Well it’s been a while since there has been any substantive Watchmen news, but it appears that the gears are once again in motion. According to Yahoo, Warner Bros. Pictures has hired Dawn of the Dead (the 2004 version) director Zach Snyder to “develop and direct” the graphic novel adaptation.
Of course that doesn’t necessarily mean anything since at previous points in time Terry Gilliam, Darren Aronofsky, Paul Greengrass and screenwriter David Hayter have all been attached and subsequently unattached form the Watchmen project. Having said that, this one seems to have a little more juice:
Alex Tse, who worked with director Spike Lee on the Showtime cable network production “Sucker Free City,” is writing a script for the long-gestating “Watchmen” project, now in the pipeline at Warner Bros. Pictures. In November, “Watchmen” appeared as the only graphic novel on Time magazine’s list of the 100 best novels since 1923.
Set in an alternate America, “Watchmen” follows the costumed hero Rorschach, who is living a vigilante lifestyle because most masked crime-fighters have retired or been outlawed. While investigating a murder, he learns that a former masked-hero colleague has been killed, prompting him to begin investigating a possible conspiracy.
This is a film that should definetly get made. To be honest I’m shocked it wasn’t in theaters years ago. I’m even more surprised that this project didn’t get fast tracked after the success of Sin City. But life is full of surprises.
