Tagged: Zack Snyder

‘Watchmen’ Atop Amazon Fiction Sales

  • News
  • July 28, 2008

watchmen-cover-2203991From a Wired article about the excessive success of this year’s Comic-Con is a little tidbit about the success of comics: Watchmen is now sitting at the top of Amazon’s fiction and literature sales list.

DC has been printing up copies like mad to meet the demand, which is of course churned up by the upcoming Zack Snyder film adaptation.

From the article:

Last week’s release of the movie’s trailer sent sales of a paperback collection of Alan Moore’s original Watchmen comics through the roof. The graphic novel now sits at the top of Amazon.com’s literature and fiction sales list.

"That’s never happened before," said DC’s Levitz. "We literally can’t print enough…. I don’t think we’ve been able to kill any more trees fast enough."

San Diego Comic-Con Gets ‘Watchmen’ Clips, Nite Owl’s Ship?

  • News
  • June 26, 2008

There’s a lot of Watchmen news hitting the ‘Net these days, as we chase the shot of fake "Veidt Enterprises" commercials we posted earlier with some San Diego Comic-Con International rumors related to the big-screen adaptation of the groundbreaking graphic novel.

Cinematical has provided a nice synopsis of the interesting bits gleaned from several recent video interviews with Watchmen director Zack Snyder.

According to Cinematical (I haven’t had a chance to watch the videos myself, so I’m taking their word for it), the videos indicate that there’s a high probability of seeing the first clips from Watchmen prior to screenings of The Dark Knight next month. There should also be some extra footage shown during Comic-Con later that month, too. Additionally, Snyder hinted that Nite Owl’s flying ship might make an appearance during Comic-Con.

Be sure to check out the Cliff’s Notes version of the Snyder video over on Cinematical for a few more items of note, and when you have the time (there’s around 10 minutes of video to watch), view the full interview over at Collider.

 

 

Interview With Larry Fong, Cinematographer for ‘Watchmen’

  • News
  • April 28, 2008

While much of the hubbub over the movie adaptation of Watchmen has related to director Zack Snyder’s thematic and narrative choices, questions also remain over how the movie will visually reflect Dave Gibbons’ work on the seminal comic.

In answering some of those questions, Larry Fong, who is the cinematographer on the film, spoke with ComicUS (scroll down for the English version). Fong, who also worked on 300, said Watchmen will use less green screen than that film and will try to hew closely to Gibbons’ art.

There isn’t an underlying template on the movie per se. In fact one of the most exciting things about it is that it’s kind of all over the place, visually. We had so many opportunities to explore different looks and there’s even a few scenes that pay homage to other films…I won’t give anything away just yet, of course. …

In Zack’s storyboards, there are frames that are very similar to those in the graphic novel. But photographically, it was more important for me to capture the spirit of Watchmen. That’s more of an intuitive process.

Fong also hinted at Snyder’s next project:

Zack is planning to make another film next year based on an original story he’s had in his head for a long time. It’s crazier and wilder than all his films put together… hopefully I’ll be working on it too!

‘Watchmen’ Compared: Movie vs. Comics

  • News
  • April 7, 2008

watchmen-cover-8034515

The biggest question regarding the currently filming adaptation of Watchmen has to be how it will compare to the original comics series, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The comics are some of the most highly regarded works ever created, and so the filmmakers face the task of not only making a quality movie, but also of appeasing fans of the book.

A new report over at Slashfilm takes some new photos from set locations and puts them next to Gibbons’ original art, so fans can decide for themselves how close director Zack Snyder is hewing to the source material. The locations include:

  • Dr. Manhattan’s lab
  • Dr. Manhattan’s apartment
  • Rorschach’s jail cell
  • The Comedian’s apartment
  • Mason’s Auto Repair
  • and the New York City streets

In other Watchmen movie news, ComingSoon has some video from the set, which you can check out right here.

Zack Snyder Thanks Fans With New ‘Watchmen’ Pic

  • News
  • February 20, 2008

Recently, Watchmen Exec. Producer herb Gaines posted his thoughts on the film at its official site now that principal photography on the film is baically complete. Now, the film’s director, Zack Snyder, has followed suit and has posted some thoughts and reflections of his own.

But this time, its not just kind words from Snyder, he’s also included a bonus gift for fans as well — a brand new pic directly from the film itself. This new pic will show, as Snyder says in his post: "How it looks when it all comes together." Sadly, the pic doesn’t reveal the look of Ozymandias, Nite Owl, Doctor Manhattan or really, much detail about the film at all.

However, it does give us Rorschach setting fire to a guy, which is pretty darn cool and will certainly whet the appetite of Watchmen fans everywhere. Heck, it did for me. Come on Zack, how about some more? Soon.

Check out a much larger version of the new pic after the jump.

Watchmen hits theaters March 6, 2009

  (more…)

Zack Snyder Answers Fans’ ‘Watchmen’ Questions

  • News
  • February 16, 2008

Over at the official Watchmen film website, director Zack Snyder has answered a pretty hefty list of questions from fans about his upcoming big-screen adaptation of the groundbreaking graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

The Q&A is divided into two parts (part one, part two) and covers a lot of ground, from the difficulties of adapting Moore and Gibbons’ use of panels and dialogue to create "scenes between the scenes" to the costumes and fight sequences of the film.

