Watchmen de Zack Snyder

Citation :

that feel's more like Taxi Driver than like Fantastic Four

J'aime ce mec...

Mattes le reprends toutes ces infos (et d'autres )en vidéo alors ...


http://iesb.net/index.php?option=com_xevidmegafx&Itemid=139&func=detail&id=142

Citation :

Exclusive Interview: Zack Snyder Is Kickin' Ass With 300 and Watchmen!
Written by Robert Sanchez
Tuesday, 13 February 2007
You know, I love video interviews, they are great. First, you don't have to transcribe, which is awesome and second, your audience gets to see the talent a bit differently than just reading the interview. So, this time around we did both a video interview and a print interview with Mr. Zack Snyder.

First off, Snyder is great. Talk about working hard and turning out an excellent piece of work on 300. It's phenomenal. So we did our 5 minute video interview with the man, you can check that out here. Then we sat down with him for a full 20 minute print interview. Talk about great information and he's fuckin' hilarious!

We talked about everything from 300, to the Watchmen project, Jude Law and his Rorschach tattoo, being approached for X-Men 3, being pitched the Green Lantern and how he sees his future.

Without further ado, here's Zack Snyder in his own fuckin' words...

ZS: How are you doing?

IESB: Congratulations, seriously, what a great film. Going back, I loved Dawn of the Dead, but there was some people that were like, "Zombies aren't supposed to run," and all this other horse shit.

ZS: Yeah, I know, there was a lot of that.

IESB: This movie really shows that you are not a one trick pony. This is balls to the wall, geek gasm, raw fanboy stuff. How did you approach 300 ‘cause I know that you are a fan of the graphic novel, but when you were actually on set were you a giddy little boy saying, “oh shit, is this what we are doing?”

ZS: Look, you know, there's no better job, I don’t think, I don't know what other people do for a living (laughter) but I have been a director, I’ve never had another job but I still think that it’s the fuckin' best thing there is because, look, we get to run around and say, "you fight him, alright! Fuckin' fight him back! Film that! That’s awesome!" That’s part of the job right, in some ways, and for me, you know, having to do a Frank Miller graphic novel, I'm like okay, film that! Are you stupid? That’s fuckin' awesome! I’m gonna film a Frank Miller graphic novel and make a movie out of it! So it doesn’t get any better than that, I don’t think. When we were doing 300, I just wanted to make sure that I did it right. That I lived up to it and made sure we didn’t fuck it up.

IESB: And you didn't [fuck it up]. What I liked about it is sometimes studios hold pictures back ‘cause they’re not sure how fans will react. But, this movie has been screening and people are loving it. You’re not hiding it.

ZS: There is no hiding this movie. I said that from the beginning. I said, “listen, I love the movie, I got nothing to hide.” It's funny because marketing has been really cool about it, they said, “You know what? The response has been so good about the movie let’s just fuckin', let’s just let everybody see it!” So that’s good. Did you see it on IMAX or normal?

IESB: I have not seen in it in IMAX yet but I am dying to see in IMAX.

ZS: You have to see it on IMAX! No one should ever take drugs, no one, I don’t ever want to ever hear that someone has taken drugs, but if someone gave you drugs by accident, you should get in a cab and go immediately to go see 300 in IMAX. (Laughter)

IESB: That's insane (laughter), I'm excited because of the genre, sometimes if feels like studios don’t take certain genre seriously, but Warner Bros. is, Batman Begins, Superman Returns

ZS: The Matrix

IESB: The Matrix…but this movie is epic, you look at it and it looks so huge and grandiose, but do you still believe that even though the studios may be accepting the movies as incredible art, you still have the Academy and Golden Globes people, they’re still not getting it, giving it the respect it deserves?

ZS: You mean the comic book genre?

IESB: Yeah the comic book genre.

ZS: Yeah, it's hard, hard. I don’t know maybe ‘till Watchmen that they’ll take it seriously (laughter). I do also think the thing about 300 and the thing that I always wanted to stress about 300, that's it also is fun at the movies for adults. Fun at the movies for adults is weird thing because for some reason that is not allowed, you know. We have to suffer through…by the way, Children of Men, one of my favorite movies of the year, Pan's Labyrinth, couldn't be fuckin' cooler, but you don’t come out goin’ like, "Fuck yeah, that was awesome…I want to fuckin’ break something." You know, you just don’t.

IESB: The response that I am hearing is, "I gotta go do sit ups!" (laughter)

ZS: That's good too, that's my contribution to… (laughter)

IESB: Tubby bastards like me.

ZS: But, I wanted to make a movie that has big themes, it's an epic, it's all that but it also, in the end, it wants you to go, "Yeah! I’m satisfied by my experience at the movies!"

IESB: Did this film really open up the door for Watchmen? Just like Sandman, everybody has wanted to do Watchmen forever and it seems like they’ve never been able to put it together in a feature film.

