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Watchmen
Teaser poster drawn by comic book co-creator Dave Gibbons
Directed by	Zack Snyder
Produced by	Lloyd Levin Lawrence Gordon Deborah Snyder
Written by	Screenplay: Alex Tse Comic Book: Alan Moore Dave Gibbons
Starring	Patrick Wilson Jackie Earle Haley Billy Crudup Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Music by	Tyler Bates
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	March 6, 2009
Country	United States
Language	English
Official website
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Watchmen is a 2009 film adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' twelve-issue Hugo Award-winning comic book limited series Watchmen, directed by Zack Snyder. The film has been in "development hell" since the publication of the novel, shuffling from studios, directors and screenwriters before settling at Warner Bros. Pictures, who hired Snyder to direct. The film began shooting in Vancouver in September 2007 for release on March 6, 2009.^[1]

Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Cast 3 Development 4 Production 5 Moore and Gibbons' response 6 References 7 External links

In an alternate 1985 where superheroes exist, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union are at an all time high. The vigilante Rorschach is investigating the murder of the Comedian, and uncovers a plot to discredit and murder various heroes. Rorschach discovers a far wider ranging conspiracy involving his colleagues' past which could completely change the course of history.^[2]

• Patrick Wilson as Daniel Dreiberg / Nite Owl II: A retired vigilante superhero with technological experience.^[3]
• Billy Crudup as Dr. Jon Osterman / Doctor Manhattan: A superhero with genuine powers who works for the U.S. government.^[3] The role was once pursued by actor Keanu Reeves,^[4] but the actor abandoned pursuit due to the studio holding up the project over budget concerns.^[3] Crudup provides motion capture for the computer-generated character, and also plays Osterman in flashback as a human.^[1]
• Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Edward Blake / The Comedian: A vigilante superhero who is commissioned by the U.S. government.^[3] Prior to Morgan's casting, producers Lawrence Gordon and Lloyd Levin met with Ron Perlman to discuss portraying the Comedian.^[5] Morgan found the role challenging because "for some reason, in reading the novel, you don't hate this guy even though he does things that are unmentionable. [...] My job is to kind of make that translate, so as a viewer you end up not making excuses to like him, but you don't hate him like you should for doing the things that he does."^[6]
• Jackie Earle Haley as Walter Kovacs / Rorschach: A vigilante superhero who continues his vigilante activities after they are outlawed. He has transformed over time from a "soft" costumed hero into a killer who sees the world in black and white.^[3]
• Malin Åkerman as Laurie Juspeczyk / Silk Spectre II: A retired vigilante superhero.^[3] Åkerman described her character as the psychology and the emotion of the film due to being the only woman among the men. The actress worked out and trained to fight for her portrayal of the crimefighter.^[7]
• Matthew Goode as Adrian Veidt / Ozymandias: A retired vigilante superhero who has since made his identity public.^[3] The role of Ozymandias was originally connected to actors Jude Law^[4] and Tom Cruise,^[8] but they left the project behind due to the studio's delay in handling the budget.^[3]
• Stephen McHattie as Hollis Mason / Nite Owl: The first vigilante to take up the mantle of Nite Owl.^[1]
• Carla Gugino as Sally Jupiter / Silk Spectre: A vigilante superhero who retired and became the mother of Laurie Juspeczyk.^[9]
• Matt Frewer as Edgar Jacobi / Moloch the Mystic: An elderly rehabilitated criminal, who acted as an underworld kingpin and magician when he was younger.^[10]

Actor Gerard Butler, who worked with Snyder on 300, was first announced at the 2007 WonderCon to have a role in Watchmen.^[11] In May 2007, Butler said that he had yet to be cast into a specific role and may not appear in the film.^[12] He is currently being considered for the main character in "The Black Freighter" comic within the story, for the DVD. "I know they were talking about that and at one point that part was cut from the film because of budget, but then they were talking about it again so I don't know. [...] But even a tiny little thing I would do for Zack Snyder. He's my boy."^[6]

