New Alan Moore interview

[danb26]

He's an obvious legend, but he is getting old...

 

[Da_Joka]

Yeah, Wire is good. WATCH ITTTTTTTT

 

[Sandman138]

Alan Moore knows how he feels and doesn't ******** about it. His views and opinions are not only understandable, they are respectable. I'm inspired by a guy who only wants to protect his art, no matter the cost.

The only thing I criticize Moore for is acting innocent. He chose to write Watchmen for DC. He chose to sign the contract. If he wasn't happy with the terms, he was within his rights to try to negotiate them, but he didn't. I thought David Lyod put it best when talking about V for Vendetta: "We didn't do it innocently. Neither myself nor Alan thought we were signing it over to a board of trustees who would look after it like it was the Dead Sea Scrolls."

That said, the way that Alan Moore is handling himself now is entirely respectable. He removed his name from the project and he's not taking what would be his share of the royalties. He's standing by his beliefs. This film,as far as he's concerned, is not his work. I don't entirely agree with him, but I do think it's important to realize that as the author of the book this is the only power he actually has over the film and given that EVERY single other adaptation of his work has bastardized it and then tried to use his name to sell it I can see why he did what he did. Just like Le Guin wants nothing to do with Hollywood anymore after Hallmark and even Studio Ghibli white-washed Earthsea. These authors don't like being used instead of treated like peers in the process and that is understandable and respectable.

 

[TDK Joker]

As people on other boards on the hype keep saying (especially when they say something, then someone disagrees with and then they reply...) "everyone is entitled to their own opinion". I can understand why Moore doesnt like his work being made into film and he isnt all bad, by him not putting his name to anything the artist of the book gets all royalties, which I thought was quite nice of him.

 

[Antonello Blueberry]

As people on other boards on the hype keep saying (especially when they say something, then someone disagrees with and then they reply...) "everyone is entitled to their own opinion". I can understand why Moore doesnt like his work being made into film and he isnt all bad, by him not putting his name to anything the artist of the book gets all royalties, which I thought was quite nice of him.

He'll get more royalties thanks to the movie anyway.
After the trailer debuted the book was heavily ordered on Amazon.com and jumped to the # 2 spot of the best sellers. DC is printing 200.000 new copies just for the next few months. Think of the number of copies they'll sell after the movie is released.

 

[Katsuro]

As people on other boards on the hype keep saying (especially when they say something, then someone disagrees with and then they reply...) "everyone is entitled to their own opinion". I can understand why Moore doesnt like his work being made into film and he isnt all bad, by him not putting his name to anything the artist of the book gets all royalties, which I thought was quite nice of him.

Yeah, you have to admit that even if you disagree with his stance on it, he does handle the situation respectably. He's not interested in it, so he's taken his name off it, and given up any royalties, but other than that he's just letting it be. Hell, he only mentions it when asked.

Also...

Are you still practicing magic?
Well, yes, practice makes perfect.

How did you first get into it?
I was turning 40 and thinking, Oh dear, I'm probably going to have one of those midlife crisis things which always just bore the hell out of everybody. So it would probably be better if, rather than just having a midlife crisis, I just went completely screaming mad and declared myself to be a magician. That would, at least, be more colorful. So, I announced, on the night of my 40th birthday party — probably after more beers than I should have had — that, ''from this point on, I'm going to become a magician.'' And then the next morning you have to think, Oh, what have I said now? Are we going to have to go through with this? So I had to go about finding out what a magician was and what they did.

That's pretty awesome.

 

[Simon Phoenix]

I wanna hire Alan Moore to do magic at my next birthday party

 

[deadgoon697]

I respect the guy.

 

[TDK Joker]

Do you think he means magic as "who wants to see a magic trick?" or a darker kind of magician i.e. not child friendly?

 

[BubbaGump]

Do you think he means magic as "who wants to see a magic trick?" or a darker kind of magician i.e. not child friendly?

His tricks will be discussed and analyzed in upper class magician circles.

 

[ChrisBaleBatman]

Alan Moore said nothing wrong.

Good interview.

 

[Dark Victory]

Alan is a *****e...

I agree with you. He's critizing Zack because he made 300 which he hasn't even seen. Plus dont go crying on about Watchmen being made into a movie which he probably hasn't watched a clip or even the teaser and he said the script was decent so why is he being so biased? Well he can complain about League of Extraodinary Gentlemen all he wants that's for sure.

 

[ChrisBaleBatman]

Did he criticize Zack?

Cause it sounded like he critcized Frank Miller.

And everyone knows how faithful the movie was to the book.

Again, I don't see anything wrong in anything Moore said. I might not agree or understand some of the things...but he didn't cross any lines I think.

