WATCHMEN - THE MOVIE

Riuppiamo questo topic per riportare un'interessante dichiarazione di Zack Snyder...che ha intenzione di ambientare iil film nel 1985, come il fumetto, senza alterare il background politico dell'opera...
“1985’s a problem for people. The Cold War’s a problem for people. But these are things I’ve been trying to [tell people] would be cool. I like that Richard Nixon is the president in it. I think that’s important. Those kinds of things tell you exactly what kind of movie this is – it’s not Fantastic Four, you know.”

Attualmente e' in fase di riscrittura la sceneggiatura da parte di Alex Tse, che ha comunque basato tutto il suo lavoro sulla sceneggiatura che david Hayter aveva fatto per il film quando era alla Paramount e doveva dirigerlo Paul Greengrass...

Vedremo...

Aggiungo un articolo tratto da www.empireonline.com :


A few days ago Empire sat down with director Zack Snyder who, despite exhaustion from putting the final touches on Spartan epic 300 (watch the trailer for that here), found just enough energy to fill us in on the latest goings on with Watchmen. An adaptation has been long in the works for the Alan Moore comic book set in the mid-80s when superheroes are outlawed and now, at last, it seems things are progressing well.

“We’re getting ready to turn a script that we like into this studio,” says Snyder. “They’re pretty excited about it…I think the script that Alex (Tse) has done for us is the closest to the graphic novel it’s been [since development started], for better or for worse. I feel like Alex has done an awesome job. It’s keeping all the things that are cool about the comic”. And despite widespread assumptions, Snyder isn’t planning to update it from its Cold War setting to the present day, despite both eras sharing a political unrest.

“1985’s a problem for people,” he continues. “The Cold War’s a problem for people. But these are things I’ve been trying to [tell people] would be cool. I like that Richard Nixon is the president in it. I think that’s important. Those kinds of things tell you exactly what kind of movie this is – it’s not Fantastic Four, you know”.

Though Snyder’s adopted a heavily stylised, uber-true to the comic look for 300, he doesn’t plan to use any kind of similar blue screen technique for Watchmen. “There are places like Mars and Antarctica [which will need to be blue screen] and then there are certain places where you need to feel the reality…If you look at Sin City, a blue screen city, that’s kind of wrong for Watchmen…There are so many easter eggs in the frames (of the comic) so you want that level of detail in the movie itself. Even though it’s going to be harder to do…I did Dawn of the Dead and now I’ve done 300 and I feel like it’s a combination of the two. I feel like I know how to do it”.

Finally, though the script is almost ready, Snyder insists it’s too early for casting, despite numerous internet speculation (Paddy Considine for Rorschach! – sorry, it’s a habit). “I honestly don’t have anyone at all yet. But there are a lot of people interested. No-one’s seen the script, although I know there are people I could sign up without one”. Adds his producer, and wife, Deborah Snyder: “We’ve been getting a lot of calls since Comic Con…all the people who have clients who are fans of the Watchmen are like ‘Hey, just remember we’re here’".

Articolo da Sci-Fi Wire...snyder sembra avere le idee chiare, quantomeno:

Snyder: Watchmen Remains True

Zack Snyder, who will direct an upcoming film version of Alan Moore's seminal graphic novel Watchmen, told SCI FI Wire that Warner Brothers likes his take on the material, which goes back to the source for its inspiration, closely following the original 1985 setting and alternate-history American mileu in which Richard Nixon is still president. That faithfulness to the graphic novel, which has been famously considered unadaptable to film, ironically, provided the key to unlocking the script, Snyder said.

"That was the thing," Snyder said in an interview following a Nov. 8 screening of footage from his other upcoming graphic-novel adaptation, 300, in Hollywood, Calif. "What they tried to do is turn it into a movie. And that's not really how we approached it. ... [Co-writer Alex [Tse] and I were [like], 'What ... [about the] graphic novel do we love? Let's do that!' And I think that when we delivered that version of the script to them, and it was long of course, ... it's not [a metaphor for the] war on terror, it's not like trying to be, like, bulls--t updated. You know, which gets confusing. And then Adrian [Veidt]'s story gets all, like, lost with that. So ... that was the thing that cracked it: Just going back to the source. Saying, 'OK, why does this work here?' It seemed really obvious. It was weird. ... It's pretty exciting. They're pretty excited."

The studio offered a few notes, but Snyder said that the draft was accepted pretty much as is. "We've shown ... Alex and my official draft to the studio," he said. "And I feel like they're really excited now. They feel like it's a movie, and they get it now, and they're into 1985, and they're into the Cold War and Nixon and all the cool bits. So we're really excited. We're doing another little bit of changes, and then, I mean, knock on wood, we'll get going."

One element that Snyder introduces is a title montage sequence that will walk the audience through recent decades of the alternate-history United States, starting with the Kennedy assassination and Vietnam War and taking viewers to the current day, which is 1985.