Actor Thomas Jane said in June 2007 that Snyder had expressed interest in casting him in the film.^[13] Snyder said he wanted younger actors due to the many flashback scenes, and it was easier to age actors with make-up rather than cast two actors in the same role.^[1]

Production for Watchmen began casting in July 2007 for look-alikes of the era's famous names for the film, including Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, H.R. Haldeman, Ted Koppel, John McLaughlin, Annie Leibovitz, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Fidel Castro, Albert Einstein, Norman Rockwell, John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy, Andy Warhol, Mao Zedong and Larry King.^[14] The actor playing Nixon will use a full face prosthetic.^[15]

In August 1986, Lawrence Gordon Production acquired film rights to Watchmen for Twentieth Century Fox, attaching producer Joel Silver to produce the project.^[16] Fox asked Watchmen writer Alan Moore to write a screenplay based on his story. When Moore declined, the studio enlisted screenwriter Sam Hamm to pen the script. Hamm turned in the first draft on September 9, 1988. Hamm, who condensed Moore's 400-page, nine-panel-a-page strip into a 128-page script, had found the task arduous. In addition, Hamm took the liberty of re-writing Watchmen's complicated ending into a "more manageable" conclusion involving an assassination and a time paradox. However, the project never took off, and Fox placed the project on turnaround.^[17]

Warner Bros. eventually bought the rights to the Watchmen project from Fox. The new studio attached director Terry Gilliam and Joel Silver. Gilliam, who was not completely satisfied with how Hamm's script fleshed out the characters, brought in long-time collaborator Charles McKeown to develop a new draft of the script. The second draft, which was credited to Gilliam, Warren Skaaren, and Hamm, used the character Rorschach's diary as voiceover to create a narrative and also included scenes from the comic book that were missing from Hamm's initial script.^[17] According to Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons, Silver was interested in casting Arnold Schwarzenegger in the role of Dr. Manhattan.^[18] Silver raised $25 million for the film, a project that had been estimated to cost over $100 million. The lack of strong funding was due to Silver's previous production of Die Hard 2 and Gilliam's previous direction of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, both of which had gone over budget.^[17] Gilliam eventually abandoned the project due to the funding problems, also adding the concern that Watchmen would have been unfilmable. "Reducing [the story] to a two or two-and-a-half hour film... seemed to me to take away the essence of what Watchmen is about," Gilliam said.^[19]

After Warner Bros. dropped the project, producer Lawrence Gordon acquired the rights to Watchmen and invited Gilliam back to helm the film. Gilliam declined, believing that the comic book would be better directed as a five-hour miniseries.^[20] In October 2001, Gordon and Universal Studios signed screenwriter David Hayter to write and direct Watchmen in a "seven-figure deal". Hayter, being familiar with the project's long history, said, "[Watchmen] was considered too dark, too complex, too 'smart.' But the world has changed [after 9/11]. I think that the new global climate has finally caught up with the vision that Alan Moore had in 1986. It is the perfect time to make this movie."^[21] Hayter stated his intent to begin filming in early 2002.^[22] In July 2002, Hayter revealed that he had just completed the first draft of the Watchmen script.^[23] In May 2003, Hayter said he had Alan Moore's blessing on the film, despite Moore's disagreement with the project since its first incarnation.^[24] In July 2003, Watchmen producer Lloyd Levin announced the completion of Hayter's script, which Levin called "a great adaptation... that absolutely celebrates the book".^[25] In September 2003, Hayter stated his intention to have his directorial debut with Watchmen when he finished the writing projects with which he was occupied at the time.^[26] However, producer Gordon and the Watchmen project eventually parted from Universal due to creative differences.^[27]

In October 2003, producers Lawrence Gordon and Lloyd Levin, who had completed Hellboy with Revolution Studios, expressed interest in setting up Hayter's directorial debut with the Watchmen project at the familiar studio.^[28] Prague was intended as one of the film locations for Revolution's Watchmen.^[29] However, the project did not hold together at Revolution Studios and eventually fell apart.^[30]

