A Visual Guide To The Watchmen Cast

film ick reader Antonello - who often uses a Watchmen-related handle - sent me the image below, which I thought some of you might get a kick out of. It's a comparison chart putting up the announced cast of Zack Snyder's version of Watchmen with Paul Greengrass and Terry Gilliam's supposed selections. Click on it for the full-size, full-effect version.

There are, I believe, some unfounded assumptions at work on this diagram, or at least allegations that I certainly can't substantiate. All the same, for their respective periods, both Greengrass and Gilliam apparently managed to line up a better list of names than the current cast.

I'm rooting for Snyder, I really am (if only because of the first ten minutes of Dawn of the Dead which I absolutely love) but I think that this film appears to be in trouble - and has been since before it was even officially announced, in fact.

Second Blu-Ray Special Edition Of 300 Is Coming

Deborah Snyder let slip to several open ears at the DVD launch for 300 that another Blu-Ray special edition is coming some time later on down the line. There was no news on what it might contain, but still, an interesting little snippet. She specifically mentioned Blu-Ray with no reference to DVD or HD-DVD - perhaps everybody is starting to accept the ultimate dominance of the Blu-Ray format? Behind the scenes if not in front of them?

I always though Blu-ray would 'win'. For ten minutes, at least, until we're all just downloading everything. And much of it in 3D.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan Is The Comedian

The Watchmen names bandied around over the last couple of days have all been confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter, with one extra inclusion: Jeffrey Dean Morgan is to play The Comedian.

I don't know much about Morgan at all, but Richard LaGravanese cast him PS - I Love You, so I'm not too perturbed. I'm certainly not shaking my head the way I did about Malin Akerman.

I'm going to bet that this Watchmen is rather badly received. Not that it will be bad, mind - just that it will be badly received.

Comic Book Movie Casting Scoop Explosion

I know how they do it and I wish I could do it too, but I don't have what so much of what they have - that is, a couple of really good inside sources happy to spill the beans.

Latino Review have recently run a little molehill of comic book movie casting scoops - and, frankly, a couple of them are very disquieting.

First of all, Ray Stevenson has been cast as Frank Castle in the new Punisher film. Since John Dahl walked away from that one I've lost all personal interest, but if I did still care, I don't know how happy I'd be about Stevenson at all. Oh well. He might do a wonderful job. We'll all have to wait and see.

And then they confirm Jackie Earl Haley as Rorschach in Zack Snyder's Watchmen. I think we've all sort of settled down and bedded in with this idea by now, haven't we? He's not Paddy Considine, but he's not a bad choice. Not by any means.

But finally... they announced the casting of another Watchmen character. Laurie Juspeczyk, the Silk Spectre, will apparently be played by Malin Akerman.

That seems to support the stories about the budget shrinkage and the casting become less and less... er... ambitious. Casting unknowns is one thing, casting... er... less capable performers is another.

I wish Ms. Akerman the best of luck. She'll need it. And so will Snyder, if he wants to come out of this one with his reputation intact.

Rorschach's Journal

The first official Watchmen website has gone live. It should enable you to e-mail the crazy man (or some poor marketing temp at least).

[EDIT: Or unofficial. Or unofficial with access to official folks and info]

Any correspondance you receive in reply, please forward it along.

[EDIT: A hidden message has been unveiled through the comments below. It reads 'THANKS FOR EMAILS. WILL REPLY SOON. THE VEIDT METHOD IS A LIE']

300palooza

Have you entered the Join the 300 contest yet? Perhaps you'll rush off and do it as soon as you know what you stand to win - a trip to Comic-Con and a Watchmen set visit. Some sites have reported you'll get a part in Watchmen - well, maybe, if being a background artiste counts as having a part. That's irrelevant though: you'll get on the set of Watchmen, the most anticipated genre film of next year. You might even see a naked man covered in blue body paint.

