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The Watchmen Movie That Never Was

CBR takes a look at the Watchment movie that didn't get off the ground.

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By JohnWilbanks - 9/10/2010
Before Zack Snyder started developing the Watchmen movie that we know (and in some cases love), Pual Greengrass was trying to get a Watchmen movie off the ground.

Dominic Watkins, who followed Greengrass from "The Bourne Supremacy", was going to be the production designer for the film. He also has some nice pre-production art to show off...

"At that time, I thought it was very poignant because it was written under the backdrop of Reaganism and all that in America and the Cold War being in full effect. I thought that the political climate from Bush was escalated to a similar point, with us on the brink of something quite catastrophic, so I thought making a version of 'Watchmen' that was more contemporary and applying it to the decade of the '00s was a good idea and was a lot more relevant than it turned out to be. I think the difference between Zack Snyder's 'Watchmen' and ours would've been night and day. He pretty much made the movie page-to-page from the graphic novel. Ours was definitely going to be based on the graphic novel and all the characters would've been drawn on that, but we'd have updated it somewhat."

"It would've been done a little bit documentary-style, with a little news reporting mixed in. I feel like that would've been really interesting to see it as real-feeling as possible. Obviously, Doctor Manhattan was always going to be the biggest challenge to that. When there's a 50-foot blue man, it's hard to cinematically make it feel real. I felt they actually did a good job with that in Snyder's."

"Anyway, this production book was page-by-page, set-to-set what we were going to be shooting. We were that

close to shooting. We were still in pre-pre-production, but I think we were about a week away from breaking ground at Pinewood [Studios] and building a back lot based on the West Side of Manhattan. It was kind of a conglomerate of downtown in the teens, between 5th and 6th Ave and a couple of other areas mixed in. I think we were going to build square blocks, so I was quite surprised they pulled the plug on it because at that point I'd imagine they spent at least two or three million just to get everything up and running. The visual effects team were doing tests on Doctor Manhattan and various other things, but that's Hollywood."

Check out the images below and get a look at what might have been...











Source: Comic Book Resources
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39 Comments
RockNRollCC - 9/10/2010, 2:31 PM
quote thy Rorschach...HRM...
comic2004 - 9/10/2010, 2:33 PM
Would have been cool.
Superman8 - 9/10/2010, 2:33 PM
I liked Watchemen. I liked the graphic novel more, but i think the movie def held its own. idk if i wouldve liked this movie described here. i like the way snyder did the movie visually.

this is interesting news though, had no idea.
superdog - 9/10/2010, 2:34 PM
thank god this did not get greelit. updated to the 00's with a little bush bashing thrown in? talk about an unfaithful translation
SHAZAM171 - 9/10/2010, 2:36 PM
Wicked, I wish we could see movies that could've been pictures all the time.... OH wait. LOL ; )~
SUPERBATSPIDERMAN - 9/10/2010, 2:39 PM
I loved Snyder's movie and this would've dumb if they made a sequel of watchmen it should be in current times with this crap Obama administration.
Superman8 - 9/10/2010, 2:40 PM
@SHAZAM

why do you do this to us?! we have all already been scarred enough by this image. ugh make it stop!!!
SHAZAM171 - 9/10/2010, 2:42 PM
@Superman8 - LMFAO!!!!! ; )~
ckal - 9/10/2010, 2:44 PM
Personally, I really liked Snyder's Watchmen, I thought it was great.
Hawksblueyes - 9/10/2010, 2:49 PM
This sounds like it would have been the crappiest of crapfest movies ever.
Magicfingers - 9/10/2010, 2:53 PM
I liked the books, I loved the movie, and I'm glad they dumped this one and greenlite Snyder's film. Cool pics though.
RorMachine - 9/10/2010, 2:54 PM
Loved Snyder's film..a lot! Also love the comic. Am I a walking paradox? NO I'M NOT BECAUSE ONES A COMIC AND ONES A FRAKKING MOVIE!