ZS: Yeah, you know what, thank god for me, that’s one thing, that they haven’t been able to put it together yet because I feel like we’re at a good place with it. I think 100% Watchmen is a product of me doing 300 for the studio. They own Watchmen over at Warner Bros. and so when I came back from 300 they said, “Hey, we have this other graphic novel lying around, this thing called, uh, Watchmen? Do you know about that? (laughter) And I said, “Listen, here is the deal…” I knew that at that time when I first came back I said, you know what, I don’t want to make that, do I look stupid? Do I look like I would do that to myself? That’s crazy talk. Don’t ever mention or bring that up again. And then I thought about it and I thought you know what? It’s probably the coolest thing on the planet, to me, really it’s the coolest thing on the planet. And I thought, if I don’t do it someone else will, that’s one thing, you know, and that’s scary. And my other thing was, what else am I going to do that is better? And really the answer was nothing. I really honestly believe that, I have looked around, there’ve been a ton of scripts that have come to Debbie and I and Wes. We’ve looked at our little company and we’ve looked at this that and the other thing and I always go, you know what? Jessica, who is the woman who is my executive over at Warner Bros., she was in the office so I was showing her some of my drawings and some of my ideas for Watchmen and I said, “300 is cool, I think it’s awesome, Dawn of the Dead I think that is cool too, but fuckin’ Watchmen is the shit! It is so cool! I am yoked and jazzed everyday that I get to work on it. I don’t mean to rant...but it’s…

IESB: It’s incredible because fans, you know how the fanboy community is…

ZS: Oh yeah…

IESB: If you would’ve pulled a…and I think that Joel Schumacher is a good director, but if you would’ve pulled a Batman Forever, bat nipples or something horrendous like that they wouldn’t allow you to direct it and…

ZS: I wouldn’t allow… They’d be right! (laughter)

IESB: But the community is excited, they’re pumped. They are happy to see that you are directing this. Some directors will dabble a little bit in this genre but then they go back and do this little indie or artsie films but then you have certain directors that get into the genre and they stick with it, Sam Raimi is an example, he just loves the genre, is that something that you are planning in doing? You like this so you are going to this because you enjoy it?

ZS: You know, I guess so. It’s what I want to see so it’s what I want to do. So, I guess in that way, yeah. I mean I don’t think about it as a certain genre per se but I think about it as it’s a cool project, you know. There is a pile of them at the house and I just go, you know what, no that’s all crap, I should just do fuckin’ Watchmen, it’s much better. So, have people offered me other genre, graphic novels, comic book and things of that nature? Sure. But are any of them as cool? No. Will I continue to do genre after Watchmen? Probably, just because it’s what I like, you know. The thing that I am writing with my buddy right now is basically in the same world.

Citation :

IESB: 300 has existed, people respect it in the community. Watchmen, people consider it one of the greatest graphic novels ever, is there a “man in tights” traditional, you know a Batman, Superman, Spider-man type of character that you would really like to tackle?

ZS: I don’t think so, not right now, maybe after but not yet. Someone came in and pitched me Green Lantern and I have been pitched a couple other things. But when you are deep in Watchmen it’s hard to…you know what I am saying?

IESB: Think about anything else.

ZS: It’s really is hard to think about anything else, especially with, we were just talking about, just a second ago, we were talking about Manhattan as just how, you see Dr. Manhattan 100 feet tall walking through the jungles of Vietnam burning the Viet-Con with a couple Hueys off his shoulders, you know. It’s hard to, because it’s political and it’s beautiful and it’s all the things that Fantastic Four could never do, they would never send the Fantastic Four to Iraq, you know, that’s crazy talk. But in the Watchmen world that’s real.

IESB: Do you know how you are setting it up? Is the script completed, it’s done?

ZS: I have a draft of the script that I like a lot, not to say that we won’t work on it more. You are always trying to make it better, the basic concept is there. We are trying to get more money from marketing, to shoot…we wrote a Black Freighter script that basically we would shoot at the same time and maybe with DVD, because basically the script is designed to take the Black Freighter, you can stick the Black Freighter story into the movie, all the bumpers are there, maybe a special release in the theaters. It would probably make the movie 3 hours long. The movie right now is about 2 ½ hours long so…

IESB: You think that it will be a rated R for sure?

ZS: I don’t know how to make it PG-13, you know, I really don’t. I think it would be cool if it was PG-13 just because of how it will change, like when I was 15 I wanted to see that movie but I’m thinking that if it is Rated R, a fifteen year old will get in there anyway. They’ll find it. (Laughter) You know what I am saying? I mean really, I think I saw Excalibur when I was fifteen, you know the original John Boorman’s Excalibur, I think I was younger and they had some rough stuff in that movie.

IESB: Same thing with 300, there’s going to be a ton of kids getting into that.

ZS: Absolutely, yeah absolutely (laughter) How sexy was that one, the original Excalibur, have you seen that film?

IESB: Not in years.