The contest works as a points game, with points earned by taking on a number of challenges. Two finalists will be chosen from those who score 300 points (exactly how isn't clear - names in a Spartan helmet, maybe?) and those will be given a special task to complete during Comic-Con. Winning that will send you to the Watchmen set.

I'm guessing there'll be plenty of extra prizes for the runners-up too.

All of these jolly japes are in aid of promoting 300 on DVD, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Looking at the various disc specs, it's looking like 300 is going to be one of the first titles to really put a gulf between standard def DVD releases and those for the next-gen formats.

Both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD will feature all of the standard def set's features but in high def plus Who Were the Spartans, about the cast, and the production podcasts. HD-DVD comes with some exclusives, however: a picture-in-picture comparison between the raw greenscreen footage and final film; the Vengeance and Valor game; the Pick Your Favourite Scenes montage maker.

The sooner Blu-Ray just wins the format war and puts HD-DVD to bed, the better for all of us. That will stop the division of quality and content between releases in the only definite way - by making sure there's only one version in the first place.

Score one for HD-DVD in the meantime, I suppose.

A Nice Big Slice Of Watchmen Cast Cake, Serve With Salt

Regular reader Antonello alerted me to a rumoured Watchmen cast list. Of course, I haven't been able to confirm it, so take it for what it is: a group of actors who may or may not have signed, or be in talks, but that certain whispering voices insist is 100% genuine. Of course, it is almost certainly not genuine at all and is a combination of already exisiting rumours and fanboy wish fulfillment. Why so many Little Children alum? It's not Little Children was any good or anything.

We'll soon know more Watchmen casting for sure, but myself... I'd like to believe this list. Not least because I don't have much patience for weeks of rumours and I'd just like to see it all locked off as soon as possible.

Snyder's clearly a talented filmmaker but, honestly, this isn't going to touch the book. It will probably end up looking really very redundant.

Here's the list:

Kate Winslet as Silk Spectre
Patrick Wilson as Night Owl
Jason Patric as Dr. Manhattan
Jude Law as Ozymandias
Thomas Jane as The Comedian
Jeremy Irons as Moloch
Virginia Madsen as Sally Jupiter
Jonah Hill as Seymour
Henry Gibson as Mr. Figure
William Fichtner as Detective Fine
Noah Emmerich as Captain Metropolis
Gretchen Mol as Janey Slater

[EDIT: And the same list now appears to have turned up on a Russian site, which adds a certain amount of fuel to the fire, don'tcha think?]

Big Ol' Watchmen Casting And Shooting Story

According to a report on (what I'm told is) a respectable Spanish website - belonging to a broadcaster or newspaper, it seems - at least some of Zack Snyder's Watchmen will shoot in Spain. Why this is, I have no idea, but I'll hazard a guess, and here's what I'm thinking: they'll be shooting material for the Black Freighter there. Seems possible.

Furthermore, the site is also reporting a list of actors that they believe will certainly not be in the film: Jude Law, Gerard Butler, Patrick Wilson, Keanu Reeves.

Now, this is contentious stuff. We know Reeves opted out, but Wilson is widely considered to be very much still in the running, and hasn't Snyder hismelf repeatedly claimed that he'll fit Gerard Butler in somewhere?

The story seems to argue that Snyder is going for unknowns to keep the budget aside for other things, but it isn't clear if they've simply extrapolated from this to cross off so many names, or if they know for sure that these actors are out.

Do they really have an inside man or is somebody pulling their leg? Has Snyder had to opt for cheaper actors, lately, to get the money from the studio confirmed?

More Watchmen Casting Bits And Bobs

This is all according to Drew McWeeny at AintItCool - and he's typically very careful about what he reports, often to the point that loads of great stuff he's fully aware of remains secret for a long time. I'm believing every word of this 100%.

In his new piece, he suggests front runners for the roles of Dr. Manhattan and The Comedian. For the blue guy, he suggests Jason Patric is the front runner; for the funny guy, it seems like Thomas Jane is the pack leader.

