ROTTEN TOMATOES: Jeffrey Dean Morgan Says Watchmen's Comedian Lives Up to the Book

Jeffrey Dean Morgan Says Watchmen's Comedian Lives Up to the Book

"Everything is so true to the book it's insane."

by Fred Topel | December 17, 2007

Jeffrey Dean Morgan has been making the press rounds for P.S. I Love You, so everyone has gotten a chance to grill him about Watchmen. He plays The Comedian, and confirms that the movie is capturing every glorious moment of his story as depicted in the original Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons graphic novel.

"You walk on these sets and it boggles your mind, and I'm in it," said Morgan. "I saw all these designs and sketches and, 'This is what we're building,' like the New York set. 'This is what we're doing.' I would walk down just this 10-acre piece of land, nothing there, with girders. They'd be like, 'Here's where the newsstand's going to be. Here's where The Comedian's last breath is taken on the pavement. This is where he falls out of his high rise building.' It's all up now, and I walked on the set the other day. It's working New York City streets with lights and taxis whizzing by you way too fast. It's like you're in New York. It is the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life."

For those who haven't read Watchmen, note that the opening death of Comedian in New York City is kind of a big deal. "It's so true to the book I can't even begin to tell you how. Everything is so true to the book it's insane. You can put anything that has been built for Watchmen next to a panel in the book and it'll trip you out. It's amazing."

Playing the story's iconic villain is a tough job for Morgan. "Well, The Comedian is The Comedian. By his actions, he's hard to sympathize with. I think my job is trying to kind of humanize him because I want to humanize him as much as I can because you know you don't hate The Comedian. No matter what he does, and he does some horrible f*cking things, so my job, at least this is what I've kind of taken upon myself, is you read the book, you get to the end of the book and you don't hate The Comedian.

"Yet he is one of the most despicable people ever written, I think. So if I just play the character as written, there's going to be no sympathy for him. You just won't. You have to understand how he became this man and somehow leave the movie theater understanding why he did it somehow, whether that be killing a pregnant woman or trying to rape somebody. Still, my job is to kind of make that make sense for the audience, which is hard, harder than reading it."

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(1-12 of 12 posts) | Reply

thetruebastard writes:
on Dec 17 2007 07:43 AM

Well, if the movie really is so close to the novel, it shouldn't be hard to humanize Comedian.

(Reply to this)

patsloomis writes:
on Dec 17 2007 07:45 AM

Awesome choice for the Comedian, everybody knows him as Denny from Grey's Anatomy. Hope what he says is true.

(Reply to this)

unaccounted4 writes:
on Dec 17 2007 08:27 AM

don't you think he's a little young for the comedian?

(Reply to this)

Crenshaw writes:
on Dec 17 2007 08:31 AM

" don't you think he's a little young for the comedian?"
Nope. Most of the Comedian's meatier moments are when he was younger, so you'll need a younger face. They can age him for his older moments.

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citizenjames writes:
on Dec 17 2007 09:08 AM

snyder has come out and said he cast young because there are so many flashbacks it's easier to cast young and have them play older (in makeup) than cast older and have them play younger. i agree. my bigger concern is that WATCHMEN

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taran72 writes:
on Dec 17 2007 09:51 AM

I'll believe the hyper when I see it.

(Reply to this)

taran72 writes:
on Dec 17 2007 11:09 AM

hyper?

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EdwardBlake writes:
on Dec 17 2007 12:41 PM

Once again, Morgan seems to get what I'm all about

*lights cigar and shoots a hippie or two*

(Reply to this)

MaxFisher14 writes:
on Dec 17 2007 01:32 PM

hmmmmmmmm..... I'll have to wait and see, because I'm not too impressed with the movie right now. But its still gaot almost another 2 years left till it comes out.

(Reply to this)

dylan21484nj writes:
on Dec 17 2007 09:36 PM

if Snyder knocks this out of the park like i think he will (and so far, things are looking damn promising), then Warner Bros will have not one but two of the greatest comic book movies ever made coming out less than a year between each other - The Dark Knight and Watchmen.

(Reply to this)

blank blank writes:
on Dec 18 2007 06:54 AM

ive never seen grey's anatomy, so i have no idea how this guy fits in... but he looks the part, so i'll have a little faith...

i agree dylan, after TDK comes out, i can stop obsessing about it and start obsessing about watchmen. from those stills we saw a few weeks back, it looks exactly like the book, so im pretty optimistic, even though it is early. we cant judge something like this until we actually see it on screen in its entirety...

(Reply to this)

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