Watchmen - Zack Snyder and Dave Gibbons Interview
Director Zack Snyder and 'Watchmen' co-creator/illustrator Dave Gibbons teamed up to talk about the film version of 'Watchmen' at WonderCon 2009. Snyder tackled a movie considered unfilmable and Gibbons believes he did the source material justice.
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Transcript: Watchmen - Zack Snyder and Dave Gibbons Interview
Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the 2009 WonderCon.
Watchmen Director Zack Snyder and Watchmen Co-Creator/Illustrator Dave Gibbons
It's so beautiful onscreen. Did he capture your vision?Dave Gibbons: "Oh, I think he did – and more than my vision I think."
How tough was that to bring this to life?
Zack Snyder: "He's too kind. It was hard. I mean, if you've seen any of the drawings, if you've looked at the graphic novel which you should if you haven't, you know it's remarkably dense and beautiful. And it's all the things that are a joy to do but also a struggle at the same time. So yeah, it was a labor of love and it was our honor to do it, so it was fun to do."
Is it more nervewracking now that it's almost released than it actually was during the development process?
Zack Snyder: "It's more tiring actually, to be honest. I'm not tired of talking about it, I'm just tired from talking about it. That's a little different. But I'm excited for the movie to come out. I can't wait for people to see it."
Dave Gibbons: "That's exactly the feeling that I've got as well."You must see this. This is great. Whatever you think it is – it isn't that. Go and see it.'"
It's a fine line that you had to walk because you had to give us enough information that people who don't know the graphic novel are going to understand this. How did you figure out how to do that?
Zack Snyder: "Well, really what I tried to do is I tried to get at the experience I had when I first read the graphic novel, right? And having never read it before, I didn't have any backup. So it was really that experience that I tried to get at. I felt like if I, you know, was true to the experience I had, there would be enough info for a mainstream audience to get the story and get everything. That was my main concern was like making sure the story was clear."
Didn't you feel kind of too close to it though because you love the story?
Zack Snyder: "Yeah, I guess that's my point is that I tried to call back to my first experiences with it. That was a bit of a trick, but you have to do it."
I love the idea that you're going to do a director's cut later on. How much does it have to make now for us to see that?
Zack Snyder: "The director's cut is done."
It might go in theaters or it might just go straight to DVD?
Zack Snyder: "It could go in theaters briefly. They've talked about that. I think that we have a pretty good chance of seeing that."
What do you think about the loss of the Black Freighter in the movie? Is that okay with you?
Dave Gibbons: "Well I can see why it had to be done and if you had to cut anything from that huge amount of material, that was the obvious thing to cut. That's what I would have cut. But I think it's wonderful that there is a way to get it back in there so that you can have a different experience. I think it works fine as a narrative, as a movie, without the Black Freighter. But just as it did in the movie, it adds another level of kind of subtext and allegory to it that I think it'll be great when it's finally in there."
Without giving away the ending and the changes made, how do you address [that issue]?
Zack Snyder: "It's funny. We got it out kind of early and I feel like once people see the movie, I feel like the consensus on that is that it's understood at least."
Dave Gibbons: "I think for the movie the new ending makes perfect sense. And also, it hasn't just had the old ending chopped off and this stuck on the end. It's integrated back into the main story and it feels very satisfying to me."
Zack Snyder: "Yeah. By the way, I'm a huge fan of the squid in the graphic novel. The thing is… That's why I put the Outer Limits reference at the very end just so people would understood that I know."
Dave Gibbons: "And in fact for the real eagle-eyed people, the word 'squid' does appear in the middle of the movie."
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