Zack Snyder on Watchmen's Progress

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Zack Snyder on Watchmen's Progress

Source:Heather Newgen

February 11, 2007

With less than a month to go until Zack Snyder's movie based on Frank Miller's 300 hits theatres, Snyder and his cast gathered in L.A. for the ubiquitous press junket, where the director answered some of Superhero Hype!'s questions about his next comic adaptation, based on Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen:

SHH!: What's going on with "Watchmen?"
Zack Snyder: We're trying to get a budget together now that I feel like the movie is in a very cool place. I think the script is starting to become pretty cool. I've been talking to some actors--I'm not going to say who--but it's cool, because in some ways you can get real actors. You don't have to go Hollywood. So that's all going along. I've been drawing away, so I think it's coming along. They have talked about maybe shooting in the summer.

SHH!: Is the budget for "Watchmen" set right now or is there some sort of plus or minus depending on how well "300" does?
Snyder: That's theoretical. I believe that is probably reflecting reality. I don't know that for sure. It's not set right now. Maybe that's a coincidence, maybe not.

SHH!: What's been the delay with the movie? 10 years ago it was a Joel Silver film.
Snyder: I can only thank God that they haven't gotten it together yet. I think the delay is that they haven't known what it was. 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.

SHH!: How has the universal praise for "300" assisted you with making "Watchmen" and possibly other projects?
Snyder: I can't say it hasn't helped a lot. What it does do [is that] people have said to me, "What's going on with “Watchmen?” You’ve got to make sure you don’t f**k that up. What can I do to help?" And I said, "Go see '300.'" The truth is, "300" to the studio is a graphic novel movie. It's not a movie that they necessarily understand exactly when I pitch it on paper. They feel in some ways the same about "Watchmen." They don't understand why it's not "Fantastic 4." I have to remind them that it's much more "Strangelove" than it is "Fantastic 4" which they don't like hearing, but they believe that I know, and in that way, it helps. When they finally saw this movie, I think they felt, "Wow, we didn't know this was the movie you were necessarily making, but we like this movie." Maybe that will apply to "Watchmen."

You can see 300 for yourself when it opens on March 9 and there'll be more with Snyder and his cast right here on Superhero Hype!

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