“I felt like stepping into my costume and sticking a cigar into my mouth definitely helped in getting me in the mood to kill people,” said Jeffrey Dean Morgan (“P.S. I Love You”) with a laugh. Morgan plays Edward Blake (superhero alias The Comedian), the epitome of the antihero.
Matthew Goode (“Brideshead Revisited”) not only became mentally involved in his character, he made up an in-depth backstory for Adrian Veidt (superhero alias Ozymandias) as well.
“Regardless of what’s in front of you, you still have to flesh the character out,” said Goode of getting into the mindset of his character.
Veidt’s backstory was only slightly delved into in the “Watchmen” graphic novel, but Goode took what was given and expanded it so that his Veidt’s parents were Nazis and that Veidt is pursuing the American dream as an adult. That is why Goode uses two separate accents in his portrayal of Veidt; an all-American accent for his public persona and a hint of German in his private one.
Instead of having to get in shape for his superhero, Patrick Wilson (“Little Children”) had to sit on his sofa and eat the fattiest foods he could find in order to take on the role of the flabby, depressed, but most likeable character of the “Watchmen” superheroes; Dan Dreiberg (superhero alias Night Owl II).
“You always pull for Dan,” said Wilson. “Dan’s down, but he has this light in him. He’s all these really negative words, but when you look at the first few frames [of the novel]; it’s a whole different level when you see the artwork.”
As a surprise appearance, Dave Gibbons, the artist who created “Watchmen” with writer Alan Moore, spoke at the Comic-con panel about his visit to the set in Vancouver, Canada.
“It’s the stuff of dreams, really, to have something step out of your head and become real,” said Gibbons.
He spoke of the surreal aspect of being able to smell The Comedian’s cigars and see him showing off his guns; actions that Gibbons himself had originally created.
What Gibbons really appreciated he said was the amount of graffiti splattered across the set. Graffiti played a pivotal role in the art of the novel, and featured the first appearance of the now famous quote, “Who watches the Watchmen?”
Gibbons has a signature mark; a ‘G’ with a square around it, that the set makers plastered all over the walls with the other graffiti.
“When I see the movie, it’s like it’s got my signature on it,” Gibbons said.
Unlike Snyder’s 2006 hit “300”, “Watchmen” will be using relatively little CGI backgrounds. The only scene where the actors had to perform against a green screen was when they were filming Mars.
“It’s kind of expensive to shoot [on Mars],” said Crudup.
One of the major reasons why “Watchmen” hasn’t been turned into a movie since its creation, beyond its alleged “infilmability,” is the story itself. It does not have relatable characters; in fact, it does not necessarily even have ‘heroes’ and ‘villains,’ because all of its characters are morally ambiguous in some way.
The ending of “Watchmen” is controversial in the fact that the terrible act which occurs is left unresolved. Snyder has admitted in previous interviews that he has not deviated from the original ending.
“What is darkness in a movie?” Snyder asked the audience. “We never really thought about the overall ‘Oh my god this movie is so dark!’ You have these overall optimistic characters in the book [who are] a reflection of all of us. There is no real answer. It becomes up to you. Is it a metaphor or is it real? I think that’s the question of ‘Watchmen’.”
Snyder said that he expects to see a change in trend of the type of superhero movies that are created after the release of “The Dark Knight” and then March’s “Watchmen.”
“Superhero movies, comic book movies; they don’t exist just as summer popcorn blockbuster movies,” said Snyder. “Serious directors and serious actors are making serious movies. I think that there is a new wave of superhero movies coming. … We made a movie that had to be self-aware and yet not acknowledge that it is.”
Writer Alan Moore has taken his name from the film adaptation of “Watchmen”, which he has done previously in the adaptations of his works “From Hell”, “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen”, and “V for Vendetta.”
“I really wish he hadn’t had such a bad experience in the past,” said Gibbons, “because I’m having a great experience right now.
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