ZS: There’s a good sex scene in that one, with the Knight and he’s in his armor still and, it’s good…

IESB: You know what’s good about the love making scene in your film, they were beautifully shot, it wasn’t a throw away T and A shot or anything, it was great. Going back to Watchmen, do you know where you are shooting? Are you going to do a virtual studio type thing?

ZS: I don’t know where I am shooting, I’m not gonna do a virtual studio, I’m gonna do a mix. You know, Mars and Antarctica will probably be done blue screen but then we’d probably try and build a big New York City backdrop somewhere and recreate our “Watchmen version” of New York City. I’ve generated tons of art and I’m starting to, I’ve done a couple frames of Rorschach and I’ve started to do some tests of Dr. Manhattan and that is fun, it’s fun to try and figure that out.

IESB: Casting, how soon?

ZS: Soon, I think, I’ve been meeting with a lot of people, a lot of cool, cool people.

IESB: Are you going A-list?

ZS: My feeling about it is, with Watchmen you can get actors, I believe, that would never make a comic book movie. Because Watchmen is cool, you know what I’m saying? (laughter) You’d never get Brad Pitt in tights in a normal movie, and I’m not saying he’s any of the guys, I’m actually not talking to him, but he’s the kind of guy you could get because those Ocean’s guys think they are pretty cool. But, they’d be embarrassed to be in Fantastic Four, as they should. (laughter) I don’t mean to dig on Fantastic Four, it’s just so…so, bubble gum, I can’t take it.

IESB: (laughter) So the past few comic book adaptations which is the one you really dug?

ZS: I guess Batman Begins is one of my favorites, of recent time, you know, I just, none of them really, has there been an R-rated graphic novel, like comic book?

IESB: V For Vendetta, I guess…

ZS: V, I guess, is the only one but, I don’t know if it counts 100%, it’s not superheroes. It would be cool, an R-rated superhero movie, that’s just cool, I don’t care what it is. Wolverine would be cool if it was rated R.

IESB: If Fox allows it.

ZS: There’s no way, no fuckin’ way that movie is going to be rated-R. I read the script, it’s cool but there’s no way. They asked me about it but I just said, I don’t know. That would be a thing that, if I didn’t have Watchmen, I would be interested in Wolverine.

IESB: Lauren Schuler Donner, we talked to her, and she said they were looking for a lot of different people to direct and Hugh Jackman said they were looking at some great people to direct this thing. Was it recent talk, them wanting you to do it?

ZS: It was right before I went to go do 300, I had a brief dance with X-Men 3.

IESB: Really? No one heard that did they?

ZS: No, that was kept on the down low. I had a dinner with Donner and Hugh, they were psyched about it and they thought it was a really great meeting. And I had a meeting at Fox, where I said, it was funny because I didn’t know the plot at all, and I said, “the awesome thing about X-Men is that they’re the only superheroes who don’t want to be superheroes, that’s cool.” And I said I like that. And they said, “oh my god you know our movie is about that they have this antidote.” And I said, “oh that’s cool, you know, that’s neat.” But I just said, “Look, the deal is, I am doing this thing called 300 and I really don’t want to do anything else.” And they said, “Really? It’s X-Men, it’s awesome.” And I said, “I know it’s awesome but, 300 is kick ass and I can’t even describe to you how hard core it is.”

IESB: It’s Frank Miller man…

ZS: Yeah! You know, the difference is, it’s one thing to do a character movie because they, I believe Hollywood is happy to take a character and make a movie out of it. What they don’t like is graphic novels, it presupposes that the graphic novelist knows how to make a movie better than they do and they don’t like that. They’d rather take a character and say, I’ll show you how to make a movie…blah blah blah, that’s what’s cool about Chris [Nolan] with Batman Begins where he tried to study the mythology of what makes Batman.

IESB: So shooting in Australia, Vancouver, Toronto, here?

ZS: Yeah, someplace like that, no here, they can’t afford that. I’d love to shoot it here there’s just no way.

IESB: So are we talking Superman Returns budget?

ZS: No, no, no. If the movie ends up being R-rated, which it probably will be, you can’t. They won’t spend the money. You gotta…

IESB: Probably trim it down to $100?

ZS: Yeah, it will be below $100 for sure, but the cast will just have to work for cheap, but that’s just…

IESB: But a movie like Watchmen, I think they will…So you have a cool little Watchmen tattoo coming up soon? (laughter)

ZS: I don’t have one no…Jude Law has one you know. Jude Law has the Rorschach tattoo.

IESB: Hmm...any possibility of that angle?

ZS: I don’t know, we’ll see, not as Rorschach, but he could be in the movie.

IESB: That would be awesome.

ZS: We’ll see. There are two guys that have, that are, you’d be surprised, I’ve been meeting with people and you like, really, you like Watchmen? That’s awesome!