In July 2004, the Watchmen project was announced to be under the wing of Paramount Pictures. Director Darren Aronofsky was attached to direct the project based on David Hayter's script. Producers Lawrence Gordon and Lloyd Levin remained attached, collaborating with Aronofsky's producing partner, Eric Watson.^[31] However, Aronofsky, who was also developing another film, The Fountain, dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. In Aronofsky's vacancy, Paramount hired director Paul Greengrass and set up a target summer 2006 release date.^[32] To publicize the film, Paramount Pictures had launched a now-defunct Watchmen teaser website that had a message board as well as computer wallpaper available to download.^[33] In March 2005, Empire magazine published details of its visit to the pre-production offices of Watchmen at Pinewood Studios. Detailed screen tests with Dr. Manhattan's radioactive, blue look, as well as early costume designs for Nite Owl and Rorschach, were shown to be in the process. An animatic version of the first three minutes of Watchmen was revealed, in addition to designs for the story's major locations and sequences.^[34] Graphic artist Tristan Schane had also created conceptual drawings of Dr. Manhattan for the film.^[35] At the end of March 2005, Paramount's CEO, Donald De Line, was rumored to depart from the studio, endangering high-profile projects including Watchmen. Earlier that week, De Line was in London, urging a reduction in Watchmen's budget so the film could get the greenlight.^[36] As a result of the potential budget cut with the establishment of Paramount's new CEO Brad Grey, producer Lloyd Levin planned to move the project from its home at Pinewood Studios. Levin hoped to curb the budget by producing outside the UK.^[37] Ultimately, however, the studio decided to place Watchmen in turnaround.^[38]

In October 2005, producers Lawrence Gordon and Lloyd Levin were reported to be in talks with Warner Bros., originally the second studio to be attached to the Watchmen project.^[39] In December 2005, the producers were confirmed to have set up the project at Warner Bros. However, director Paul Greengrass was no longer attached to the project. In addition, the film was marked an "open writing assignment", which meant David Hayter's script would be placed aside.^[40] Despite this change, Hayter expressed his hope that his script would be used by Warner Bros. and that he would be attached to direct his "dream project".^[41]

"I said, 'Is Watchmen better if it's updated? I don't know if Watchmen should go to the people, or the people should go to it.' People said, 'I think Watchmen speaks to our current climate,' and I said that's cool, but I said, 'Isn't it cooler to make a movie that the audience and people who are watching go, "you know what I think?"' I'd much rather do that than tell them what I think."

— Zack Snyder on keeping the 1985 setting[42]

Impressed with Zack Snyder's work on 300, an adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel of the same name, Warner Bros. approached him to direct an adaptation of Watchmen.^[43] On June 23, 2006, Warner Bros. announced that Zack Snyder would direct Watchmen with Alex Tse attached to write the script.^[44] For the new script, Tse drew the best elements from two of the project's previous drafts written by screenwriter David Hayter.^[45] The script did not keep the contemporary atmosphere that Hayter created, but instead returned to the original Cold War setting of the Watchmen comic.^[46] Warner Bros. was agreeable to the 1980s setting, and the director also added a title montage sequence to introduce the events of alternate history United States in that time period to the audience.^[47]

Snyder said of his plans for filming Watchmen: "There are so many easter eggs in the frames (of the comic) so you want that level of detail in the movie itself."^[46] Similar to his approach to 300, Snyder used the comic book as a storyboard, travelling with a copy and annotating its pages.^[8] As well as the novel, Snyder cited Taxi Driver as a visual influence.^[48] In February 2007, Snyder said his current revision of the script would have 2 1/2 hours of screen time.^[43] Snyder wanted a $150 million budget, but Warner Bros. prefer the budget remain under $100 million.^[49] "The Black Freighter", a comic within the Watchmen comic, was included in the script,^[50] but was cut due to budget restrictions, though the scene was written in a manner that it could be reinstated on DVD.^[51] Eventually, WB decided to raise the budget and have Snyder shoot it for the DVD release.^[52]

