ROTTEN TOMATOES: Zack Snyder Sends A Message From The Watchmen Set!

Zack Snyder Sends A Message From The Watchmen Set!

Production update after the first week of shooting.

by Jen Yamato | September 25, 2007

Warner Brothers just passed along a video message from Watchmen director Zack Snyder, taped on location in Vancouver where the production has just finished its first week of shooting.

Snyder, who is directing the adaptation of the Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons graphic novel, is apparently revising the script by Alex Tse and David Hayter as he shoots. While he doesn't spill any new details (it's more of a "Hey, we just started shooting this awesome film!" video) he does look like he's been hard at work, for whatever it's worth.

Snyder talking Watchmen at Comic-Con

The official Watchmen synopsis: A complex, multi-layered mystery adventure, Watchmen is set in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society, and the "Doomsday Clock" -- which charts the USA's tension with the Soviet Union -- is permanently set at five minutes to midnight. When one of his former colleagues is murdered, the washed up but no less determined masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion -- a ragtag group of retired superheroes, only one of whom has true powers -- Rorschach glimpses a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the future. Their mission is to watch over humanity...but who is watching the watchmen?

After months of speculation, Snyder cast his band of superheroes with more than a few surprises; the main cast is comprised of Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach, Stephen McHattie as Nite Owl, Patrick Wilson as Nite Owl II, Billy Crudup as Doctor Manhattan, Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian, Matthew Goode as Ozymandias, Carla Gugino as Silk Spectre, and Malin Akerman as the younger Silk Spectre.

Some snippets from Snyder's video message:

"We just finished our first week of shooting and it's been pretty crazy but pretty fun."

"I've been working with [the cast] fighting, working on the script and the characters and they've been great to work with.

"The thing is that everyone loves Watchmen, who is working on the crew -- everyone wants it to be cool, down to the P.A.s to the head technicians..."

He also promises to post pictures and updates when there's "something to show."

Watch the video below or click here!

Watchmen is due in theaters March 6, 2009.

Related Items

Celeb:

Zack Snyder

(1-20 of 24 posts) | Reply

Novastar. writes:
on Sep 25 2007 06:13 PM

Dear mister Snyder,

I saw your movie '300' a few months ago.It was as if you gave us the viewer a beautifully wrapped box,but once we opened it, the box was empty inside.
please try telling a story this time,and don't put everything on visual candy.

(Reply to this)

IMAmoose24 writes:
on Sep 25 2007 06:16 PM

Due in 2009? What??? I thought it was coming out next year. Please tell me you mean March 6th, 2008. Watchmen looks really promising to me and I loved the graphic novel.

(Reply to this)

MarvelZombie88 writes:
on Sep 25 2007 06:16 PM

2009...I thought it was 2008, God Damn It!

(Reply to this)

Jen Yamato writes:
on Sep 25 2007 06:18 PM

Sorry folks, 2009 it is.

(Reply to this)

Metafact writes:
on Sep 25 2007 06:18 PM

I *really* hope he doesn't screw this up.

(Reply to this)

Daniel Aaron writes:
on Sep 25 2007 06:30 PM

how can you do it in one movie....answer. you cant. So it willl probubly be lame and a vage reflection of what it should be and another attempt by hollywood to cash in on comics and ruin another great idea.

(Reply to this)

Now it's dark writes:
on Sep 25 2007 06:31 PM

Good. Take your time with it. And stop saying "cool".

(Reply to this)

Conehead2187 writes:
on Sep 25 2007 08:20 PM

Boy, for all the talking he does, it doesn't sound like he really has a lot to say.

(Reply to this)

twinsfan2715 writes:
on Sep 25 2007 08:22 PM

i dont really care if he says cool a lot, i just want this movie to be good

(Reply to this)

alsanali writes:
on Sep 26 2007 01:55 AM

"Their mission is to watch over humanity"

Why do I have a feeling that whoever wrote up this synopsis has no idea what the books are about?

(Reply to this)

Lizard Brain writes:
on Sep 26 2007 03:09 AM

"It will go down like a lead balloon."---- Keith Moon.

(Reply to this)

BuckyUnderbelly writes:
on Sep 26 2007 04:55 AM

Is it my imagination or does this video look like he's being held captive on The Honeymooners set? I'm not saying I expect set reports to be sumptuously lit and gorgeously photographed ... but they should at least look a LITTLE better than a ransom video! I'm surprised he wasn't holding up a copy of today's newspaper and telling us where to leave the satchel full of unmarked bills!

But I do hope the movie is awesome. Call me a ****-eyed optimist, but I'm holding out hope they've figured out a way ...

(Reply to this)

BuckyUnderbelly writes:
on Sep 26 2007 04:57 AM

Um ... RT? "Cockeyed" is not a curse word.

(Reply to this)

laika86 writes:
on Sep 26 2007 08:45 AM

Zack Snyder is a hack...he's probably my number 1 most hated director right now, ahead of Michael Bay and Uwe Boll.

(Reply to this)

Jen Yamato writes:
on Sep 26 2007 10:10 AM

In reply to this comment (#1149400)
Ha, tell that to the auto-earmuffs.

(Reply to this)

punktuate writes:
on Sep 26 2007 11:45 AM

hell he did a good adaption of 300 I have faith it wasn't like he's trying to compress 100 issues into one movie the series was only I believe 6 issues I don't want to dig in my boxes for it it is totally posible to pull this off

(Reply to this)

RainNIU writes:
on Sep 26 2007 01:31 PM

In reply to this comment (#1147742)
Read the comic...

(Reply to this)

Sprizmo writes:
on Sep 26 2007 01:46 PM

This should be a mini-series, or at the very least, a trilogy. If Alan Moore was dead right now he would be spinning in his grave. As it happens, he's ALIVE, and the news probably has him smoking too much pot and practicing dark magic rituals to curse Hollywood. I thought V was a great movie, then I read the graphic novel and realized MAN, that would have been much better series on HBO. The movie was simply too short to do justice to my reading experience.

My advice to Snyder: make it a trilogy, or be prepared for unexpected pains in different parts of your body as a doll of your likeness is being poked with needles halfway across the globe.

(Reply to this)

stevegilpin writes:
on Sep 26 2007 02:37 PM

In reply to this comment (#1147742)
I agree. 300 was not a good movie. In fact, it was downright bad. The graphic novel was great, as was Watchmen. I am not going to get my hopes up for this movie. I trust Snyder's visual sense a bit, but as a storyteller, he has soooooo much work to do.

(Reply to this)

blank blank writes:
on Sep 26 2007 02:52 PM

lets cut the guy some slack before we make our decision.

yes, watchmen would have been awesome as an hbo mini series, but that doesnt mean it cant be great as a movie as well. so far, he hasnt done anything to make me nervous about the project. he said he wants to give the movie a Seven look, which is fine by me, and the relatively no name cast is also fine with me (except akerman, i really dont see it). he says all the right things about respecting the movie and the source material and seems to get it. it might not be the greatest super hero movie ever (although one can hope), but i think the chance it goes all batman & robin on us is very low. lets hope the studio doesnt mess everything up to try to "sell" the movie.

that being said, i think david fincher would have done a kick *** watchmen movie.

(Reply to this)

RottenTomatoes.com