Zack Snyder talks Watchmen

Agentsands77 said:
While those are improvements Tse made, I'd say the overall draft is worse than Hayter's because of the craptastic stuff Tse adds on top. I'd rather have those changes than the absolutely awful Dr. Manhattan ending or those dreadful action sequences. Still, the best draft would be somewhere in between Hayter's and Tse's with some more polishing on the dialogue.
Well, I agree, any stupid crap that serves no purpose to the story except of dumbing it down has to go, period. Though, like I said, I'm not sure whether this is screenwriters' fault or something that studio forced them to write. Seems more like the latter, IMO.
Unbelievable? Yup. Stupid? You betcha. But it still works better than that asinine Dr. Manhattan idea, which I find more offensive, even if it is slightly more logical in the actual mechanics. This honestly is the hardest part of adapting WATCHMEN - the whole "alien creature" was perhaps the one element of Alan Moore's novel that didn't really work to begin with, and trying to replace it is really, really hard.
The reason it was replaced in the first place was because of censorship. I think it was by the time Hayter finished his first draft that had the alien creature ending that 9/11 happened and no studio in America was willing to pay 100 mil. to see dead corpses lying in NYC streets. The original ending is the best way to go IMO, only I'd make it more global and more PC, I guess. Instead of just New York, I'd have Veidt teleport multiple alien creatures to London, Paris, Rome, Pyongyang, Teheran etc.
 
Well, all I doubt Snyder will use Tse's script. From what I read, it has too much action, what isn't right.

And why I have bad feeling that Snyder will leave this project after next year? :(
 
IKnowSomeJudo said:
The reason it was replaced in the first place was because of censorship. I think it was by the time Hayter finished his first draft that had the alien creature ending that 9/11 happened and no studio in America was willing to pay 100 mil. to see dead corpses lying in NYC streets. The original ending is the best way to go IMO, only I'd make it more global and more PC, I guess. Instead of just New York, I'd have Veidt teleport multiple alien creatures to London, Paris, Rome, Pyongyang, Teheran etc.
I always thought it was replaced because it was one of the weakest aspects of Moore's novel - it's so bizarre, out of left field, and there has to be a way of doing it better. :::shrugs:::
 
Cinemaman said:
And why I have bad feeling that Snyder will leave this project after next year? :(
If he does (and he probably will - WATCHMEN is doomed to be stuck in development hell forever), that will be a good thing. I want this in the hands of somebody I can trust.
 
After re-reading both of those versions again, I'm firmly sticking with how much I prefer Hayter's version, warts and all. Hayter's version is near-perfect with some minor flaws that could easily be rectified (ala the Slingshot thing). Tse's draft is something of a mess throughout, and I vastly prefer a lot of Hayter's little touches.

And not to mention, it's Hayter's draft that keeps one of my favorite moments from WATCHMEN: "Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends."
 
Agentsands77 said:
If he does (and he probably will - WATCHMEN is doomed to be stuck in development hell forever), that will be a good thing. I want this in the hands of somebody I can trust.

I think he is not bad choice. But there can be better directors, who feel it right.
 
just to let you guys know, that 3rd hayter draft wasnt his final draft on the project. he did at least one or two more where he worked out a bunch of the flaws.
 
Man I'm still reading this Hayter script...but I gotta say, its REALLY GOOD. I mean, I can literally imagine this movie before my eyes as I read every scene. I never thought it'd be possible to come even this close.

I'm about halfway through and will post some thoughts when I'm done. But holy crap, so far as good!
 
Read the Tse draft yesterday, and it's an improvement over the third Hayter's draft. I like the ending with Doc Manhattan voice more than the black boxes, gone it's the corny "All you need is love" line, Veidt's final scene is better. The added scene with the newscasts explain a lot of the political background, even if I would have preferred them to be a bit more subtle. I don't like that much the scene with Doc Manhattan and the terrorists, too. Lots of stuff from the novel got back in the script like Dan's sexual fantasy or the rooftop conversation with Laurie. And the only action scene added is the (harmless) one with the police copters chasing the Owlship. One thing that wasn't fixed was the fact that the clues of the mistery give away the real culprit of the conspiracy after 35 minutes. They should change the name of the industries.
Oh, and I would like to see a bit more of Osterman's backstory and how the most powerful man on earth becomes a puppet for the USA government.
 
