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Live Action Watchmen (was: BEFORE WATCHMEN FILM?!)

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Post  non_amos Sun Feb 26, 2012 6:19 pm

http://www.ifc.com/fix/2012/02/jeffrey-dean-morgan-before-watchmen-spirit-awards

Jeffrey Dean Morgan would consider playing the Comedian again in “Before Watchmen”

Live Action Watchmen (was: BEFORE WATCHMEN FILM?!) 02251211
Photo: Jeffrey Dean Morgan in "Watchmen," courtesy Warner Bros.

The actor tells IFC the "right people" would need to be involved.

Features

Posted February 25th, 2012, 10:02 PM by Terri Schwartz

When DC Comics announced that they’d be working on “Watchmen” prequels entitled “Before Watchmen,” it brought mixed responses from comic book fans. Alan Moore’s original series has stood on its own for more than three decades, so it seems strange to tinker with that formula now.

But the joy of comic books is that they are stories that can be continually revisited, and it seems that DC decided now was the best time to revisit the Watchmen. It certainly helps that the 2009 big screen adaptation of “Watchmen,” directed by Zack Snyder, brought a renewed interest in the series. However, neither Moore nor original artist Dave Gibbons will be lending their talents to these new stories.

It seems natural that Warner Bros consider making a film adaptation of the prequels once all seven issues hit newsstands. The first film was considered a failure — it only grossed $55 million more than its budget — but still generated enough fan interest to make a prequel seem potentially worthwhile, especially if the prequel comics do well. IFC caught up with Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who starred as the Comedian in Snyder’s version of “Watchmen,” at the Film Independent Spirit Awards to ask if he’d ever be interested in returning to his mask and cigar.

“It would have to be the right people involved,” Morgan said hesitantly. “I would like Dave Gibbons, the creator of the [comic], to be behind it. I’d love to work with Zack again. Bur we always said when we did ‘Watchmen’ it was a one off. There’s no way there can be a prequel so I don’t know. It makes me nervous that they’re even talking about it.”

That being said, it seems as though this is the only way fans would be able to see Morgan as the Comedian again as he died in the first film. Since he played the Comedian in a variety of eras in “Watchmen,” Morgan agreed that it would make sense for him to return to the role in a prequel.

“If there was a way [Warner Bros] could squeeze a move out of it they’d probably try to find a way,” he said. “I don’t know honestly if they’d recast but since I play the Comedian from 18 to his demise at 60 I guess I would fit in there somewhere.”

Bottom line? “We’ll see,” Morgan said. “We’ll see.” Sounds like it’s up to “Before Watchmen” to be a success before we ever here official talks about the comic book being made into a movie. But at least it’s nice to know that Morgan would be game if it ever came to that.

Would you want to see Morgan reprise the role of the Comedian in a “Before Watchmen” adaptation? Tell us in the comments section below or on Facebook and Twitter.


OY! This one is sure to generate no small amount of controversy! Suspect
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Post  webhead2006 Sun Feb 26, 2012 7:16 pm

I liked him in the. Movie. But ya we don't need the prequel stuff.
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Post  thecolorsblend Sun Feb 26, 2012 7:46 pm

Can't say I'm all that surprised. The entire point of these miniseries was to create expand the franchise, create new media possibilities, etc. A movie adaptation is the next logical step. To all of those who subscribe to the "if you don't like it, don't read it and leave everyone else alone" school, here you go. The popular perception of Watchmen will change, whether I want it to or not, whether it needs to or not, and those of us who like the story just the way it is will get dragged along for the ride.
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Post  thecolorsblend Sat Mar 24, 2012 7:48 am

thecolorsblend wrote:Can't say I'm all that surprised. The entire point of these miniseries was to create expand the franchise, create new media possibilities, etc. A movie adaptation is the next logical step. To all of those who subscribe to the "if you don't like it, don't read it and leave everyone else alone" school, here you go. The popular perception of Watchmen will change, whether I want it to or not, whether it needs to or not, and those of us who like the story just the way it is will get dragged along for the ride.
I'm coming back to this.

I like the Star Wars movies. All of 'em. But I remember before Episode I came out, someone wrote a piece for some magazine (Time? Playboy? Rolling Stone? It seemed a little too insightful for People Weekly) that basically pointed out, as per George Lucas's threat, that our perceptions of Darth Vader were about to radically change. We first saw him as a fairly one dimensional monster, then a villain with an implicitly complex backstory and, finally, a tragic and sad character. And all that would be redefined yet again, this time seeing him as a sweet, innocent child. Putting the artistic merits of the prequels aside, there were people even before Phantom Menace came out who said they rather liked Darth Vader the way they knew him at the time and didn't necessarily want to see their interpretation of him complicated by seeing him as a kid.

At the time, I thought that was a kind of silly complaint to make. But with an eye on the Watchmen prequels... well, I still don't agree with that opinion but I can sure as hell relate to it a lot more now. To me, Watchmen is a 12-issue comic book series. It starts in issue #1 and concludes with issue #12. Sure, you can get interviews, conceptual artwork, elements of the original pitch and other stuff that maybe offer insight into the creative process of the comic but everything you ultimately need to know is contained in that series.

But Before Watchmen is going to become part of the permanent record, successful or not (and I predict a certain amount of success based on shock value and novelty, if nothing else). For better or worse, it will alter the original by association. Frankly, that'd be tough to accept even if somehow Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons and all the rest were coming back. Even then, it's 50/50, y'all. And that's the best case scenario.

But when you have a bunch of creators who never had any association with Watchmen to begin with to come along and improve upon one of the top 10 greatest comic book series of all time... honestly, is any way this thing can even be half as good as the original? And no matter how much it sucks, and this is the main point, it will alter our perceptions of the original. Even mine, and I don't intend to even illegally download this shit. That's how opposed to the concept I am.

