I have always been a fan of Alan Moore. As a comicbook geek you almost have to. Its hard to deny that he has created some of the better stuff in the comicsphere. He was a cornerstone in the movement that saw comics adapting more serious writing methods and addressing more adult themes. However that being said, he is kind of a recluse and the most well known for despising and outright rejecting film adaptations of his work. With yet another of his products coming to the bigscreen, The Watchman is no exception.
Moore has been quoted as saying, “As long as I could distance myself by not seeing them,” he said, he could profit from the films while leaving the original comics untouched.” He sure likes the money he gets for the adaptations but he is so put out by them that he wont even watch them. After League of Extaordinary Gentlemen (loved the book) and From Hell, he is already pretty bitter. I think he would have liked V for Vendetta, but he hasn’t even watched it.
/Film quotes Watchmen Director Zack Snyder:
“We all want to please Alan, and I think that’s a noble thing to want to do. There’s nothing wrong to get the guy who frickin’ created the thing to not hate it, I don’t think that’s an outrageous thing to want,” said Snyder. “I think the approach is to assume that the movie is better, and that’s a mistake. I would never make any assumptions.”
I think that like a son’s efforts to make his father proud, this is a noble effort. If they were to use this as the benchmark for the quality of film adaptations, they can really do no wrong. Moore will still distance himself by default, but when you have an impossible man to impress, trying to impress him (and thinking you succeeded) is a good goal.
Moore looks like the kind of guy that would give death metal artists the chills. Maybe they are trying to impress him out of fear.
Either way, its looking pretty good so far. And if they somehow tied him to a chair and made him watch it, and he even gave half an endorsement it would be hailed as a miracle.