Snyder added that he was in a private airport during his travels recently and came across the real Henry Kissinger, who was traveling with his own entourage. Snyder said that he attempted to approach Kissinger to ask him to play himself in the film, but was blocked by Kissinger's wife from speaking with the former secretary of state.

Written from 1986 to '87, Watchmen is set in 1985 in an alternate-history United States in which superheroes, called "costumed adventurers," exist, the Cold War is threatening to turn into a nuclear conflagration, Nixon is president, and the heroes have been outlawed. When one of their number is mysteriously murdered, the others spring into action. The Hugo-Award-winning graphic novel, by Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons, is considered a landmark in comics and a heavy influence on films, books and comics since.

Hughes disegnerà i costumi del film!!!

ADAM HUGHES TO DESIGN COSTUMES FOR THE WATCHMEN MOVIE

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Add one more name to the list of comic industry luminaries attached to the upcoming film version of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen - Adam Hughes.

Though rumors were circling earlier this week, the artist has confirmed for Newsarama that he will be designing the costumes for the film version of the seminal comic work, to be directed by Zack Snyder.

In an age when there’s a tremendous amount of crossover between comics and Hollywood, his work on Watchmen (“Assuming they like what I sketch,” Hughes joked), this will be his first movie gig.

So how did Snyder and the film producers find him?

“I’d like to say that my work spoke for itself, and my draftsmanship and Dave Gibbons-lie clean lines just called to them…or something…but I really have no idea,” Hughes said with a chuckle. “Maybe the movie guys walked through a comic shop looking for somebody - anybody to design their costumes, and some boobs called out to them from the rack. That’s a pun, by the way…

“But seriously – I have no idea. Maybe they just liked my stuff. Zack Snyder is working on 300 [based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller], so obviously he reads the occasional comic or two, one could deduce; but all in all, they got in touch with us, and it was all very causal.”

While the story - the words of Watchmen - is virtual scripture in the world of comics, in the eyes of many fans, so are the costumes. So just what will Hughes be designing, or doing, even?

“When you get on the other side of the fence, you sort of understand that there are certain things that wouldn’t survive a direct translation from comic to screen,” Hughes explained. “Superman and Spider-Man look virtually identical to their comic book counterparts. Batman doesn’t, but yet he still has Batman’s silhouette, and that seems to be enough for most people. But continuing, the X-Men hardly resemble themselves at all – but they still work.

“In doing something like this, I find that I end up thinking about two completely different groups within the movie’s audience at the same time: the die-hard comic book fans who will not permit even an iota of alteration; and then you’ve got your non-comics readers who will be turned off the minute somebody walks out in a leotard. You have to come up with something that allures and entices them and their debit cards and their dollars without being so radical that it turns off the die-hard fan. It’s actually pretty hard work.”

In short, Hughes isn’t looking to reinvent the wheel, or throw out Gibbons’ designs. What he is trying to do is take the original costumes, and make them…easier to swallow as something you'd see - and believe - on screen.

“In a comic book, because it’s all graphic abstraction, it’s easier to accept something that’s completely insane,” Hughes said. “But in a movie, you can make stuff that’s slightly insane – something that, if you saw someone walking down the street in it, you’d think, ‘No,’ but there’s something about the context of a movie that allows the slightly bizarre to become acceptable, just like where comics allow the amazingly bizarre to become acceptable. So now it’s a matter of, ‘Okay, how do we take the Silk Spectre from the amazingly bizarre to the slightly bizarre?’ After all, she wears an outfit that you could pull right out of Victoria’s Secret…”

Hughes is keeping mum on who exactly he’s been asked to sketch – although, as one might be able to guess, he was working on design elements of the Silk Spectre while speaking with Newsarama. “I haven’t been asked to do sketches of all the Watchmen, just a few of them,” Hughes said. “I think, the message at least I’m taking from that is that with some of them, there’s nothing that needs to be tweaked for the 21st century.

“But yeah – the ones that you can imagine might need some help to make them a little easier to swallow…the ones that you look at and think… ‘Uh…yeah.’ Those are the ones.”

And is he working on Dr. Manhattan designs?

“There’s only so much you can do with a blue ____,” Hughes deadpanned.

At the very least, Hughes said, the job with the movie allows him the opportunity to re-read Watchmen, and also – he’s found an invaluable reference. “One of the things that’s really helping is having the big hardcover Graphitti Designs Watchmen edition from…however many decades ago,” Hughes said. “It’s the same as the Absolute Edition, but it’s comic-sized.

“It’s got Alan Moore’s notes to Dave Gibbons in it, and he talks to Dave about the concept of the character, which helps in getting me thinking a little more about not what they’d be wearing, but why they’d be wearing it.”

And finally, as for how his movie work will affect his regular workload, Hughes said that he’s got a pretty good rotation thing going.

“I do a little writing on All-Star Wonder Woman, and when my typing fingers get tired, I move over to the drawing table and do a little more on Silk Spectre and try to make her work as well as some other sketches, and oh yeah, crap – I’ve got a Catwoman cover due. It’s a little schizophrenic right now, but fun.”

Uhm...silk Spectre sara' parecchio scollacciata, allora!!!

