Zack Snyder Talks Watchmen Running time and THAT ending
Zack Snyder was in London today with his travelling Watchmen show, and as well as screening almost 30 minutes of footage for us (one word: AWESOME), he also told us a little bit more about the current state of the film.
First, and spoiler-free, he talked running time. "It's a little over two-and-a-half hours right now," which is unlikely to change a whole heck of a lot. That said, "There is a three hour cut" which may appear on the DVD, and "if you include the Black Freighter, that's three-and-a-half hours".
Secondly, and more spoilerifically, there has been a change to the book's "squid ending", as one questioner put it. Snyder was asked what he has against squid, and had this to say: "Well, I had a horrible calamari incident as a child."
But seriously, folks. "I have nothing against it. But the squid represents something that would have had to have been illuminated through extra story. We would have had to sacrifice character to story and character is more important to me."
What they've come up with, said Watchmen co-creator Dave Gibbons, is something that is true to "the tone, the moral ambiguity of the book". Just not involving, y'know, big squidy-looking things. And in any case Gibbons says, "It's not a squid; it's a fifth-dimensional cephalopod". So there.
In other news, Snyder also talked a little about Under The Hood, another DVD extra chronicling 1940s costumed adventurers The Minutemen. "Eric Matthews did that; it's a mock documentary. The complicated thing is that it's done as a 1985 [when the film is set] TV retrospective looking back at the publication of a book that's supposed to have come out in 1972. That's very cool."
Snyder also talked more generally about Watchmen. "They offered it to me on the phone, and they were talking about setting it in the present day and changing the ending. I thought, well, if I don't do this, someone else will, and they'll mess it up and it'll be my fault. So I might as well do it and try to do it right, and if I mess it up it'll still be my fault but at least it'll be my fault on purpose."
And does he think the world is ready for this? "Pop culture's ready to have their shit shaken up a little bit. Watchmen hopefully will get under the comic-book movie mythology a little bit. I mean, my mum now knows that Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider; she has no business knowing that! So I think the knowledge is mainstream enough to get this."
That's a fair comment. I had forgotten that Greengrass wanted to change it and you rightly reminded me. I merely wanted to suggest that Paul Greengrass is a much better filmmaker than Snyder. Snyder doesn't, IMHO, know how to direct actors. He never seems to get very good performances out of them. He's not much of a dramatist and is all about surface. I think Watchmen deserves someone who knows about performance. Snyder's style is too conspicuous for my taste. ... Read More
L: Nicky C
Pity Greengrass didn't do it.
Yeah, because then we could have it updated to the modern day, with terrorism replacing the nuclear theme - and an ending that differs a lot more than just changing the squid. Greengrass openly stated that he was going to do these things.
I'm sure it would have been a good film, but not Watchmen, not like what Snyder's making.
Perhaps if Greengrass had intended being as faithful as Snyder is, then you might have a point, but he ... Read More
L: Monkeyshaver
No squid=shit film.
sp;
L: Jamester
SPOILER ALERT. By changing the ending Snyder shows a complte failure to understand the novel. All of the characters are there for a reason and their stories are instrinsically linked to the ending. By altering it with the Dr M, Ozzy nuclear blasts, they completely change the purpose of Manhattan in the story. In addition, what does the Comedian see to begin the story. I know, let's film the Lord of the Rings but make Frodo abl... Read More
L: Knight of Fury
this is why alan moore has nothing to do with film adaptations of his work.
h no it isn't!
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id= 4533/b]b]: I've decided I don't want anything more to do with films at all. After all the stuff with "The League," there'd been some minor law suit with somebody claiming that I had gotten the idea from an American Hollywood screen writer and you can imagine how I felt about that. So, I felt, if I'm going to ... Read More
L: KeithM
You know, I think Snyder's having a good giggle about now. He's said it isn't a squid. Gibbons stated in the press conference, with a smirk on his face, that it wasn't a squid anyway - it was a fifth dimensional cephalopod...
So what if Gibbons was giving us a clue - maybe it's something similar, just not a squid...
Just a thought.
sp;
Youre closing into my theory.
Cutting out the squid.. and with that the missing artists subplot. But keping ... Read More
You know, I think Snyder's having a good giggle about now. He's said it isn't a squid. Gibbons stated in the press conference, with a smirk on his face, that it wasn't a squid anyway - it was a fifth dimensional cephalopod...
So what if Gibbons was giving us a clue - maybe it's something similar, just not a squid...
Just a thought.
... Read More
L: Helen OHara
He did confirm that it's an R (I'd guess 15 here) and
SPOILER
I don't think that will be the case about the finale. There will still be an element of fabrication, I'm sure; I'm just not convinced it will be otherworldly.
ee, I have no problem with Zach changing the squid ending. It never sat quite right with me. Too far fetched for a novel so grounded in reality. I know it was meant to be outlandish in order to jolt everyone out of the cold war paranoia, but st... Read More
