WC 09: Watchmen Invade Wondercon
February 28, 2009 – Anticipation for Watchmen was clearly at a fever pitch today at Wondercon, as an absolutely packed room gathered in the morning to see director Zack Snyder and stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan ("The Comedian"), Billy Crudup ("Dr. Manhattan"), Malin Akerman ("Silk Spectre"), Jackie Earle Haley ("Rorschach") and Patrick Wilson ("Nite Owl").
The audience was treated to a very long portion of the movie – about the first 20 minutes or so (the same footage seen at New York Comic Con), including the excellent opening credits, which show the history of the Watchmen universe, via news footage. There was also one brief, extremely crowd-pleasing scene shown that fans of the comics will recognize – the scene where Rorschach is in prison, and responds to a threatening prisoner by throwing burning oil into his face. Rorschach’s proclamation — "None of you seem to understand. I’m not locked in here with you. You’re locked in here with me!" – was met with huge applause.
When the subject of a possible sequel was brought up, Snyder reiterated what he’s said before, remarking, "Not [one] that I’m going to have anything to do with." He remarked, "They’re capable of a lot, the powers that be," but added that the idea of a sequel was "crazy."
He recalled when he was first offered Watchmen by Warner Bros, he was clearly speaking to someone unfamiliar with the source material, as they told him, "Hey, we have a script for a movie called Watchmen. We think it’s based on a graphic novel." He noted that the script at that point was clearly aimed to be a two hour, PG-13 movie and ended far differently than the comic with, "Dan killing a [bad] guy in the end with the Owl Ship. He’s driving it by remote control and smashes in to him. He has a cool, catch phrase-y line at the end."
The movie runs two hours and forty-three minutes, but Snyder acknowledged having to make some tough cuts, notable [SPOILER WARNING for those who haven't read the comic books!] the death of Hollis Mason, the original Nite Owl. Snyder said that, if the film is successful, the current plan is for a July theatrical release of the director’s cut, which runs three hours and ten minutes.
There was not much time spent with the cast of the film, who came on stage late in the panel, but Haley explained that his inspiration for the raspy voice he uses in the film came from reading the original comic, explaining, "When I read it, that’s what I heard." Asked about wearing her superhero costume in the film, Akerman said it took some adjustment, joking, "I don’t usually wear latex, or very high heels when I fight on the street – which is constantly." Primarily known for comedic roles, Akerman said that taking on this role, "I was scared s**tess. I’m so glad Zack had the faith in me." She said she had plenty of inspiration from the comic book though, and could relate to her character, adding, "The only hard part was leaning how to fight."
Asked how he played the increasingly un-human Dr. Manhattan, Crudup deadpanned, "I think Dr. Manhattan was just distracted, more than anything. So I spent a lot of my time thinking about other things. Like walking on the surface of the sun and things like that." The Comedian of course is a fairly reprehensible character, but Morgan noted, "I didn’t dislike the guy, which I certainly should dislike. I sympathized with him in a way." He added that the main challenge was, "To make this guy somehow human in the middle of killing, raping and pillaging throughout the world."
As for Nite Owl, Wilson remarked, "I certainly think he has the most heart I guess," adding with a laugh, "If I can put everyone else down. He has heart! I love Dan. You’re Pulling for Dan the entire time – To get the damn suit back on or to get it up. It really doesn’t get more basic than that. What’s so cool about him is his identity through his suit and what that means to him."