I'm a little disappointed that Patric may have taken the role from Billy Crudup, but elated that there isn't a whiff of Keanu Reeves about either of them. As for Jane beating out Ron Perlman and Nathan Fillion... well, he wouldn't be my first choice...

These decisions may be budgetary in some sense. Crudup may cost more than Patric with no more marquee value, the same for Jane over Perlman and Fillion. That's not a bad reasoning method however - films do cost an awful lot of money, you know.

Rorschach Cast

According to Paddy Considine, the role of Rorschach in The Watchmen has been cast and... no, not with Considine himself. He was attached when Paul Greengrass was directing. Now Zack Snyder is in charge, the man in the mask is apparently set to be Jackie Earle Haley. Considine made the following statement on the forum of his site:

Alas, Watchmen will not be mine. They have gone out to Jackie Earle Haley. That's news folks!

This story came up before, if you recall, but the source wasn't as supposedly trustworthy as an actor (previously) linked to the production.

Thanks to the hordes who e-mailed details of this story over.

Keanu Reeves Turned Down The Watchmen

Several people have alerted me to this today - even though the news had been there for weeks. I guess I need to start trawling through even more websites.

Its a simple piece of news: Keanu Reeves' manager confirmed that the actor had been ofered a role in Zack Snyder's Watchmen film, but in fact, he's already turned it down.

So, where next? Who is going to be second choice to Keanu Reeves? And how is that knowledge going to make them feel?

If Reeves was the ideal, I can't even imagine a second choice in the same vein. Isn't he pretty much one-of-a-kind? Your guesses and choices would be very much appreciated in the comments.

Keanu Reeves? Are They MAD?

Aint it Cool have some Watchmen casting scoops and...

Well, first of all, let's have the worst news. Keanu Reeves has been offered the role of Dr. Manhattan. No no no no no no. That's awful. Dreadful. Catastrophic. Listen, I like Keanu just fine, really - he was spot-on for Thumbsucker and, well, there's no doubt that Bill and Ted were both perfectly cast. This, though... foolish. It seems like Manahattan's demeanour has been confused for that of a cod-zen stoner - the kind of mistake only a stoner could make. And one would think quite an arrogant stoner too.

How incredibly frustrating.

Secondly, Jude Law has been offered the role of Ozymandias. Not so terrible, but not exactly a perfect move. I think we knew Tom Cruise wasn't going to get the part, but in an ideal world he would have. There are many, many worse choices than Jude Law, however.

And finally - and this is probably the least troubling to me - is the casting of Patrick Wilson as Dan Dreiberg.

There's a long standing rumour (in my circles, anyway) that Jackie Earle Haley is going to play Rorschach, so that might make for two Little Children in the cast. What about Kate Winslet and Jennifer Connelly too? Are there perfect fits for them, do you think?

That'd be odd. But it would make for a good pub quiz question.

Cruel And Unusual Army Of The Dead

Zack and Deborah Snyder's Cruel and Unusual Films are to produce Army of the Dead. It's another zombie film, based upon an original story by Snyder.

There's rumours about that Snyder might end up directing too, but I'm quite convinced he won't. From what I hear, these Cruel and Unusual films are being pushed forward quite rapidly (before Snyder's shooting star is at too much risk of burning out?) and he is going to be very busy with Watchmen for at least the next twelve months. Add to this the fact that Snyder is co-scripting Sucker Punch, his other recently announced project - which indicates a preference, if you ask me. Add to that his 'having done' zombies already, and I think it's very clear that Army is going to need a different director. Place your bets now.

Joby Harold is writing the Army of the Dead script. The basic premise sounds like Paul Schrader's Hardcore on the set of the recent Resident Evil: Extinction trailer:

Set in a quarantined Las Vegas in the not-too-distant future, Army revolves around a father who tries to save his daughter from imminent death in a zombie-infested world.

An Offer He Cannot Refuse

Zack Snyder knows which part in Watchmen he wants to offer to Gerard Butler. I'm betting blue, bilocated and naked.