IESB: Ok, so I was talking to one of the producers and he said they are moving forward with Ronin and they have a director attached already, the guy that did Stomp The Yard.

ZS: Oh really? Crazy.

IESB: I know, Stomp Frank Miller’s comic book? Is there another Frank Miller property?

ZS: I don’t think there are any left…Elektra Lives Again is pretty cool, (laughter) but that book is…it was a Lynn Varley and Frank Miller book called Elektra Lives Again and basically Elektra rises from the dead and meets up with Daredevil and…

IESB: Well after what we saw a few years ago, she would have to rise from the dead (laughter)

ZS: It’s pretty cool, but it’s pretty dark…

IESB: Last question, your career 10 years from now, you think you will step back and be producing films, like Sam Raimi with Ghost House Pictures, he’s just producing tons of genre stuff. Do you see yourself doing something like that?

ZS: Yeah, I think that’s a cool way to do. Find some cool material and find some young guys and see if you can whack something up. That’s cool.

IESB: That’s awesome, thank you buddy!

http://iesb.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1883&Itemid=99

Interview du compositeur de Snyder , Tyler Bates sur ain't it cool news : ca chauffe!

Citation :

SK: So looking ahead at your future…Zack appears to be ensconced with WATCHMEN (2008). Are you officially on board for that?

TB: I have been officially asked by Zack and the studio is expecting me to do it as well.



SK: When would you start scoring that?

TB: They’re going to start principle photography in June and probably conclude the end of September. I’d imagine I’d be on board sometime in August.
That’s one thing that Zack wants to do is to share some of the footage with me early so that I can see the actual actors who are playing the characters written into the script to begin developing some of my ideas. To me the specific actor can change everything about how I perceive a character to be.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/31663

Devinez qui a faillit etre Ozymandias??

Citation :

TOM CRUISE'S STARRING ROLE IN WATCHMEN NARROWLY AVERTED

03.01.07
By Devin Faraci
For the last couple of months I have been hearing rumors coming from the Watchmen camp. Most of them were about casting – a very reliable source told me that some of the biggest names in Hollywood were in talks to star in the film. So when another source told me that Tom Cruise was in talks, I knew that it was quite likely true.

My source was right. While on the phone with Watchmen director-to-be Zack Snyder yesterday, talking about the pending release of 300, I asked him point blank about Cruise, and he confirmed that he and Tom had been talking about it. A lot. But that now it looked like Cruise would not be appearing in the film.

“He was interested,” Snyder confirmed to me. “I did talk to him about it for a while.” And would the role he wanted be Ozymandias? “That would be the role,” Snyder said.

I can feel the shudders passing through fandom right now, but I have to say that Cruise would have actually been great casting for Ozymandias. The character in the comic is the baby-faced most famous man in the world, and bringing in Cruise’s monolithic fame would add a layer to what’s onscreen. And Cruise would probably view this as a film in the vein of Magnolia – one that he does to heal his cred. He’s doing that with Robert Redford’s Lions for Lambs, but that’s not a commercial picture – playing this role in a commercial film (and people who have read the graphic novel know why this would be an especially interesting role for someone like Cruise to play, based on what happens with him towards the end) would go a long way towards helping mass audiences like him again. And since Ozymandias is a crucial character but not the lead, it means the whole film doesn’t hinge on Cruise.

It also shows the kind of scope that Snyder and company are looking to bring to Watchmen. 300 is a visually arresting film, but it was done comparatively on the cheap, and without marquee names - people are going to come to theaters on Friday based on the visuals, mostly. Watchmen is looking to be a major, major project.

Snyder talked a bunch more about Watchmen, much of which I’ll save for the full interview, which will run on Monday, but I found this interesting: Snyder’s Watchmen is definitely going to be an R-rated picture, no matter how Warner Bros feels about it. “They’re mad at that,” he said. “They don’t want an R-rated movie, but they’re cool with me. They’re like, ‘OK, if that’s what you think, Snyder. But it’s a bummer.’”

While I don’t agree with everything Snyder is doing with the remake – including setting it in 1985 and filming the Tales of the Black Freighter pirate comic book stuff – I do completely agree with him that the time is exactly right for this movie. “I believe audiences are ready for what’s the next stop of the genre. It’s an exhausted genre right now, at least that’s what I believe,” he said.

When Watchmen the comic came out, it was in many ways a critique and deconstruction of the superhero genre in general. When Watchmen the film started percolating, almost 20 years ago, movie audiences hadn’t been immersed in superhero films yet. “That’s the cool part about it, for me anyway. Your movie audience is basically where your comic book audience was when the graphic novel was written – you’re basically in a place where you can make a satirical comment about a superhero and the audience will get it, because they have the frame of reference.”

Dommage , c t mon choix number one c't enfoiré

mais bon place à Jude law!

Jude is Gooooooooooood

Citation :

They don’t want an R-rated movie, but they’re cool with me. They’re like, ‘OK, if that’s what you think, Snyder. But it’s a bummer.’”