On the subject of Rorschach’s costume, Snyder shed some light on the level of detail he’s aiming for in the character’s mask and the way it reacts with Rorschach’s mood and hidden expressions:

As you can imagine, the most effective way to render the ever-changing inkblot that is Rorschach’s face is with the use of visual effects. So, we created a blank mask and strategically placed small green tracking markers on it. The markers will be used to track the contours of his face throughout the shot. There is also a hole that reveals Jackie’s [Jackie Earle Haley] eyes not only so he can see, but also to help to the VFX artists later while they animate Rorschach’s face. The opening allows them to see what Jackie’s eyes were emoting. When completed, his open-eyed, green polka dotted face will have been replaced by a CG element, a slowly changing inkblot pattern. We’ve gone through and analyzed the many inkblots from the graphic novel and have assigned them each different emotional characteristics — so that when Rorschach is experiencing something in a scene, the shape on the mask reflects his emotions in a graphic and abstract manner. I have had the opportunity to see some of the early tests and I am very pleased with how it is coming together.

Oh, and as if that wasn’t enough, Snyder also addresses some of the rumors surrounding the development of The Black Freighter, the story-within-a-story that unfolds throughout the graphic novel.

 

Hump Day Briefs

  • News
  • September 26, 2007

fursvsklingon-5759623A little mini-browsing around the internets the last few days has come up with the following:

  • There is no Furries vs. Klingons bowling tournament this coming Saturday in Atlanta.  But dang, that poster is still cool.

  • Nick Mullins at The Comics Reporter notes two main reasons for the kerfuffle over the teacher who got fired over giving a 9th grader Eightball #22: the book is recommended by the Library Journal for 10th grade and up (and that recommendation applied to the series as a whole, where individual issues may vary in their amount of mature content) and, more importantly, mature situations involving art and other visuals will almost always raise more of a ruckus than those involving only words (George Carlin aside). There’s your thousand-to-one ratio at work again.

  • Nintendo has surpassed Canon to become the second biggest stock in Japan.  Toyota still rules the Japanese market.  If they come up with a car that has built-in Wii and can take pictures, it’s a lock.

  • Parallel universes have been mathematically proven to exist.  Yeah, on Earth-Geek!  Oh no wait, we are Earth-Geek aren’t we?

  • Because women aren’t exploited nearly enough in our subculture, there’s the Miss Horrorfest contest.  Self-exploit and you may win $50,000!  So there, Oscar Wilde; we’ve already established that and there’s no haggling over the price!  Is there a corresponding "Master Horrorfest" ("master" being the male equivalent of "miss" once upon a time)?  I didn’t think so.

  • Somebody let Stephen Colbert too close to the Indecision 2008 website again, as the site gets onto a Candidate Casting Couch with presidential hopefuls as superheroes.  Would you rather see Simpsons cels referencing movies juxtaposed with the actual film stills?  Sure you would.

  • Goodie, HarperCollins will be reprinting Zot!, one of my all-time favorites!  And Sony’s releasing colorized Ray Harryhausen movies!

  • Greetings from Zack Snyder on the set of the Watchmen movie.

  • Condolences to the family of the still-anonymous Batman: The Dark Knight film technician who died in a car accident (unrelated to the movie).

  • The Winnie the Pooh merchandising case has been dismissed, the main lesson being that if you’re going to sue Disney it’s probably not a good idea to be discovered poking through their trash.

Hollywood Casting Announcements Flow Towards San Diego

  • News
  • July 24, 2007

Comic-Con is upon us and Hollywood studios, like the various publishers, have lined up a series of announcements to whet the appetites of fanboys, geeks, and the mainstream media.  I should note it’s pretty fun the con is receiving more coverage this year than the political conventions will likely receive next year.

Over the last week or so, numerous announcements have been slipping out through the trade press, starting with word that Seth Rogan, riding high from being Knocked Up, will write and star in the long-awaited Green Hornet movie. 

Yesterday, word spread pretty quickly about likely casting for the forthcoming adaptation of Watchmen, being helmed by 300’s Zack Snyder.  Matthew Goode looks to be Adrian Vedit, a.k.a Ozymandias.  Joining him will be Billy Curdrup (Dr. Manhattan), Patrick Wilson (Night Owl) and relative newcomer Malin Ackerman (Silk Spectre).  Jackie Earle Haley, who was recently nominated for an Academy Award, will play the pivotal role of Rorschach.

The Hollywood Reporter, today, added to that by named Disturbia’s director, D.J. Caruso, as the man behind New Line Cinema’s version of Vertigo’s Y the Last Man.  Caruso is paired once more with writer Carl Ellsworth, who cut his teeth writing for Joss Whedon, before leaping to features. J.C. Spink, Chris Bender and Blade’s David Goyer are producing the film, which was optioned some two years ago. The comic book series wraps up a little later this year with nine trade collections currently available.

Additional announcements expected this week include casting for Frank Miller’s directorial debut on The Spirit and maybe some additional word on the long-stalled Wolverine film that now inches towards a green light.

300 comic to screen

  • News
  • March 19, 2007

How John Rogers said that 300 was unfilmable is beyond me. Here Solace Cinema has shown how Frank Miller laid it all out for the filmmakers to follow in a handy Flickr slideshow.

300book2screen-9720300

And people say that inkers do nothing but trace. What does that make Zack Snyder?

Watchmen watching

  • News
  • March 10, 2007

Aint It Cool News, via Heidi, has this image that was hidden in a 300 trailer:

rorschach-8212832

This is purported to be a test image for the Watchmen movie that 300 director Zack Snyder is attached to. Get that buzz agoing…

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