Thursday 26 July 2007

Watchmen: Who We'll Be Watching...

Thursday 26 July 2007
Finally, things are definitely moving forward on the long, long, long-awaited film adaptation of Alan Moore's Watchmen. Director Zack Snyder is still in charge, after his success with 300 earlier this year, and the movie looks set to be filmed in that half-real/half-CGI fashion.

Actors now confirmed in some of the main roles are as follows:

Jackie Earle Haley as Walter Kovacs (a.k.a. Rorschach); a psychopathic former "costume adventurer" whose quest to solve the murder of a fellow hero, The Comedian, kick-starts the entire movie.

Billy Crudup as Dr Manhatten; the film's only genuinely "super-powered being", with God-like powers and an unpredictable temperament.

Malin Akerman as Laurie Juspeczyk (a.k.a Silk Spectre); a woman who's romantically involved with Dr Manhatten, but their relationship begins to deteriorate.

Patrick Wilson as Nite Owl; a crime-fighter who uses technical gadgetry and an owl-shaped flying machine.

Matthew Goode as Adrian Veidt (a.k.a Ozymandius); an adventurer who retired voluntarily and became immensely famous and rich.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian; a cigar-chomping vigilante whose murder gets the entire mystery rolling.

Anyway, I'm excited. The graphic novel is sprawling, epic, deeply-textured and very intelligent. The idea of it translated using 300/Sin City-style graphics is mouth-watering.

My only concern is that The Incredibles and TV's Heroes has plundered Watchmen so much that many critics and audience members will view it as old-hat, when the reverse is true! Frustrating. But here's hoping it'll change superhero movies the same way the book changed the face of comic-books in the 80s...