Mwahahahahahahahh Zak

Remarque pour Cruise rien ne dit que ca va pas se faire finalement..

j'espere parce que franchement , meme si j'aime bien Jude Law , je pense que Cruise serait la perfection pour jouer Ozymandias

En tous cas Gerard Butler sera dans le film!

( en Doc Manattan?Ou en Comédien? )

Citation :

Gerard Butler Will Be In Zack Snyder's Watchmen!
Written by Stephanie Sanchez
Saturday, 03 March 2007
The IESB has been busy covering Comic-con's little sister convention, Wonder Con, up in San Francisco this weekend. Today, we had a chance to catch up with Zack Snyder, Gerard Butler and more from 300.

Since our last meeting, Zack Snyder had some casting news to talk about. In our interview with him in February, he talked about his current project Watchmen. Watchmen is a story close to Snyder's heart based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore.

The Tom Cruise casting talks came out on the web recently over at Chud where Snyder said it looked like Cruise would not be in the film after all.

However, while talking to Zack at Wonder Con this weekend he confirmed to the IESB that our favorite King of the Spartans, Gerard Butler, would in fact have a role in the film.

They are a winning duo and 300 kicks ass, so why fix it if it's not broken, I always say. Although he wouldn't say exactly which role he would be playing, Butler will definitely be in the Watchmen film.

Stay tuned to the IESB for further updates!

Je le sens bien en DOC

la bataille de Zak continue

Citation :

http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/770/770137p1.html

WonderCon 07: Watchmen Start Date
But will the adaptation be sanitized for the mainstream?
by Eric Moro

US, March 3, 2007 - It's been known for quite some time now that director Zack Snyder would be following up his adaptation of the Frank Miller graphic novel 300 with yet another graphic novel adaptation, Watchmen. And as the publicity tour for the "sword and sandals" actioner nears its end, production on the latter film may finally get underway.

While promoting 300 at WonderCon 2007, Snyder let loose—albeit rather vaguely—his intended start date for the Watchmen production.

"I want to make it into a movie. The studio wants me to make it into a movie. We're going to try and make it into a movie," said Snyder, playfully. "We're talking about shooting it at the end of the summer. So that's as good as I can give you — it's trying to happen. It's a process."

The biggest obstacle Snyder must overcome, aside from adapting the rather dense comic book source material into live-action, is the ignorance of Hollywood executives.

"The studio says, 'R-rated superhero movie. What the hell is that? There's no such thing,'" revealed Snyder. Obviously, they haven't read Watchmen.

sont terrible ces Prod!!! Ils veulent produire des BD ils les lisent même pas... sont cons ces mecs!!!

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/31814
Ce filou de Snyder a glissé une image subliminale test lumiere de Rorshach que Snyder dans la dernière ba de 300

Ca le fait

http://www.aintitcool.com/images2007/rorshach_badge.jpg

Elle existe pas en plus grande ?

Sympa en tout cas, ça veut dire qu'il est bien parti.

merci à Hunter Rider

et une plus claire , merci à Amphibatron

So what? IL FONT DES TEST OU QUOI????

Terribleeeeeeeee j'ai hâte de voir ce putain de film!!!

Arrfff je viens de relire les mess précédent... et Taylore j'ai bien vu que tu disais que cetait une image cachée dans la B.A de 300!!!

TROP TROP FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORT héhéhé

Et le film promet de plus en plus a etre trés fidèle

Citation :

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://suicidegirls.com/interviews/3...r+Zack+Snyder/

Quote:
Can people sitting around talking be cool?
Zack:
It absolutely can. Watchmen has a lot of ****ing talking in it [laughs]. Dawn of the Dead had a lot of talking in it.
DRE:
Talk to me about the kind of color palette you want for the Watchmen movie.
Zack:
The thing about Watchmen is that I'm looking to make a movie that looks more like Taxi Driver than Dick Tracy [laughs]. People bring that up to me "Is it like Dick Tracy?" because that’s colorful. Watchmen as a printed medium references comic books itself. It goes "Look, I’m a comic book" and you read it, you're like "You're ****ing blowing my mind!" But that’s what it tries to do, it draws you in by being a comic book. I think my responsibility is to draw the audience in by saying "Look I’m just a movie" and then you get in there and it ****s you up. That’s my hope anyway. It is a weird movie. When you see the trailer and you go "Okay that looks like Richard Nixon. Dude that blue guy is in ****ing Vietnam, what is this?"

There’s a song you can not put in a Vietnam war movie and it’s Ride Of the Valkyries which should not be put it in any movie because of Apocalypse Now. But in Watchmen, you can imagine a sequence in Watchmen where Dr. Manhattan is 100 feet tall stomping through the jungles of Vietnam with Hueys all over him, zapping the Vietcong while Ride of the Valkyries is playing. It is transcendent of itself so you can reference Apocalypse Now and that’s okay. It is pop culture.

