Readers of DMDB will probably know by now that I'm a big fan of writer Alan Moore in general, and his Watchmen graphic novel in particular. Unfortunately, a movie adaptation seems destined to go unmade.Recently, DC Comics President Paul Levitz talked about what's coming up on the DC movie slate post-Superman Returns, and he updated Watchmen fans on the status of the movie:
"Warners is looking at Watchmen right now. I believe they are looking for a director at the moment. I negotiated the Watchmen film deal when the third issue of the maxi-series was coming out in 1985 or 1986. It's been through Fox, Universal, Paramount so far and now it's at Warners. God knows. I think it's an extraordinary difficult property to do right as a film. It is a creative property that is very specifically designed for the medium in which it is published. I think it's a real challenge to break out and do it. I think they had a very interesting script and certainly Paul Greengrass is a great director, so I had some hope for the Paramount one. I hope Warner will be able to put something great around it."
Nice summation from a corporate bod (for once). Watchmen is certainly a very epic and complicated property to adapt successfully into even a 3-hour movie. Terry Gilliam famously suggested it should be made as a big-budget TV mini-series instead.
I'm still hopeful that the success of United 93 will somehow result in British director Paul Greengrass returning to the project with renewed clout and respect... or possibly Darren Aronofsky will rejoin the team after the (likely) success of sci-fi pic The Fountain in a few months...