Expect to see the teaser trailer for the eagerly awaited film adaptation of Alan Moore’s Watchmen before The Dark Knight! Can’t wait? It’s okay, neither could I. Here’s the trailer.
SYNOPSIS: Set in an alternate reality of 1985. A time when Nixon is still in office, we teeter-totter on the brink of nuclear war with the Soviet Union, and Superheroes were commonplace until they were forced into retirement. Only the mysterious Rorschach remains, lurking aimlessly in the streets. But when a former colleague is brutally murdered, Rorschach attempts to rally his other associates to investigate, but the ultimate question is “Who Watches The Watchmen?”
The film is directed by Zack Snyder who burst onto the scene a few years back with his remarkably spry remake of Dawn of the Dead. He followed that up with the incredibly successful film adaptation of Frank Miller’s Graphic Novel 300.
The cast includes Patrick Wilson, Billy Crudup, Carla Gugino, Jackie Earle Haley, Malin Akerman and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
This film has been in the works ever since the graphic novel first gained public attention after it was published, and the project has passed through the hands of many directors. Notoriously the closest anyone came (until now) was Terry Gilliam, who was set to turn it into an epic TV miniseries. But after all this waiting, come March 6 2009, WE will be watching the Watchmen…
Ain’t It Cool News had a Memorial Day scoop this week with the first look at the Minutemen from the upcoming Watchmen film. The Minutemen are the 1940’s precursor to the current heroes featured in the film. The photo gets me excited about the film again, as my hype had waned a bit after seeing that most of the current-day Watchmen costumes had been Schumachered. These retro heroes are looking great, though, and the photo is very evocative of the Justice Society of America.
In the Watchmen comics series by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, there’s a character who spends the entire story sitting outside a newsstand reading a comic book. The comic is a dark pirate tale about a shipwreck, and it serves as a side story to the main action of Watchmen. Time Warner has announced that the comic book story will be produced as an animated film alongside the production of Watchmen. Tentatively titles Tales of the Black Freighter, the side story is slated to be released as a straight to DVD feature in March, five days after the theatrical release of Watchmen. Like Watchmen, Black Freighter will be directed by 300 director Zack Snyder. As an added bonus, the DVD also will include a documentary style feature called Under the Hood, undoubtedly inspired by the autobiographical stories told by one of the superheroes at the end of each Watchmen issue.
ComingSoon has the first video blog from the production of the Watchmen movie online now. The video shows a look behind the scenes at what’s gone into building the sets for the film, and we get a glimpse at some of the familiar places from the comic, such as Dr. Manhattan’s lab, the Comedian’s apartment, and the prison cell block.
Watchmen is based on the comic book by Alan Moore and will be in theaters March 6, 2009.
Artist Evan Shaner recently posted his “Charles Shulz’s Watchmen” at DeviantArt and has been getting some well deserved attention for this awesome and no doubt Alan Moore-rattling piece. Head over to his site or to his DevArtand give him some kudos.