So today on AICN they had some very good reviews for 300, sayng the movie is nearly completed, whit onlya few visual FX and some music missing. That means that Snyder can start now the pre-production for the movie, and most of it (pre-viz, costume and set design) was already done under Greengrass. They only need to close the cast, budget the movie, decide where to shoo it to be on budget, build the set and start shooting. But when will they release the movie? I can't find a good time slot for the movie in WB schedule in the next 2 years. Early spring 2008, before the release of Iron Man and Bond 22?
 
Antonello Blueberry said:
So today on AICN they had some very good reviews for 300, sayng the movie is nearly completed, whit onlya few visual FX and some music missing. That means that Snyder can start now the pre-production for the movie, and most of it (pre-viz, costume and set design) was already done under Greengrass. They only need to close the cast, budget the movie, decide where to shoo it to be on budget, build the set and start shooting. But when will they release the movie? I can't find a good time slot for the movie in WB schedule in the next 2 years. Early spring 2008, before the release of Iron Man and Bond 22?
uh....they still need to do a draft of the script that snyder is happy with before they do any of that. and i highly doubt snyder is gonna want to use greengrass' pre-viz stuff, im sure snyder is gonna want to develop his own with his own team to fit his own vision of the film. its gonna be quite some time before this film is actually greenlit and underway.
 
Motown Marvel said:
uh....they still need to do a draft of the script that snyder is happy with before they do any of that. and i highly doubt snyder is gonna want to use greengrass' pre-viz stuff, im sure snyder is gonna want to develop his own with his own team to fit his own vision of the film.
If he's allowed to do that. I doubt the producers will be willing to spend more money hiring new costume and set designer. We're not talking of Singer and Warner here. And even Singer used some of the pre-viz work done for the FlyBy version for the plane sequence.
 
Antonello Blueberry said:
If he's allowed to do that. I doubt the producers will be willing to spend more money hiring new costume and set designer. We're not talking of Singer and Warner here. And even Singer used some of the pre-viz work done for the FlyBy version for the plane sequence.

Not to mention the pre-viz for 300 was already done for him---by the comic book!

BTW, I finished that Tse draft. I hate the Dr. Manhattan ending, though, in a strange way, I somewhat respect the idea. I just think it soils his character.

I agree with the idea that the perfect draft will be somewhere in between Tse and Hayter. I'd stand for a tiny bit more exposition, especially with Dr. Manhattan just coming out and TELLING Laurie that Comedian is her daddy. It takes the weight from her coming to realize this on her own, not to mention Dr. Manhattan coming to realize the thermodynamic miracle of human life.
 
After hearing the reports from the 300 screening, I think Synder has the dedication and the enthusiasm needed to get this off the ground. I just hope it is as good as the graphic novel.
 
Doug Hutchison (The X Files's Tooms, The Green Mile's Percy) IS Rorschach!

Watch this space...
 
Antonello Blueberry said:
If he's allowed to do that. I doubt the producers will be willing to spend more money hiring new costume and set designer. We're not talking of Singer and Warner here. And even Singer used some of the pre-viz work done for the FlyBy version for the plane sequence.
snyder has a very distinct style, and he understands how important this film is, and he sure as hell is gonna be doing things HIS way to make sure it lives up to HIS standards. if WB didnt give him the creative freedom he wanted, he wouldnt have signed on to direct. and given his distinct style, i highly doubt he'd be cool with someone elses designs, which were based on someone elses vision for the film.
 
ConcreteBlock15 said:
Doug Hutchison (The X Files's Tooms, The Green Mile's Percy) IS Rorschach!

Watch this space...

Now that guy could pull it off! We need to start a manips thread.

Man, he's really ugly.
 

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