Non so se è già stato postato, ma ci sarebbe QUESTO

Secondo quanto riportato da Wizard, Adam Hughessara' affiancato nella creazione dei costumi da John "Planetary" cassaday...

E Zack Snyder continua a dimostrare di avere le idee chiare sul film, almeno...

Da The Beat:

I set the movie in 1985 and I have the luxury of being far enough away from 1985 so that that is a viable idea. I think what happened in the past was that when you’re only five years away from 1985, it’s a weird time to make a period piece that took place three years ago, but studios don’t get that. There has been a push I think on the other scripts that exist about trying to update the movie or trying to make it take place in present day and things of that nature. I think by setting it 1985, by having the Cold War, having Nixon, having all that stuff, you sort of reinvigorate what the story is about. It allows all the metaphors to sort of erect. But, if you set the movie in modern times, you’re basically saying it’s the war on terror right is the thing. Then the movie is asking me, “oh Zack, what do you think of the war on terror? What’s your take on it?” Who gives a f**k about what I think about the war on terror? That’s not why people go to the movies. I think that what Alan in his book, the comment he’s made about authority and government and all those things, maybe if you make that movie right what that has to say makes people think about what’s happening maybe now or in their own lives. That’s my hope for what the movie could be.

intervista a Snyder su Watchmen e 300

Fanboy Radio #381 - Zack Snyder LIVE
The director of Dawn of the Dead, 300 and the upcomming adaptation of Watchmen joins Scott and Oliver. All three fanboys chat about Snyder's work, passions and his modus operandi in Hollywood while revealing important information about the pre-production of Watchmen and secrets of 300.

dalla San Diego Comicon un po' di news sul film di Watchmen:

Live from Comic-Con... The Watchmen!!!! We were in the panel, and got the scoop for ya right here!!!


At the Comic-Con Panel Zach Snyder gave us the following info:


Dr. Manhattan will be motion capture CGI not blue paint.

New York will be practical stylized sets. Antarctica and Mars will be mostly CG

Production shooting in Vancouver

Will be R-rated

Original versions/scripts wanted to update the material to the present day, WB wanted to use present day terrorism versus the dated Cold War backdrop, Syder says no, "Watchmen should not come to the people, the people should come to the Watchmen."

Snyder said that Moore has already requested not to have his name on the credits because he hasn't liked any of the previous adaptations of his books including V for Vendetta and others.

And the movie is dated: 03.06.09.

Snyder also revealed the teaser poster, see the image below!

Vista la portata della cosa, dalla regia di Snyder ai costumisti Hughes e Cassaday, all'uso della computergrafica, non credo ci siano dubbi sulla qualità visiva del film.
Quel che metto in dubbio è l'aderenza a quanto scritto da Moore; Dalla compressione del narrato alle relazioni tra i personaggi, alla lunghezza stessa della vicenda...
Ho paura che - nella migliore delle ipotesi - ci si troverà davanti una sorta di "noir coi supereroi".

mi potrei accontentare

dopotutto la mia absolute edition ricolorata non subirà danni se il film non sarà paripari!
(vedi V for V che come film mi è davvero piaciuto tanto pur essendo V for V fumetto il mio preferito e avendolo letto almeno una 30ina di volte).

ho dato un occhiata al casting del film, pur conoscendo la maggior parte degli attori scelti per le parti principali sono rimasto stupito per quasi tutti, nel senso che io non avrei mai pensato a quegli attori per quelle parti.
Chiarisco che non lo sto dicendo in senso negativo, anzi si tratta di attori piuttosto bravini (imho in particolare Billy Crudup e Patrick Wilson) anche se non molto noti. Vedremo

sito ufficiale del film



dave gibbons è andato sul set di watchmen....



It's perhaps the most surreal experience of my life.

There they are, in a shadowy clubhouse, standing around a map of the USA, just as we'd imagined them. The smoke of the Comedian's cigar hangs in the air as I drink in the details of the scene. Framed old copies of The New York Gazette tell stories of past exploits; trophies glint in glass-fronted display cases; Moloch's solar weapon shines in a dusty corner and over there, on its mannequin stand, the faded costume of the original Nite Owl keeps silent vigil.

Then, a sudden flash of unearthly blue light announces the arrival of Dr. Manhattan and the tableau comes to life. The voices of quarreling heroes rise and fall, a Zippo flares and the map catches fire.

Somewhere, someone shouts "Cut!"

And I'm standing amongst them. Nite Owl shakes my hand. The Comedian slaps me on the back. Silk Spectre smiles a dazzling greeting. I'm overwhelmed by the depth and detail of what I'm seeing.

But more than that. I'm overwhelmed by the commitment, the passion, the palpable desire to do this right.

I'm starting to feel a glow that eclipses even Dr. Manhattan's...

-Dave Gibbons
December 2007

Bella descrizione. Certo, dev'essere una sensazione indescrivibile trovarsi a tu per tu coi tuoi personaggi riprodotti in questo modo.



Fa ben sperare!!!