The best thing about 300 making a bajillion and one dollars is that gives Zach Snyder the kind of clout he needs to do whatever the hell he wants on his next movie. That’s important, because his next movie is important. It’s an adaptation of the classic comic book Watchmen.
I liked 300 quite a lot, but after seeing it I found myself a little concerned over what Snyder might do to the world’s most beloved and respected comic book. 300 is a lot of fun, but it’s not exactly swimming in the kind of depth and subtext needed to do a Watchmen movie right. 300 is a big, dumb, fun, fantasy action movie while by comparison Watchme is poetry. Can Snyder pull that off? Judging by his past work, 300 and Dawn of the Dead, it seems somewhat out of his depth.
But the guys over at AICN have pointed the way to a brilliant interview with Snyder in which he finally goes in to depth on what his plans are for Watchmen. His answers are, to say the least, reassuring. It’s clear that he’s given the project a lot of though, and he has well-formed, interesting reasons for just about everything he’s doing with it. Better, none of his discussion of the film revolves around big action sequences. He knows there’s something more to this one.
During the interview he confirms a lot of rumors, including the one that there’s a part in the film for Gerard Butler. He also confirms that the movie will get an R rating, because he simply doesn’t know how to make it properly and do it PG-13. There are moments in Watchmen that are supposed to be shocking, and dulling them down cuts the heart right out of the thing. Snyder also wants it to be long, really long. He says his script is already 150 pages, and that’s without any of the strange Black Freighter sidetrip stuff (which lets face it, has no place in a movie adaptation). He also confirms that he’s leaving it set in 1985, and his reason for it is pretty compelling. Snyder says he’s approaching “Watchmen” as if it’s a great piece of literature (which it is), like Mobey Dick. If you’re adapting Mobey Dick, nobody asks how you’re going to update it to set it in modern times, and Snyder thinks that applies as much to “Watchmen” as it does to any great literary work.
The full five minute Zach Snyder interview is really worth watching. Grab your mouse and click here to see it.
http://www.cinemablend.com/new/300-Director-Talks-Watchmen-4716.html