Sorry:)
Shaman - 9/10/2010, 3:01 PM
I much MUCH more prefered Snyder's visual masterpiece to Moore's graphic novel. And personally, after reading the novel i actually thought it would have made a shitty film. And i mean a complete stinker! I appreciated the novel for what it was and for the time and era it was written. But in today's day and age, i honestly thought it didn't have a snowball's chance in hell at the box office. So Snyder did the unthinkable IMO and it completely surpassed all my expectations. As a film though, i only thought it was "good", but not ground breaking. It had way better visuals than story, i find. And no, the squid would not have made it better in fact, i never liked that plot point. And i fully understood it. It was just not my cup of tea.
P862010 - 9/10/2010, 3:03 PM
as much as Darren Aranofsky is a far superior director to snyder he owuld of done the same changes greengrass did when he was on the project
lalosuper3001 - 9/10/2010, 3:10 PM
wow. Is that supposed to be the Owl ship? I am so glad they went with Snyder. No matter what bad reviews some peopla gave it, I am very pleased with the outcome (but I miss the squid...)
marvel72 - 9/10/2010, 3:15 PM
zack snyder watchmen is i think the best comic movie ever!

i love these designs though,they look epic.
secretasianboy - 9/10/2010, 3:36 PM
so happy this never happened
Checkmate - 9/10/2010, 3:37 PM
Seeing the squid was my WTF moment of the comic. I still really love it though, it's one of my favorite graphic novels of all time.
bleedthefreak - 9/10/2010, 3:58 PM
Literally just finished watchmen for the first time last night, being skeptical form mixed reviews from fans. It was great and certainly has a place in my top 5 favorite CBM.
patriautism - 9/10/2010, 4:14 PM
Alan Moore for Rasputin
MichaelEsquire - 9/10/2010, 4:19 PM
What Paul Greengrass would have made is an adaptation of the story based upon the themes. What Zach Snyder did was make a movie of the comic book.
redrum010 - 9/10/2010, 4:46 PM
I wasn't a fan of the movie the first time I saw it, but it did eventually grow on me and now I think it's one of the best CBM's ever made. Thank God they canned Greengrass's version.
AlReg - 9/10/2010, 5:57 PM
I wonder when production art and the scripts from the Justice League Mortal movie script will be released this is fine but I think it's more interesting to see stuff that never made it.
joncochino - 9/10/2010, 8:04 PM
i loved the way it turned out..i still watch it all the time yo!
rodsvilaca - 9/10/2010, 8:25 PM
Well, it could possibly be more EPIC and IMMERSIVE than Moore-Gibons-now-Snyder version of WATCHMEN movie was at last...
NERO - 9/10/2010, 9:48 PM
....Thank God they didn't make that version. I think by the time the film was to have been made the nation as a whole didn't need any more political commentary from Hollywood, especially not hammering home the whole "We hate Bush thing." Believe me we got it. Move on. It would have really just been a wasted statement. Look at Oliver Stone’s W; it barely made a blip.

Was the cold war aspect harder to relate to? Maybe for some, but it stayed true to the source. Some things don't need to be contemporized. Sometimes I think we bash the current time over the head as being super relevant, but years from now people will just scoff at our own perceived self importance. Even looking back on the cold war now with the benefit of hindsight one has to ponder its overall importance. Could we have vaporized all of civilization? Of course, but I think the fact that we didn't says more about the nature of man than bashing Bush or Reagan, Nixon, or the cheap shot of blowing Lee Iacocca’s brains out on film.

Watchmen was a great adaptation. It was a good CBM made from a great comic tale, why change what many consider to be the magnum opus of the comic book genre.
johan02 - 9/11/2010, 4:16 AM
I personally think Snyder's movie was perfect in almost every way.
I can never understand the need Hollywood seems to have to change everything they get there hands on. I think it's funny how Hollywood writers NEVER have an original idea until someone says "Hey heres a really great comic(or novel or play etc.)lets make a movie so we can cash in on all the things people love about it!" then they can't stop coming up with horrible ideas.
the thing that gets me is if a thing already has a fan base large enough to get some Hollywood big wigs attention why in the world would they change anything, at the risk of losing the fans they hoped to embezzle?
but, I digress.
in any regard I am glad this version never got off the ground, that Owl Ship looks like some kind of messed up Tie Fighter or something.
oh, and for those who care to know, the main thing that upset me about Snyder's version was the way he depicted the relationship between Dr. Manhattan and the lovely Laurie Juspeczyk. I know the good Dr. is meant to be emotionally distant, and is always talking in future tense, but the way Snyder wrote the scenes between the two of them it almost felt as if Dr. Manhattan was pushing Laurie away instead of just simply no noticing her passing interest caused by his detachment. but, once again I digress.
LEEE777 - 9/11/2010, 5:26 AM
WATCHMEN best CBM ever made!!!