In December 2006, comic book artists Adam Hughes and John Cassaday were confirmed to work on character and costume design for Watchmen.^[53] Costume tests were being done by March 2007. 300 associate producer Wesley Coller played Rorschach in a costume test, which Snyder inserted into an R-rated trailer for 300.^[8] Although he intended to stay faithful to the look of the characters in the comic, Snyder made Nite Owl look scarier, and have Ozymandias possess authentic Egyptian attire and artifacts.^[8] Set designers selected four Kansas City sculptors' works for use in the set of Dr. Manhattan's apartment after discovering the works on the Internet.^[54]

Snyder hoped to have principal photography take place from June—September 2007,^[55] but filming was delayed to September 17, 2007.^[51] The production settled in Vancouver, where a New York City backlot was built. Sets are being used for apartments and offices,^[15] while sequences on Mars and Antarctica will be shot against green screens.^[50] Filming will conclude by February 2008.^[51] Composer Tyler Bates was scheduled begin scoring Watchmen in November 2007. He plans to visit the shoot for a week during each month, and view assembly cuts of scenes to begin rough composing.^[56]

In an interview with Variety's Danny Graydon during Warner Bros.'s first possession of feature film rights for Watchmen, the graphic novel's writer Alan Moore adamantly opposed a film adaptation of his comic book, arguing, "You get people saying, 'Oh, yes, Watchmen is very cinematic,' when actually it's not. It's almost the exact opposite of cinematic." Moore said that Terry Gilliam, preparing to direct Watchmen for Warner Bros. at the time, had asked Moore how the writer would film it. Moore told Graydon about his response, "I had to tell him that, frankly, I didn't think it was filmable. I didn't design it to show off the similarities between cinema and comics, which are there, but in my opinion are fairly unremarkable. It was designed to show off the things that comics could do that cinema and literature couldn't."^[17]

Moore also told Entertainment Weekly in December 2001, "With a comic, you can take as much time as you want in absorbing that background detail, noticing little things that we might have planted there. You can also flip back a few pages relatively easily to see where a certain image connects with a line of dialogue from a few pages ago. But in a film, by the nature of the medium, you're being dragged through it at 24 frames per second."^[57] Moore had opposed the adaptation of Watchmen from the beginning, intending to give any resulting film royalties to Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons.^[18] According to Moore, David Hayter's script "was as close as [he] could imagine anyone getting to Watchmen." However, Moore added, "I shan't be going to see it. My book is a comic book. Not a movie, not a novel. A comic book. It's been made in a certain way, and designed to be read a certain way: in an armchair, nice and cozy next to a fire, with a steaming cup of coffee."^[18]

In an early interview with Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker, Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons said that he thought the time had passed to make a Watchmen movie. At the time, Darren Aronofsky was expressing interest in directing the film under Paramount Pictures. Nevertheless, Gibbons said, "It was most likely to happen when Batman was a big success, but then that window was lost." Gibbons also told Neon, "In a way, I'm glad because it wouldn't have been up to the book."^[17]

In November 2006, director Zack Snyder said that he hoped to speak to Moore before filming, though the writer had sworn off involvement with film or television productions after his disagreement with the V for Vendetta film adaptation.^[50] In a July 2007 interview, Moore said of Snyder's project, "If they go for some other novelty option like they did with V For Vendetta then I'm in for another year of excoriating them in every interview I do until they remove my name from it."^[58] Before shooting, Snyder said "[I] totally respect his wishes to not be involved in the movie."^[15] Dave Gibbons enjoyed the script by Alex Tse,^[1] and the illustrator also was impressed by Snyder's enthusiasm. Gibbons said, "I do think Zack has got the ability to make a really good movie, and I think Watchmen has the ability to be a really good movie, and hopefully the two things will come together... I'm basically supporting it."^[59] Gibbons gave Snyder some script advice which the director accepted.^[15]

