We’re a day or so behind on the “Watchmen” update. Many bloggers and journalists (around 60 people in total) were invited to a preview of the film in Los Angeles earlier this week that featured footage from the film, plus an appearance by Zack Snyder.
Essentially, it’s more pre-press on Warner Brothers part to get journos more interested and apparently it worked hook line and sinker as not only did the usual suspects show up, the sci-fi comic inclined like SlashFilm and First Showing, but people like the New York Times and Variety also showed their faces not wanting to miss out. In short, everyone seems excited about Watchmen.
We just finished the Alex Tse updated version of the script which we thought was decent, but it surely didn’t blow us away in any capacity. We’ll get into that more later. Onto the updates that this kinda meet-n’-greet delivered.
Twenty five minutes of footage was shown from the film which seemed to impress (some were positively glowing). The big news that came out of the Q&A with Snyder is that the film currently rests at a 2 hour and forty three minute cut, which is pretty great considering that’s essentially the length “The Dark Knight” was, but if falls short of the three hour mark Snyder once promised (which is great, cause we don’t publicly lose face or lose any public bets ;). Snyder said this length will probably be the final length come March (lawsuit aside), but who knows. Still, there’s no major reason to doubt him, but it could still change.
Snyder also said he wouldn’t be involved in any prequel or sequel should Warner Bros. be so ridiculous to make one (the original graphic novel by Alan Moore doesn’t include material for either; so motivations for either idea is purely capitalistic, so it’s wise for Snyder to wash his hands of any of that kind of nonsense).
The next talking point is the next trailer which will apparently be unveiled before the upcoming James Bond film, “Quantum Of Solace” in November.
Snyder also noted that they are “working on a version of the film that implements the “Tales of the Black Freighter” story from the comic into the actual movie,” wrote First Showing. ‘Freighter being a running sub-story through the original graphic novel that acts as a sort of metaphorical Greek chorus throughout the book, but note, no version of the script (there’s two out there, and we’ve read most of both and all of the latest version) contains any elements of the ‘Freighter’ story so perhaps this is something Snyder – always trying to remain faithful to the source material – might have injected himself or hired someone to write scenes for.
The New York Times notes that one of the judges on the “Watchmen” lawsuit, digs what he’s seen. “Federal judge Gary A. Fees said he had already seen a trailer for the film and liked it ‘a lot’ ,” wrote the Times.
The same Judge also noted if Fox wins the lawsuit, they’re probably going to block the film’s release. “If they win, they’re going to get an injunction, in all likelihood.”
When asked about the litigation, Snyder said. “If they wanted to come and stop us, I guess they would. But they haven’t yet.”
Even Anne Thompson seems to be down with Watchmen. “The visuals are stunning. With Watchmen, he’s created a faithful adaptation of Alan Moore’s graphic novel that will satisfy fans. The characters pop off the screen.”
She notes that the original book gets a little “too cerebral,” at times (which is kind of true) and that Snyder “added more action,” which means Tse’s script could have changed because it too remains pretty faithful to the story line of “Watchmen,” without going into many of its tangents (like the ‘Freighter’ story).