(maybe bar SUPERMAN THE MOVIE)

Knew about this, good pics tho!
Bandrews1 - 9/11/2010, 6:55 AM
I'm satisfied with the version we got.
marvel72 - 9/11/2010, 7:47 AM
@ elguason

1.the watchmen
2.the dark knight
3.spider-man 2
4.iron man
5.the incredible hulk
Superman4 - 9/11/2010, 11:06 AM
I think it would be cool if they did a tv series about Rorschach and Nite Owl when they were partners.
jbak368 - 9/11/2010, 3:02 PM
Personally, it sounds to me like Greengrass' version would've been everything I wish Snyder's had been (but knew it wouldn't be). I'm much more interested in seeing an adaptation of the characters and themes to a different medium than I am a something that is so devoted to the comic that it ignores things that plainly don't work in the film (for example, almost every time a song was used in Watchmen the book, it was incredibly potent, but when they use the same song for a scene in the movie it goes completely against the tone and totally ruins the moment for me. 'All Along the Watchtower,' '99 Red Balloons,' and especially 'Hallelujah' all had me cringing. In fact, when Leonard Cohen started singing 'I heard there was a secret chord' in that deep funereal voice of his, people in the theater started laughing. The songs work in the book because of the lyrics, but the music is all wrong for the scenes. In fact, the best musical moment in the movie was the opening set to 'The Times They Are A-Changing,' which is not in the book.).

Of course, I understand this opinion is not generally shared around here, but I'd say that's because the focus is more on being faithful to the comic than making a great film, two things which don't necessarily go together.
RomatEr - 9/11/2010, 10:49 PM
@jbak368 You know, you're not the only one who doesn't like it. I do too, and for a lot of the same reasons that you do

Zack Snyder = The WORST choice to direct Watchmen. He clearly didn't get it. See, he might have copied the comic verbatim (ala 300), but he NEVER captured the feeling or the spirit of it, and that's why it's no good.

The musical selections were SHIT! If I ever here Leonard Cohen during a sex scene in a movie again, I will hunt that sonuvabitch down!

And not having the squid is not a good idea. It might be goofy in a film version, but replacing it with Dr. Manhattan clones is stupid because it's trying to make it's own sequel, which thankfully, WILL NEVER HAPPEN.

If this ever gets rebooted, please just make it into a HBO miniseries or something.
RamoneChamone - 9/12/2010, 12:42 AM
@Shazam...damn you man, why did you have to remind me about that picture.haha
What has been seen cannot be unseen :(
Bad enough that hes getting a call up for ghost rider 2!!
Hardshaw - 9/12/2010, 3:26 AM
Paul Greengrass is a far superior director so this was a wasted opportunity,a cool documentary style feel would have complemented the graphic novel as opposed to a direct page turning boring translation that we got in the end?
Hyson - 9/12/2010, 11:03 AM
Where's the squid?
FoxForce5 - 9/13/2010, 8:14 AM
I for one was super happy with the version Snyder gave us! I don't think there was ever a more faithful translation to a comic book or graphic novel & it has, imo, set a new bar for CBMs. Especally the 'Ultamate Edition' which re-incorperated the Black Freighter stuff (and a few other bits) back into the finished film. The idea of changing it and updating it would have made it something other that what it should have.

As for stuff not working (like some of the musical stuff) - I don't think it all plays 100% effective but there's nothing there I can't live with or that I hate.

Finally, about the squid: had Moore wanted to give his input on it, Snyder said he'd have listened but Moore wouldn't even discuss the matter with maybe the one person in Hollywood who would have bowed the the whims of the man who created it. So, instead, Snyder went to the next guy down the line, Watchmen artist & co-creator, Dave Gibbons who said he thought the idea of the squid on the screen would have been terrible and perfered the Dr. Manhattan sub-plot. -I agree as well.
RyKnow - 9/16/2010, 2:19 AM
I reckon this could have been a lot better than what we ended up getting. Cold War films are a bit dated now so a contemporary setting would have benefited the film and made it more interesting to watch. Plus, a director adapting a piece of work needs to add his own flair, not just copy it word for word, scene for scene etc. Snyder pulled Dawn of the Dead off perfectly, but I've never really been impressed with anything he's done since.
Just my opinion though.
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