• Official site
• Watchmen at the Internet Movie Database
• Review of Alex Tse's Script (July 20, 2006) by LatinoReview.com
• Review of Alex Tse's Script (undated draft) on UGO

Older development

• Watchmen Screenplay (1989) by Sam Hamm
• IGN Review of David Hayter's September 26, 2003 Draft
• CHUD.com Review of David Hayter's December, 2003 Draft
• Paul Greengrass Interview, Parts 1, 2, 3
• Watchmen Paramount Project Visit by Ain't It Cool News
• Concept art of Dr. Manhattan 1, 2 from Paramount Pictures

v • d • e DC Comics films
The Serials	Batman (1943) • Hop Harrigan (1946) • The Vigilante (1947) • Superman (1948) • Congo Bill (1948) • Batman and Robin (1949) • Atom Man Vs. Superman (1950)
Single films	Superman and the Mole Men (1951) • Batman (1966) • Supergirl (1984) • Steel (1997) • Road to Perdition (2002) • Catwoman (2004) • A History of Violence (2005) • Constantine (2005) • V for Vendetta (2006) • Watchmen (2009)
Franchises	Batman (1989–1997): Batman (1989) • Batman Returns (1992) • Batman Forever (1995) • Batman & Robin (1997) Batman (2005 — ): Batman Begins (2005) • The Dark Knight (2008) Superman: Superman (1978) • Superman II (1980) • Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (2006) • Superman III (1983) • Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987) • Superman Returns (2006) Swamp Thing: Swamp Thing (1982) • The Return of Swamp Thing (1989)

v • d • e Films of Zack Snyder
Dawn of the Dead • 300 • Watchmen

v • d • e Alan Moore
Related people	Melinda Gebbie • Leah Moore
Early British works	Maxwell the Magic Cat • Miracleman • V for Vendetta • The Bojeffries Saga • Skizz • The Ballad of Halo Jones • Captain Britain (including Jaspers' Warp) • Doctor Who (including Special Executive) • D.R. and Quinch • Future Shocks • Yuggoth Cultures and Other Growths
DC Comics	Sodam Yat • Mogo • Swamp Thing • Watchmen • Batman: The Killing Joke • Superman: For the Man Who Has Everything • Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? • Twilight of the Superheroes
Image/Awesome Comics	1963 • Glory • Judgement Day • Spawn • Violator • WildC.A.T.S. • Voodoo • Spawn/WildC.A.T.S. • Supreme • Youngblood
America's Best Comics	The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen • Promethea • Tom Strong • Terra Obscura • Tomorrow Stories • Top Ten • Top 10: The Forty-Niners • Smax • Albion
Miscellaneous	Brought to Light • Big Numbers • A Small Killing • From Hell • Lost Girls
Comics based on Moore's prose	Alan Moore's Songbook • Another Suburban Romance • The Courtyard • A Disease of Language • Hypothetical Lizard • Magic Words
Books	Voice of the Fire • The Mirror of Love • Writing for Comics • The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases
Film adaptations	From Hell • The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen • Constantine • V for Vendetta • Watchmen
Spoken word CDs	March of the Sinister Ducks • The Birth Caul • The Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels • Brought to Light • Snakes and Ladders • The Highbury Working • Angel Passage
Other	The Mindscape of Alan Moore • Husbands and Knives

v • d • e Watchmen
Creators	Alan Moore · Dave Gibbons
Minutemen Era characters	Comedian · Captain Metropolis · Hooded Justice · Moloch · Nite-Owl · Silk Spectre · Dollar Bill · Mothman · Silhouette
Crimebusters Era characters	Doctor Manhattan · Ozymandias · Rorschach · Comedian · Captain Metropolis · Nite-Owl · Silk Spectre
Miscellanea	Watchmen Film · List of Watchmen characters