books, it should probably be able to stand alone. But a lot of sequels come from movies that are perfect by themselves -- sometimes the sequels compliment nicely; sometimes they are easily ignored; occasionally they actually take away from the previously regarded original.

It isn't often that a movie screams out for a sequel, but I think I've come up with seven that at least whisper a request for one. Two actually have source sequels that they would be adapted from. One has a lot of history to mine material from. Three of them have been discussed at length at different points in time by makers of the original(s). The problem is that none of these sequels is likely to ever grace your DVD player let alone your local theater. For whatever reason, they simply have too much against them in the minds of studio execs. For now, though, we can dream.

1. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (sequel to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

Even with the incredible cast and the surprisingly faithful-enough script, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was not the epic that I was hoping for. It also wasn't the blockbuster that Disney was hoping for. The filmmakers, Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith (aka Hammer and Tongs) and the necessary actors had signed on for the sequel, to be adapted from Adam's follow-up, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, but it appears to be dead in the water. Despite my few reservations with the first film, I would love to see the sequel, as well as the rest of the series (they could end before The Salmon of Doubt, I guess). I remember being bored with some of the prehistoric Earth sequences in Restaurant, but I think they'd make for great cinema. In any event, I think Martin Freeman and Mos Def were a great duo in the original, and they alone should have been propelled to stardom following its release. Maybe they can appear in something else together.

Now that his film 300 is in the record books with the third highest grossing weekend for an R-rated film in history and he's well on his way to becoming the "king of the graphic novel adaptations", what is director Zack Snyder going to do for an encore? Well, there's been some speculation he may do this project or that project and of course, there's also the much-discussed possibility he might segue into another graphic novel adaptation as his next project -- a version of Alan Moore's award-winning Watchmen.

Well, according to an interview posted today at Comic Book Resources (disclaimer: I'm a staff writer at CBR), the big screen adaptation of Watchmen will be the director's next project. "'I'm doing Watchmen next for sure. That's what we're focusing all our attention on," said Snyder in the interview. In fact, even though 300 just hit theaters, the director is already started working on Watchmen and has also had others on his team get started as well -- including 300 visual effects director Grant Freckelton and comic book artist (and one of my personal favorites) John Cassaday -- who's helping update the look of the Watchmen characters and their world.

Among other things Snyder discusses in the interview include those Tom Cruise (who, surprisingly is a huge Watchmen fan) as Ozymandias rumors, how much money he thinks Watchmen should cost and what Warner Bros. thinks about it, the alleged racist undertones in 300 and why he won't ever stop directing commercials no matter how many movies he makes. But most importantly, he's just plain excited to do Watchmen. Said Snyder: "Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but I feel like Watchmen the coolest thing ever and I have to do it."

Very little surprises me when it comes to the world of cinema. It isn't that I'm a particularly well-connected fellow, or even particularly aware of the industry outside of my little geek bubble; it is simply that I more or less expect everything to be possible when it comes to this industry. When you realize nothing is off-limits and everything is in-play, it is hard to be caught off guard, right? But every now and then something pokes through my defenses and makes me mutter a serious "what the...?" So bemused was I by this information, I immediately shared it with the only geek friend of mine who was online at the moment, simply to take in his reaction, and it was exactly the same as my own. Ready for this?

Warner Bros. is apparently considering a sequel to V For Vendetta. Weird, right? Without any of the principle cast/crew, they're talking direct-to-DVD. Somehow or another, the studio thinks the world wants a sequel to a movie which features the title character's prominent death scene as a major final plot point. Maybe we can follow the adventures of Evey as she heads off to the next stage in life, or perhaps the plot's events inspired a new man to take up the mask! Or maybe we can have a prequel! Everyone loves prequels, right? Seriously, how on earth is Warners going to spin this one to pull out a fresh plot?

Director Zach Snyder, who basically came out of nowhere in 2004 to direct the terrific remake of Dawn of the Dead , is now making quite a name for himself lately in the comic book/graphic novel-to-big-screen adaptation world. Snyder is currently finished directing the much-anticipated (and reported) film version of Frank Miller's epic graphic novel about the battle of Thermopylae 300 , and has also been signed to direct the big-screen adaptation of Alan Moore's classic graphic novel Watchmen.

As of this week, Snyder can now add yet another film like these to his growing resume. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Snyder has been attached to direct the big-screen version of the cult comic book Cobalt 60 for Universal. Snyder is also set to produce the film with Debbie Snyder (any relation, I wonder?) but he won't be handling the writing chores as he did with 300. Instead, a search for a writer to adapt the story of masked hero Cobalt 60's thirst for revenge in a post-apocalyptic world full of mutants, on the evil Strontium 90 who murdered his parents, is currently underway.

It's a good thing Snyder picked up Cobalt 60 now that 300 has wrapped and his big-screen adaptation of Tom Clancy's novel Rainbow Six is probably not going to happen for awhile, or ever, because I want him to have a job after he finishes Watchmen. Plus, from what I've seen of 300 it looks to be a fantastic film, so Snyder is smart to stick to the kind of material he knows and can obviously make something great out of. No word yet on potential casting or a start date for Cobalt 60.

Todd Field's adaptation of the novel Little Children by Tom Perrotta posed a lot of problems as he tried to cram the entire novel into a feature film ... so he rewrote it, literally. He hated the ending, and made some major changes, collaborating with Perrotta, who also shares a screenwriting credit on the film. They both worked together to make significant changes in order to adapt the book for into a film.

This isn't the first adaptation for either. Field wrote and directed Oscar-nominated In The Bedroom , which was based on an Andre Dubus short story. However, Dubus died two years before the film came out, which made it impossible for Field to colloborate with him. Perrotta's novel Election was adapted into a movie written by director Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor. Perrotta didn't work on that script, however, since it was the first one of his novels to be optioned, and the movie development went into high gear and was in theaters only a few months after the book came out.