 

[Da_Joka]

Yeah, he criticized Miller, not Zack. In fact, I think Moore is not being such a dick to Zack because Gibbons is helping.

 

[lujho]

Well, Alan Moore has never like his stuff being adapted for film, so his comments are nothing new.

Not quite true. In the days of the From Hell adaptation he was perfectly reasonable about it, hoping that it would be a good movie and bringing up the idea of Blade Runner and how it was very very different from the novel it was based on but still a great film. From Hell wasn't the best adaptation but I doubt he minded too much.

What really, really pissed him off was the Lawsuit concerning LOEG - some guy sued the studio saying they ripped off a script he showed them years ago... and they they hired Alan Moore to write LEOG so they could make a movie out of it and say it was their property. Basically, accusing Moore of Being a hired hack. That case was settled out of court - i.e. they paid the guy off even though his claim was false... with the implication being that the settlement was a de facto admission that they HAD stolen this guy's idea. Even though, of course, they hadn't.

So There's that, then there was people involved with the V movie claiming they had Moore's approval.

Those two things pissed him off very, very much, probably more than the actual quality of the films themselves. For those reasons (and others, non film-related) there very very, very little love lost between Alan Moore and DC comics.

So he's very bitter, but I don't blame him. And like people said he only ever mentiones it when people ask. He doesn't come across as a *****e at all, and in fact seems to handle the whole issue as well as could be expected.

 

[Incrediblejeff]

I wonder what would happen if Zack Snyder and Alan Moore were trapped in a room together.I would pay good money to see that conversation.

 

[lujho]

I agree with you. He's critizing Zack because he made 300 which he hasn't even seen. Plus dont go crying on about Watchmen being made into a movie which he probably hasn't watched a clip or even the teaser and he said the script was decent so why is he being so biased? Well he can complain about League of Extraodinary Gentlemen all he wants that's for sure.

He's not crying about the film being made. He. Just. Doesn't. Care. He's not saying anything about it one way or the other except that he's completely uninterested.

And Snyder's approach to this is a fairly sensible one. I think he said that he hopes that if Alan ever flipped over to a channel one night and Watchmen was on, that he'd stick around and watch it and feel it was okay. That's a far cry from the V people claiming they had his approval or whatever they said.

 

[lujho]

He'll get more royalties thanks to the movie anyway.
After the trailer debuted the book was heavily ordered on Amazon.com and jumped to the # 2 spot of the best sellers. DC is printing 200.000 new copies just for the next few months. Think of the number of copies they'll sell after the movie is released.

Yeah, but that at least will be money that comes off of the sweat of his own brow. Allthough I'm not sure if he's forgone any moneys from just the film adaptations of his works... or they he's even given up royalties from any of his creations that DC has the rights for. I think it's just the films though.

Another thing... in the contract he signed for watchmen, he and Gibbons would get back all rights for Watchmen when it went out of print. The idea that it would stay in print continuously for 20+ years was unthinkable. And seeing how it's such a classic it's hard to imagine it ever going out of print within Moore's lifetime. That's got to be annoying.

 

[Tommy Jarvis]

You know, all things considered, I would like to meet Moore; have a cup of tea or something with him.. I can understand where he's coming from: since I have finished working on my novel, I can't imagine having some Hollywood bigshot adapt it for the screen...(unless it was Lawrence Kasdan...)...all-in-all, Moore is your average author who's disillusioned with Hollywood (kind of like Stephen King,) who also happens to worship a wooden snake-god-puppet named Glycon.t:

 

[laudanum09]

I like his disillusionment. its necessary. look at v for vendetta. look at the league. look at his publishing qualms with warner and dc. he has every reason to be pissed and even so he's subtle, snide and sarcastic about it. after what they've done with his work, watchmen really has to do it, it can't just be mediocre imo. otherwise it will merely show that perhaps, perhaps this level of work can be made into good films of comparable quality. so far TDK, SM2 and Iron Man iare the only things that have really nailed it for me. I feel like the quality of those films are comparable to the quality of the comics and so far none of moore's adaptations have done anything similar.

 

[superherofan777]

Alan moore sounds like a complete *******. and how in the f**ing world is 300 gay and rascist??? lol

and has he seen the teaser yet?

 

[laudanum09]

Alan moore sounds like a complete *******. and how in the f**ing world is 300 gay and rascist??? lol

and has he seen the teaser yet?

yeah hes a complete ****, thats why we're looking forward to a movie based on his words and characters. thats why he's a great writer who has produced some of the best works in the medium.

i absolutely dont see the 300 film as gay and racist, at least not in my reading, but those elements CAN certainly be seen. and i can understand why it wouldn't be the guy's cup of tea. the films not exactly much of a thinker.