200810021203Warners screened some 28 minutes of WATCHMEN footage last night. Director Zack Snyder engaged in a Q&A afterwards, and the media is all over it today. The NY Times has a wide-ranging report on the ongoing litigation and the footage:

The scenes on display Wednesday spared nothing when it comes to the messy side of the super life. One scene in the R-rated film has an unclothed pair of heroes lounging in their high-powered “Owl Ship” after a love-making session. Another focused on the gore-spattered ceiling left behind by some super-action.

In all, the scenes gave a much deeper look at the film than did the extended trailer Mr. Snyder showed at the Comic-Con comics and fantasy convention in San Diego last summer. Indeed, a 12-minute credits sequence retold American history from the 1930s to the 1970s, as if heroes — good, and not so — had driven the action.

“They’re all broken,” Mr. Snyder said in explaining his lead characters to the group. One of the more pressing questions from the gathered journalists and fans had to do with the possibility — devotees would say “threat” — of sequels. Mr. Snyder said there would be none, or, at least, none with him involved.


Alex Billington at First Showing has the gush report:

My initial reaction to what we were shown was that of utter amazement – this looked absolutely phenomenal. I’ve been very excited for this, but this surpassed even my expectations. We were shown the opening scene and opening credits, a montage sequence of Dr. Manhattan’s origin, and a fight scene in jail. I got constant chills watching every last scene and sat in awe throughout the entire presentation. Watchmen looks like it’s going to be The Matrix all over again. This movie is going to take us on one hell of an incredible ride next March.


However, leave it to io9 and Movieweb to get to what we’ve been asking here all along? WILL WE SEE DR. MANHATTAN’S PEEPEE? The answer is YES!!!

[Quoth Snyder:]“It was a weird process. We made a wedge. That’s a visual effects term. It was done in quick time. We would scroll the length up and down. And we wrapped it around a frame. Of course we were worried about the rating. Yeah. We are still nervous about it. It wasn’t so much about taking any inches off. It was more about how many times you get to see him. We have an R rating right now. So they’ve seen him. Maybe, partly because he is CG, they thought it was okay. It was a really practical decision to make it that length. Then we put him in the thong, which is CG. We basically took his outfit from the book. But, as in the book, we took it off him. Because he just lets it go. He certainly lets it all hang out.”


ComingSoon.net has a minute by minute breakdown of the footage.

12 COMMENTS

  1. SPOILER (via the minute (ha) by minute breakdown)!

    The Comedian shot JFK? Dr. Manhattan was married? (or is that a misconception of the reporter?) Mmmm… IMAX… I’m kinda disappointed they didn’t use Ric Burns for the bonus “Under the Hood” video, instead going for a “60 Minutes” feel.

    When this movie comes out, it will do for superhero movies what “2001” did for science fiction movies.

  2. Zack Snyder is probably not only THE only person that could pull off this movie, but also make it great. I feel kind of bad for him, because you can see how much The Watchmen means to him, Alan Moor so wants to hate his film until his dieing breath.
    …and poor Alan Moore, because I know how he feels about all this. He’s talked about it being like having a child turn to prostitution, but what’s really happened is that he’s created a work of art that is so potent, so powerful, that it’s taken on a life of it’s own, and transcended him. Many parents freak out when their kids do that. You can plan all you want for your children, but if you’ve done a good enough job with them, they’re going to make their mark on the world in their own way. What must it be like to have made something that has impressed it’s self upon people hearts and minds so powerfully that they are all moved to pay tribute to it (not Moore but it) and direct people’s attention to it in every way that they can think of? However much Alan Moore hates it all, I still say it’s a good thing, and envy him.

  3. I have tried to avoid all reportage and trailers before I see the film,
    but I have to ask why Dr. Manhattan is a cgi model?
    Seems like using cgi just for the sake of it.

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