Or maybe not.

Variety Talk Frank Miller, Confuse Matters

According to Variety, Frank Miller is writing a sequel to 300. Well, a sequel of sorts - he's adapting another 'mythic tale from Greek history'. Of course, according to the new golden rule of Frank, Zack Snyder couldn't return as director - Miller's apparently to direct everything himself after his upcoming Austin summer with Rodriguez.

They also claim in the same piece that Jessica Alba is playing the 'title role' in Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For, so, they've clearly got some crossed wires somewhere.

Watchmen Casting

On Thursday night, I was at the UK premiere of 300. There's plenty to be said about that - about the film, about the after-party, about how Lena Headey was far too slight and fragile looking to look like a sensible Sarah Connor - but I'm busy today, and that longer post will have to wait. How does Monday sound to you?

Here, though, in the meantime, is a brief cluster of Watchmen casting snippets.

After the premiere, Zack Snyder faced plenty of questions from guests. Poor chap was just trying to relax and enjoy the night, but plenty of people had the same line of questioning. Did anybody manage to find out even the slightest bit of Watchmen casting news? For real? Sort of.

First of all, it's quite clear that some roles have been cast already - in fact, Snyder said as much. He wouldn't fill in the blanks, but he did made it clear that announcements would be forthcoming, and "soon". He was quizzed directly about Ron Perlman's recent comments - and did not deny his involvement, smiling, answering diplomatically, and therefore stoking the fires of intrigue and excitement. Now, if this comes to pass and Perlman ends up playing The Comedian, I think I'll be pretty happy.

Secondly, there's another story going around - since before Thursday, but gathering strength daily - that Jackie Earl Haley is up for the prized role of Rorschach. Comics 2 Film have picked up on the story today, and while I'm not sure of the initial source, or it's veracity, I do like the idea. Plenty of people have been lobbying for Simon Pegg for some time now, but he's nowhere nearly as good a choice as Haley.

So, Snyder has a couple of strong choices very possibly already under contract.

[EDIT: Haley simply won't be able to find the time, I'm sure. According to The Hollywood Reporter, his plate is full enough already]

And Now, The End Is Near

Feed have the end credits of 300 online right now. Are they really the best thing in the film?

Bourne Back

Image the it on bigger click make to. Though not necessarily in that order.

This film is going to face some tough comparisons to 300. Obviously, they're very different prospects - but Bourne comes from a Watchmen director who almost was, 300 from the Watchmen director who almost is. Neither of them would do one half the job Gilliam would have, but anyway, I can't cling on to that dream forever.

Though I am secretly (?) hoping Snyder's Watchmen ends up falling apart before production.

Zack Snyder Promises You A Sucker Punch

Zack Snyder has announced yet another future project, this one called a very unusal action film called Sucker Punch.

Think Joanne Greenberg's I Never Promised You a Rose Garden pumped full of Blade 2 style action sequences, and you'll be half way there, I imagine.

The Hollywood Reporter's description of the premise goes a little something like:

Set in the 1950's, Punch follows a girl who is confined to a mental institution by her evil stepfather, who intends to have her lobotomized in five days. While there, she imagines an alternative reality to hide her from the pain, and in that world, she begins planning her escape, needing to steal five objects to help get her out before she is deflowered by a vile man.

Snyder namechecked Alice in Wonderland, of course, and let us know we can expect to see B-52 Bombers, dragons and brothels popping up.

It won't exactly be The Defective Detective, I can promise you that much, but if Snyder can behave himself and show the kind of discipline demonstrated in sections of Dawn of the Dead, then Sucker Punch could certainly be something to look forward to.

Fascism And Hags

Premiere man Glenn Kenny has called 300 "the most overtly fascist Hollywood film thing to come out of the North American movie industry since, oh, I dunno, Robocop 2", all the whole speaking in defense of Erik Davis, who has been taking a beating for comparing the film to Showgirls.

I can believe it on both counts. The question remains, however, how well made a fascist thing is it exactly?