I’ve been drawing the storyboards and I’m very careful with sequence and things like that. There’s a sequence where Rorschach shoots his grappling gun up to the window and climbs up there. I just kept pulling shots out of the book and putting them in my boards. There’s no reason not to just shoot it like that.
DRE:
I can't wait to see him shoot the grappling hook into the SWAT guy.
Zack:
Yeah, that’s cool. When Nite Owl says "I made that for him!"
DRE:
The best line of the whole book is when Rorschach says "I'm not trapped in here with you, you're trapped in here with me!"
Zack:
That’s awesome. One of the things that I think is cool that in the movie there'd be a poster of Dr. Manhattan with silverware and trays floating around him and in America it would say "Superman is real and he's American." That same poster in Europe would say "God is real and he's American." That’s good ****.

Snyder veut 150 millions , le studio moins de 100...

Go Zack

Citation :

By Borys Kit

March 13, 2007

"Who watches the Watchmen?" was the tagline of the seminal 1986 Alan Moore miniseries about a group of heroes investigating the murder of one of their own. In 2007, in the warm glow of "300's" blockbuster opening, the answer could be "everybody."

Zack Snyder, the director of Warner Bros. Pictures' "300," has been developing "Watchmen" at Warners since June, and during the recent press tour for the Spartan epic, he has openly said he is aiming for a summer shoot for "Watchmen."

Snyder's enthusiasm for the project spilled out online late last week when a Snyder-created image of one of the "Watchmen" characters was discovered embedded in a DVD trailer distributed by marketing street teams and was posted all over the Web.

Street Wise Marketing was charged with running a campaign using tactics from a community Web site to handing out Spartan condoms ("Prepare for glory," read the packaging) and a DVD of the "300" trailer that was a sensation at last year's Comic-Con International in San Diego. Inserted at the 1:52 mark is an image of Rorschach, the hero with an inkblot mask, a trench coat and hat, with a gray city behind him. According to sources, the shot is a test image of what that character might look like. At this point, the movie is not greenlighted, nor is it cast.

Street Wise knew of the insert but was asked not to disclose it. The trailer was in the hands of viewers for about a week before someone noticed it and posted it on YouTube.
Advertisement


Adapting "Watchmen" has stymied such filmmakers as Darren Aronofsky and Paul Greengrass and such studios as Universal and Paramount. The scope and density of the source material -- the only graphic novel Time Magazine listed among the 100 best novels since 1923 -- is vast and budgetary concerns were among the reasons the project was put into turnaround by Paramount in early 2005.

"To do it right, you need a huge budget," an insider said.

Sources said Snyder's vision for the movie would have the project in the $150 million range. The studio, on the other hand, wants to keep it less than $100 million. Snyder's "300," based on another award-winning comic book, cost about $65 million to make and grossed $70 million during the weekend, breaking records and surprising many at the studio.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i2ee5d9aaef69379cefdfd9cbfd13b2e9

Une interview post week end 300 du trés heureux Zack Snyder

Citation :

300" POST-GAME: ONE-ON-ONE WITH ZACK SNYDER
by Jonah Weiland, Executive Producer
Posted: March 14, 2007 — More From This Author

In the past month, audiences have been "preparing for glory" as the media blitz for the feature film adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel "300" took off. The buzz on the Zack Snyder directed film grew to fantastic heights in the days leading up to its release, with interest running high both online and in the real world. Even with that great buzz, some were worried that less than favorable reviews from the likes of the New York Times and Los Angeles Times would affect interest in the film.
Wrong.

The film went on to exceed everyone's expectations, pulling in a record breaking $70+ million dollars, far above the expected $35 - $40 million dollar bow the studio was hoping for. Clearly, audiences were ready and willing to dine in hell with Leonidas and his 300 men.

With the film now in the record books, CBR News caught up with director Zack Snyder Tuesday evening by phone for something of a post game report and to discuss his next feature film, the highly anticipated adaptation of the Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons graphic novel "Watchmen."


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Zack Snyder directing on the set of "300"
Hey Zack, I'm guessing you had a pretty good weekend.

Yeah, but we've all been a bit under the weather at my house, so Debbie [Snyder, Zack's wife and Executive Producer on "300"] and I were just hiding out and being fluish, but the info coming in from the streets was keeping us happy.

So, were you sitting there on a laptop frantically checking out the daily box office receipts?

I tried to stay away from that and was waiting for the studio to call with either, "We're very disappointed" or a "There's a big mistake in the numbers." [laughs] Luckily, it was a good surprise.

So, you guys were sitting at home, nursing your fluish symptoms with little calls of joy coming in occasionally.

Exactly. Chicken Soup - through the phone. [laughs]

The buzz on this movie going into Friday was huge, which is something of a mixed blessing. Certainly it's nice to have people talking, but that could also rise expectations to such a level that suddenly they can't be met. Fortunately, "300" exceeded whatever expectations there were. Now, despite all that, how nervous were you the week leading up to this film?

