“Spitting venom all over it”
Alan Moore photograph by John Robertson
Alan Moore will have nothing to do with the movie version of Watchmen. He doesn’t want his name on it, and he gave his share of the money to Dave Gibbons. He also refused credit on the adaptations of From Hell and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Very wise decision).
Standing more than six feet tall, Moore has the flashing eyes and floating hair of the malign presence in Coleridge’s Kubla Khan. An unsung British creative giant, with a flat Black Country accent, he looks more like a shadowy character from one of his own cult comics than a mighty creator of worlds. He wears silver, scorpion rings, has a penchant for magic, tarot cards and erotica and is rumoured to worship a Roman snake god. Yet this unlikely bloke, whose recent Lost Girls was a kinky comic strip fantasy about the sexual awakening of three young girls in the Austria of 1913, has somehow perpetrated the ultimate swindle on American popular culture.
As novelist and Watchmen fan Susanna Clarke puts it: “He took something very American – the superhero comic – reinvented it [more than once] and sold it back to them.”
Alan Moore profiled in the Observer.
In case you skipped Monday’s post, I’m sorry to have to break the news to you: Watchmen will not be shown at the iMax theatre in Manila. I tried to reserve tickets at iMax and they said the screenings were off so I called the distributor UIP to ask why. I was told there is no available iMax print for Manila. Thought it was because we’re not a major iMax market. Then one of the fanboys heard that there was a censorship problem leading to the cancellation. The MTRCB rates movies (GP, PG, R-13, R-18) but can’t order cuts. Some distributors want their product to be available to a wider audience, so they censor their own movies. The iMax print couldn’t be chopped. Then the SM cinemas don’t allow R-18 movies, and iMax is at SM Maul of Asia.
The upshot of all this idle speculation is, you’ll have to catch Watchmen at a regular theatre.
On the other hand the Star-Viva movie You Changed My Life is racking up Spider-Man type grosses, said some industry people I saw recently. So Pinoys still flock to the movies, but maybe not to iMax movies. Maybe if Sarah and John Lloyd were Silk Spectre and Nite Owl…Alright, alright, I’ll wash my keyboard out with soap.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
March 5th, 2009 at 01:32
Alan Moore also disavowed any connection with the V For Vendetta film too. Strangely enough, he was interested in making an appearance at that Simpsons episode along comic book legends Art Spiegelman and Dan Clowes. It was also the episode that had Jack Black playing The Comic Book Guy’s hipper, more cheery professional rival. Gotta love the Watchmen Babies gag plus What’s New, Pussycat sung in Korean (An-yong, Pussycat?) in it that madcap half hour.
March 5th, 2009 at 14:43
The thing that I am most apprehensive about in connection with Watchmen is the fact that they cast Patrick Wilson as the second Nite-Owl. Yes, that Patrick Wilson, whose wooden stylings were showcased in The Phantom of the Opera, greatly increasing the absurdity of Christine choosing a dipstick like Raoul over the Phantom (or, Erik, for those acquainted with the novel).
Cheers.
March 5th, 2009 at 16:56
Fearing for this movie. They butchered V For Vendetta.
I’m surprised that Gilliam backed out on this – wise decision, but it’s his kind of thing. I’m still not forgiving Warner Bros for not choosing him to direct the Harry Potter films.
March 5th, 2009 at 17:19
a friend of mine is going to the premiere tonight…I’ll get spoilers tomorrow morning
March 5th, 2009 at 20:40
I just came from the 4:30pm half-screening of Watchmen at the Gateway Cineplex cinema 5 and I think Patrick Wilson was an ok choice. He definitely managed to display the nuances of Dan’s character especially his emasculated movements on all the scenes prior to the tenement fire rescue.
As for Gateway, I think I won’t be watching any movies in their cinemas anytime soon. They had to kick us out of the theater right before the scene where Dan and Laurie spring Rorschach from prison. Apparently, according to the person in charge, they had an “asset problem” read: a special screening at around 7pm-ish.
The person in charge didn’t even have the good manners to apologize to the viewers. Sure they gave refunds but they’ll never be able to replace the time and effort. Very disappointing considering that I was really enjoying the movie too…
March 6th, 2009 at 05:32
I saw it last night. To Patrick Wilson: Come home, all is forgiven.
He truly inhabits the role of Dan Dreiberg. Dude must finally have sprung for those acting classes or something. The casting is great, but let me add a couple of caveats to that. I thought that Ozymandias could have been a bit more convincing and Doctor Manhattan has a wussy voice that is hard to make out at times. Didn’t like the changes to do with Rorshach’s epiphany. More violent than necessary, but this was the same guy who directed 300.
About 5 minutes into the film (just after “a comedian died in New York”), the lights went on and the projector went off. There was a call for doctors and nurses. (Sadly, no call for lawyers.) A woman was blubbing toward the front of the cinema together with a disheveled man who turned out to be her date. All trace of sympathy left me when I perceived that they were both high. After another 15 minutes, the projector rolled again.
Cheers.
March 6th, 2009 at 16:05
Saw it last night in Eastwood, Jackie Earle Haley is brilliant and I still adore Patrick Wilson, but the movie sucked. Maybe that Zack Snyder guy thinks being faithful to the graphic novel means letting the actors speak their thoughts, literally blurt it out. Interestingly this would be a great example for that Rushdie essay..