Suddenly, I have yet another thing in common with the pre-backlash prequel skeptics from way back when...
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Post  webhead2006 Sat Mar 24, 2012 9:44 am

Those are some valid concerns colors. Just like star wars prequels as you said this will probably affect how folks think of watchman as the whole. And even though I haven't read it. Would like to when I got the time. I really enjoyed the movie and see no need to do these books. Hopefully for dc stake it will do well. But it sucks they even wanted to do it in general. When they could have put this time/enough into fixing there main books problems.
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Post  Apologist Puncher Sat Mar 24, 2012 5:11 pm

Let me remind everyone of ANOTHER jaunt into a universe created by a classic mini-series:

Live Action Watchmen (was: BEFORE WATCHMEN FILM?!) 001879a9_medium

How'd that turn out again?
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Post  thecolorsblend Sat Mar 24, 2012 5:21 pm

Apologist Puncher wrote:Let me remind everyone of ANOTHER jaunt into a universe created by a classic mini-series:

Live Action Watchmen (was: BEFORE WATCHMEN FILM?!) 001879a9_medium

How'd that turn out again?
Well, splitting hairs, but the difference there is that the original crew at least came back for that. Fans clamored for it and eventually the creative folk came back. Fans learned once again to be careful what you ask for because you just might get it.

More Watchmen is something I don't think any true fan has seriously advocated since, what, 1988 or '89? Even then, Watchmen's legend was becoming established and people realized that a follow up could only damage the original.

But times are changing.
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Post  thecolorsblend Tue Apr 03, 2012 2:52 am

If there's a thread dedicated to the Watchmen movie, I couldn't find it. So I'm retitling and co-opting this one. Very Happy

Anywho. Not sure if any of you have seen this but http://movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=1860304 is a comparison of what looks like the major differences between the theatrical cut of Watchmen and the director's cut. Note- I do mean the director's cut, not the ultimate cut with the Tales of the Black Freighter cartoon added in.

I guess I hadn't really appreciated how vastly different the two cuts are. I mean, yeah, obviously Hollis is the big winner in the director's cut. But the differences go beyond just extra scenes thrown in at random (as is the case in most director's cuts). The director's cut uses different takes in some cases, slightly different colors (which could just be part of the mastering job, who knows?), cuts and camera angles timed and paced differently, etc.

Of course, the down side to all this is that the above web link is pretty horrible Engrish. Either that or the guy's fucking illiterate, take your pick. "Adaption"?? Really? Bugs the fuck out of me when people get that wrong. Adaptation.

Anyway. Even so, the thing is still worth checking out.

As ever, I love the Watchmen movie (all versions) in a way that probably isn't completely normal. Without question it's one of the best comic book adaptations ever made.
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Post  non_amos Tue Apr 03, 2012 10:50 am

I'll have to thoroughly check out that link when I have enough time. I did go there & the photos show the difference so that inspires me (again, when I have time) to actually explore this by watching the versions on DVD. Back at Christmas I even bought the Blu-Ray Director's Cut because I knew my wife was getting me a player. But I already had the D.C! And the Theatrical! And the Ultimate Cut! I would've even had the VHS, Beta & Laserdisc if they had existed! Smile

Personally I prefer the D.C. but I'm not the craziest about the U.C. The cartoon added back in just doesn't do much for me. Wasn't the comic like that? Even if it was, somehow on film I find that distracting. I'm aware that not all D.C.s are necessarily the best thing because sometimes it's like just deleted scenes added back in but in this case I feel like it works. Even though it adds some to the running time I don't seem to mind. And I have to agree with this film being one of the best comics adaptations ever. I just wish it'd been appreciated by the masses. Who knows, maybe it'll find new life after THE MAN OF STEEL is released? In other words, if MOS is a smash hit, maybe people will 'rediscover' this film by association?
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Post  webhead2006 Tue Apr 03, 2012 11:12 am

Hmm I didn't know that was so much differences in the two cuts. I haven't seen theater cut in awhile. I do own directors cut of film. As for ultimate cut haven't seen that version. So I haven't. Much to say on that one. Would be nice to watch that cut some time.
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Post  Apologist Puncher Tue Apr 03, 2012 8:26 pm

This was posted in the 'Flash' section, but I wanted to discuss it here:

thecolorsblend wrote: It makes you wonder if Watchmen had been a bigger success, we'd have more of a leg to stand on. Ignoring the facts that Watchmen was (A) esoteric subject matter even by comic book standards (B) esoteric subject matter in terms of requiring the viewer to have a working knowledge and understanding of 20th century history with an emphasis on the Cold War in order to understand how Watchmen intentionally deviates from it in setting up an alternate history (C) it had a naked blue dude running around and (D) it wasn't given a tentpole release window, it still didn't make money. By and large, I consider it to be pretty faithful overall to the source. But it didn't exactly knock 'em dead at the box office (to say the least). If it had, I wonder if we'd be dealing with a different reality at WB.

Here's the thing with this. I know what you are getting at, that a film that WAS "to the letter" didn't do well, so we can't expect the Bros.Warner to try again.

But the problem with that way of thinking is, they chose a finite series with no history beyond what is contained in those 12 issues. And despite what the comic industry thinks, is not that well known to the general public. Superman has an almost 75 year history to draw from. People KNOW Superman. People KNOW his origins. Sticking to his history for a film is a much better bet than sticking to it for 'Watchmen'. It's more "familiar" in a sense. Unfortunately though, with WB at least, this will never happen with ANY of their characters.

And the BBD didn't help 'Watchmen' at all....
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