You know, I knew people would come out to see the movie and I was excited about it, but it was nerve wracking. I knew my "people" would like the movie, but I had no idea how the general public would respond.

So you pretty much threw up your hands and hoped for the best.

Exactly. My hope was that maybe it could do as well as "Dawn of the Dead" did on its opening weekend, which saw a $26 million weekend and that's a big weekend, you know?

Well, $70 million is a pretty damn big weekend, too.

That's just ridiculous! [laughs]

And in head-to-head comic book film battles, you beat the opening weekend of that flaming head "Ghost Rider" guy, too.

Awesome! [laughs]

So, you're currently the number one comic book movie of the year thus far, but of course "Spider-Man 3" comes out this year ...

I've got no chance, especially with that movie being PG13. If they turned "Spider-Man 3" into an R rated film, I might have a chance! [laughs] So, in the week leading up to this film, the chatter and feedback on the film came from everyone, including the Government of Iran. Javad Shamghadri, the cultural adviser to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had some choice comments about "300," insisting the film is Hollywood's attempt to humiliate Iran. Have you read any of these comments?

Yeah, I saw that, but I don't think he's even seen the film, so I'm a little disappointed! [laughs] Then I saw another thing where some Iranian newspaper guy went to see it and said, "What? I don't get why everyone is so mad."


Zack Snyder directing on the set of "300"
Now, I've also seen a handful of messages left on public message boards where people are saying that "300" promotes racist ideals, that it promotes white supremacy with the Spartans over the darker skinned Persians. So, how do you respond to those kind of accusations, especially now that the film is out, whether it's from the government of Iran or someone posting on a message board.

You know, when I see that, when I see someone use words like "neocon," "homophobic," "homoerotic" or "racist" in their review, I kind of just think they don't get the movie and don't understand. It's a graphic novel movie about a bunch of guys that are stomping the snot out of each other. As soon as you start to frame it like that, it becomes clear that you've missed the point entirely.

This has to all be a bit unusual for you - I can't imagine that you ever anticipated the government of Iran would comment on a movie you made.

Oh, it's awesome! [laughs] Best thing ever! [laughs] When someone says I'm a "homophobic neocon," I think to myself and think, "Oh My God! How awesome is it that they care that much!" That's a lot of caring! [laughs]

Allright, so, it's the Monday following a quiet weekend where you didn't do much celebrating, how did you spend that first day of the new work week? Did you give yourself some much needed time off?

Nope, I was shooting a commercial. I was on set working. It was a Miller Lite commercial. It's pretty funny. It's about this giant crowd shaped like a person, stomping through the streets looking for beer. It's kinda fun.

Do you think you'll be giving up the commercial directing any time soon?

No. It's fun. I've been doing it for 15 years and it's just fun.

Even considering the movie slate you have upcoming, which includes "Watchmen," following that you see yourself still directing commercials?

Oh yeah. Something like a Miller Lite commercial? Absolutely.

What does a smaller production like a commercial do for you? Does it give you the same kind of rush you get from working on a big movie like "300?"

On a smaller scale, it does. It's problem solving, it's working with my buddies and it's being creative. You work in the moment a lot. It's really a lot of fun.

Before I let you go we have to touch on "Watchmen" obviously. Now, in addition to "Watchmen" another film your set to direct was announced recently. Will "Wacthmen" be your next film, or will you try something else first?

I'm doing "Watchmen" next for sure. That's what we're focusing all our attention on. It's the shit, as they say! [laughs] It's the best thing out there. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but I feel like "Watchmen" is the coolest thing ever and I have to do it.

Do you have any concern that this early on in your feature career you could be labeled as the "comic book movie" director?

First off, that label doesn't bother me at all. Secondly, if you know anything about "Watchmen" and how hard core that story is, you really don't need to worry about that kind of stuff. Life's so rough! [laughs]

Yes, life could suck a lot worse for you at this point. [laughs]

That's so true. This is all such an embarrassment of riches.

In Tuesday's "Hollywood Reporter" there was a note that said you were looking for a $150 million dollar budget for the "Watchmen" film while Warner's was hoping for something closer to $100 million. Is a film like "Watchmen," with all the intricate settings and locales, one that could even be made for less than $150 million?

I think it can. We have ideas and I think there's a way to do it.

How close are you guys on a budget?

I really don't know yet. We're trying to get something together to show the studio right now and we're hoping to get that as low as we can.

So, that budget that is being bandied about right now, is that just a production budget or all inclusive including actors costs and your own fees?

That's all in and all that stuff is talked about. And really, none of this is real yet. The reality is that it's still an R rated movie, it's an R rated super hero movie, something that's never been tested before and no one knows what the hell that means. But I think if you went to see "300," I would hope that you'd go see "Watchmen."


