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.
Geeks are a passionate lot. It's what defines us, really. Actually, I don't think we're any more obsessive about things than anyone else. Lots of people are obsessed with football or NASCAR, and they're not snubbed nearly as much as those of us who follow film, Batman comics or sci-fi shows. But you know, geek passion has a darker side. I guess all obsession does (I've yelled plenty at a hockey game) but there's just something about the way we nerds can get. I'm reminded of this any time Zack Snyder releases something about Watchmen.
Now, I dug Watchmen. The sucker punch of an ending, the horror of the Black Freighter, the loneliness of Doc Manhattan – there's nothing I can say that hasn't already been said by the likes of TIME Magazine. Of course, I view a movie adaptation with a bit of trepidation, but after Lord of the Rings, I don't think anything is truly unfilmable.
But the fandom is wearing me out. I have many friends who love the graphic novel, and I practically dread any news release because it causes such a flurry of panic and disgust among them. The character stills, which I found promising and exciting, were met with not only skepticism, but weeks of pondering. Why were the stills photoshopped? Why were the actors so young? Why were they posed in action shots? On and on it went, my own casual theories – maybe they were just having fun, maybe these are from the heyday of the heroes – dismissed. No, couldn't be! It was simply that Snyder had messed up, end of story, and the movie was doomed.
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!)
That Watchmen casting is all wrong. Really ... Can Jeffrey Dean Morgan compare to Linus? Malin Akerman to Lucy*? Jackie Earle Haley to Snoopy? Patrick Wilson to Pigpen? Schroeder to Matthew Goode? And finally -- Billy Crudup to Charlie Brown!?
This has been making the rounds for a few weeks now, but has just hit BoingBoing and my eyes. This excellent re-creation comes from Evan Shaner (check out his blog here), and really, I can't think of a better, and more fitting, spoof. It's so good, in fact, that I think Zack Snyder should add more than just the Black Freighter to the DVD. Can you imagine these guys fighting crime? Snoopy would finally get some of the toughness of his Red Baron dreams. Charlie could hang out on other planets. Linus could get randy with the sexy ladies.
It won't happen, but I can dream. We're finally less than a year away from the film's release, and anticipation is mounting. The first character stills, which were appropriately released on March 6 -- the one-year countdown -- are great, but trust me -- you ain't seen nothin' yet!
*Thanks to Gregory for pointing out my ridiculous error!
And let the games begin. Zack Snyder has released high resolution stills of several Watchmen characters to celebrate the "one year from now" release of the film.
I really love the look of the Comedian. Actually, I'm digging all of them with the exception of Ozymandias, who is a little too Goth for my taste. But I think all these strike the fine balance between being functional (I always wondered how Nite Owl actually moved in that suit), being updated for the screen, and being accurate to the comic. Hate me all you like.
A friend I've sent these to via AIM thinks they don't "look Dave Gibbonish enough. The poses are all Batman." I agree about the poses (especially Laurie's), but I rather think Snyder was giving them free rein and letting them have a bit of fun. The high level of Photoshop suggests that too.
Sound off below. Let loose with your shrieks of delight, groans of mediocrity, or howls of despair. I'll be anxiously awaiting what you fill my inbox with.
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.
So while I seriously doubt that most people were actually going to confuse the crime drama, The Night Watchman with Zack Snyder's Watchmen at the box office, the similarity in titles probably wasn't helping much in the marketing department. It looks like someone at Fox Searchlight thought the same thing and Slashfilm is now reporting that the studio has decided it was time for a name change. The title of James Ellroy's The Night Watchman will now be known as Street Kings. Frankly, neither of these titles are 'rocking my world,' but at least now it's going to clear up a lot of confusion.
Street Kings stars Keanu Reeves as Tom Ludlow; an LA cop who has recently lost his wife. With his life already in shambles, it gets even worse when he is framed for a murder and his abandoned by his fellow boys in blue. Ellroy wrote the script along with John Ridley (U Turn and Three Kings) and David Ayer (writer for Training Day) is at the helm. The cast also includes Forest Whitaker as Reeves' supervisor, Amaury Nolasco (Prison Break) and TV's infamous Dr. House, better known as Hugh Laurie, will play another cop on the force.
Filming began back in July and we got our first look at Reeves in his 'blues' when Erik brought us over 20 photos of the actor hard at work on the set. The flick is now in post production, so I guess Fox figured that it was now or never if they were planning on a change -- and personally I think they made the right decision. Street Kings arrives in theaters this spring.
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.
While tooling around the internets yesterday, I came across this post on Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch blog which pondered what, if any, affect the ongoing writer's strike (as well as the potential DGA and SAG strikes) could have on this year's Comic-Con. We already know the WGA strike has shut down The Golden Globes, and folks will start talking Oscars next, but in April we have the New York Comic-Con and in July we have the biggie -- San Diego Comic-Con. Last year, New York didn't give us too much by way of Hollywood product. However, after all the complaining, one would think the studios would pay closer attention to New York and pimp out some of their summer fare, along with bigger flicks coming down the pipeline. If the writer's are still on strike in April, and if they decide to picket the Con in New York, that could potentially mean no talent showing up for panel discussions and the like.
Now I'm just talking about film here; TV is already f**ked. Even if all this strike nonsense is over and done with by early summer, I imagine the after-shocks will still affect the geeked-out TV presence at the San Diego Con. Remember, after the writer's cut a contract, we're still looking at deals that need to be made for SAG and the DGA. Both of their contracts expire at the end of May. Should SAG go on strike at that time, how on earth will Hollywood promote movies like Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Watchmen, Star Trek XI and G.I. Joe if none of the talent will show up to partake in panel discussions? San Diego Comic-Con was perhaps the biggest fanboy-ish event of 2007, and I imagine there are plans to make it even bigger this year (in terms of Hollywood presence). The show will go on either way (after all, the convention is supposed to be more about comics than anything else), but I wonder how much of Hollywood will be there in 2008? Thoughts?
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