RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
Check out the new RT Community
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Features
  • | Columns
  • | Guides
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
News
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
Discuss Article
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."

Related Items
Movie: P.S. I Love You
Celeb: Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Alan Moore
Dave Gibbons
Bookmark and Share
Comments (1-12 of 12 posts) | Reply
thetruebastard
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
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
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
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.


(Reply to this)
citizenjames
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

(Reply to this)
citizenjames
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 is a lot of subtext and if that is stripped for a two hour running time all you have left is a murder mystery.

(Reply to this)
taran72
taran72 writes:
on Dec 17 2007 09:51 AM

I'll believe the hyper when I see it.

(Reply to this)
taran72
taran72 writes:
on Dec 17 2007 11:09 AM

hyper?

(Reply to this)
EdwardBlake
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
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
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
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)
Read More Comments
Page | 1
Post Your Comment
You must be registered to post comments. Login or Register.

Related Links

Watchmen
  • Pictures
  • Posters
  • News
  • Forum

Related Articles

  • Watchmen Director's Cut Headed to Theaters Opens in new window (32)
  • Warners Partners with Facebook for Watchmen Blu-ray Opens in new window (15)
  • Alex Tse Shapes Up for Battling Boy Opens in new window (0)
  • Snyder Says Watchmen Director's Cut Is Still Headed to Theaters Opens in new window (6)
  • Win Home Cinema Systems with Tales of the Black Freighter (0)
  • Kevin Smith Joins /Filmcast for Watchmen Review Opens in new window (15)
  • David Hayter Pens Open Letter to Watchmen Fans Opens in new window (73)
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: Watchmen Scores $55.7 Million Opening (103)
  • The Rotten Tomatoes Show Wants Your Reviews! (10)
  • Weekly Ketchup: Watchmen Director Takes Sucker Punch (13)

Most Discussed

  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: Transformers 2 Generates Explosive Box Office (168)
  • Critics Consensus: Solid Public Enemies Doesn't Quite Bring The Noise (104)
  • Five Favorite Films with Fred Durst (86)
  • RoboGeisha: 2009's Most Insane Trailer? (73)
  • Total Recall: Johnny Depp's Best Movies (71)
  • RT on DVD: Street Fighter, Transmorphers 2, and Uwe Boll's Tunnel Rats! (36)
  • Academy Invites Tyler Perry, Michael Cera, Seth Rogen to Join Oscar Ranks (28)
  • Box Office Guru Preview: Dinosaurs and Gangsters Spark Fireworks (18)
  • Karl Malden: 1912-2009 (17)
  • Edinburgh 2009: RT's 10 Must-See Movies (9)

Latest News

  • Blood: The Last Vampire -- Exclusive Concept Art and Artist Profile (8)
  • Box Office Guru Preview: Dinosaurs and Gangsters Spark Fireworks (18)
  • The Friday Harvest: Ice Age 3, Gamer, Daybreakers, and more! (1)
  • Total Recall: Johnny Depp's Best Movies (71)
  • RoboGeisha: 2009's Most Insane Trailer? (73)
  • Karl Malden: 1912-2009 (17)
  • Celebrate the Fourth of July with 50 Movies For 50 States! (0)
  • Critics Consensus: Solid Public Enemies Doesn't Quite Bring The Noise (104)
  • Academy Invites Tyler Perry, Michael Cera, Seth Rogen to Join Oscar Ranks (28)
  • RT on DVD: Street Fighter, Transmorphers 2, and Uwe Boll's Tunnel Rats! (36)

Latest Interviews

  • RT Interview: Director Carlos Cuaron on Rudo and Cursi (0)
  • RT Interview: Tony Scott on The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (10)
  • Cannes 2009: RT Interview - Sally Hawkins on We Want Sex (2)
  • RT Interview: Tilda Swinton on Julia (5)
  • Hollywood Legend Debbie Reynolds Reflects On her Life in Showbiz (10)
  • Exclusive: McG Talks Terminator Salvation (24)
  • Georgia Groome - Fresh Talent on RT (5)
  • RT Interview: Reading The Reader with Stephen Daldry (11)
  • RT Interview: Oscar Nominee Melissa Leo (7)
  • Carey Mulligan - Fresh Talent on RT (7)

Latest Features

  • Blood: The Last Vampire -- Exclusive Concept Art and Artist Profile (8)
  • Five Favorite Films with Fred Durst (86)
  • Edinburgh 2009: RT's 10 Must-See Movies (9)
  • Five Favourite Films with Diego Luna (8)
  • Five Favourite Films with Gael Garcia Bernal (8)
  • Who's Who in Transformers 2? A Visual Guide (160)
  • Five Favorite Films with Antonio Banderas (39)
  • Five Favorite Films with Betty White (31)
  • Five Favourite Films with Wes Craven (26)
  • A Hundred Years of Heist Films (45)

Sponsored Links

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Games| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.