Rorschach test shot hidden in YouTube "300" trailer
Speaking of something to show the studio, you showed fans a little something with that R rated trailer for "300" that showed up on YouTube last week in the form of a quick test shot of Rorschach. How much test footage have you done for the film thus far?

Honestly, not that much. That really was the only shot we've done. I did that shot with a couple of friends a long time ago. Grant Freckelton, who was the visual effects art director on "300," and we were sitting around and I shot a picture of Wesley Coller, one of the associate producers on "300," in the trench coat and I said, "Hey, let's knock this up!" That's what we'd say when we'd create a frame for "300." So, I said I wanted to do this "Watchmen" frame and I did this little doodle with the moon here, the Empire State building over here, some atmosphere, stuff like that. Grant did it in like an hour, there's no grain on it, it's just a quicky and I thought it was cool. I had it as my screen saver on my computer for a while. [laughs] People would be looking over my shoulder saying, "Wow, what the hell is that?" [laughs]

That's the quickest way to get your laptop stolen, by the way!

It really is! [laughs] It truly is. I also travel with a copy of "Watchmen" and I'm always doodling on it and drawing all over it and I think to myself, "Shit, someone is going to steal this! It's got too much shit in it now!" [laughs]

Indeed. Now, there's been a lot of news about Tom Cruise possibly playing the part of Ozymandias in the film. Then there was news that he wasn't. Maybe he was. Anything new on that front?

I don't think he's doing it. I wish he would, but I think Tom's busy and our schedule is making that tough. We've had a lot of great conversations about it and he's a bit of a "Watchmen" fan now, but I don't think he'll do it.

He certainly would inhabit that role nicely.

It's a great idea, but what can you do?

Comic artist John Cassaday is doing some costume design on "Watchmen." How closely have you worked with on this?

I've gone out to a few guys in the business to get their takes. I don't know if I'd necessarily call it costume design so much as concepts, just to see what they'd come up with. A lot of what we're doing will look exactly as it does in the book, but there are a couple of things we'll update, like the girls. Not update in the sense that it won't be 1985, it'll still be 1985, but to give them a little sexier look or to update the outfits a bit. There's a sophisticated audience out there. A lot of graphic novels and comic book heroes have been made into films since 1985 and despite how cool "Watchmen" is, it needs an ever so slight tweak for today's audience. If "Watchmen" were the first comic book movie made, I don't think it would be a problem, but at this point you have to be aware of what everyone else has done a little bit.

How dramatically do you think you'll have to change the Gibbons designs for the various heroes?

A little bit. I don't think it'll be a ton. I think Rorschach will look exactly as he does. Dr. Manhattan will look probably exactly as he does. Night Owl will be pretty close, but we're trying to make him look a little scarier. I think there's a line in the graphic novel where it says the thugs are afraid of the outfit and I want to make that feel real because when you see him, he's not exactly the scariest guy in the world. Ozy I want to make just a little cooler. He's kind of got a Luxor aesthetic and I want to have more of a realistic look. I always thought that if Ozy had Egyptian artifacts, he'd have the real thing, no repro stuff.

Finally, this year will likely end up being one of the biggest for comics in other media. "Ghost Rider" performed above expectations, as did "300." There's "TMNT" coming out in a few weeks, but on the more mature side we also have "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" and "Spider-Man 3" seeing release this summer. Now, "300" is kind of the next evolution in comic based films in the way you presented the material and filmed it. So, what's next? What do you see as the next evolution in comics inspired films?

Well, the evolution with "Watchmen" is not a visual one as much as it's a revolution of ideas in the sense that I don't think comic book heroes have ventured into pop culture in the way that they do in "Watchmen." I don't think they've been politicized and I don't think anyone's seen super heroes do what they might do in reality. There's no super heroes that have been rapists or have tried to assasinte presidents or win wars, and that's a huge deal. Also, audiences have never seen super heroes have trouble with impotency or a bad guy who wants world peace. There's a lot of crazy concepts in "Watchmen" that I think will end up being the next evolution. In some ways it's the first time a comic based movie - and I don't really count films like "Road to Perdition" or "History of Violence" as they don't feature super heroes, so I don't count those as "comic book" movies necessarily - but I think when you see a movie with a super hero in it that acknowledges his super hero pedigree, you see him doing adult stuff in a cool way, I don't know what it means, but it sure is something else and something new for super hero films.

Thanks, Zack. Good luck with "Watchmen" and congratulations again on your big weekend.

Thank you.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=9982

Ps: Zack Snyder a 41 ans! j'aurais jamais cru

http://imdb.com/name/nm0811583/

les annonces du casting sont pour bientot

Citation :

More confirmation.
http://www.filmick.co.uk/2007/03/watchmen-casting.html

Quote:
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.

http://www.reelzchannel.com/moviedet...3&clipid=18326

Citation :

Video interview with Zack Snyder discussing Watchmen.The script is 150 pages long, so a 2h30 - 2h45' movie.

Wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww