Rabidly enthusiastic genre director Zack Snyder continues to fight the studio for his three-hour version of the comic book movie, Watchmen.
While picking up his Saturn Award for 300 from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films recently, Director Zack Snyder gave a post-production update on Watchmen.
"We're in the editing process," he told FRED TOPEL. "I feel like just from looking at the first cuts of the movie that I think it's shaping up to be, as far as I'm concerned, for me as a fan, I'm pretty happy with it."
Of course, the visual effects still have a long way to go, especially those that will turn Billy Crudup from an actor in a light suit into the computer-generated Doctor Manhattan, the one character in the story with genuine superpowers.
"What we did with Billy is basically, because Dr. Manhattan glows and has all sorts of light, we built him this suit that has LEDs all over it because he's going to be a CG guy," said Snyder. "They film his face with two HD cameras and that performance goes onto the CG guy so it's Billy's face."
Warner Bros has been pressuring Snyder to trim the film down from the current R-rated, three-hour "Director's" cut--obviously to increase the studio's potential box office return on its large budgetary investment.
"That's just the reality of the marketplace and a three-hour movie," admitted Snyder. But he's still standing his ground. "I think all the stuff that's in there right now is the stuff that makes the experience of Watchmen, Watchmen."
Although he knows there must be a balancing act between the fanboy who gets attached to all 180 minutes and the major motion picture director who must make the film as tight as possible, the storyteller in Zack Snyder is also concerned about the integrity of his source material. "For me the hardest part is when is it not Watchmen anymore? I don't think that's a danger but it's a thing that I'm trying to be the gatekeeper of while other forces conspire to say, 'No, length, length, length, playability.' Whatever the hell that means."
So, in order to make his case for keeping the "hardcore" Watchmen material in the movie, Snyder assembled a "sizzle reel" of potential visual effects eye candy that would help viewers pass the long running time.
"Pretty much I put together just shots, even with green screen, there was no visual effects," he explained. "It was just some cool stuff, but this could be awesome, this could be awesome and then it ended up being super awesome. They were able to go like, 'Wow, you know what? That has potential to be cool.'"
Moviegoers will watch the Watchmen beginning March 6th next year.