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Who watches the watchmen?

It looks like thousands of fans will be!!! At last the cast is confirmed, the director is set, the screenplay has been ready for years, and now it seems that the most anticipated graphic novel film adaption ever, will finally make its way to the big screen.

Watchmen Cast Confirmed!

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

July 26, 2007

Warner Bros. Pictures has confirmed the cast for Watchmen, the big screen adaptation of the seminal DC Comics limited series.

Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley, Matthew Goode, Billy Crudup, Jeffrey Dean Morgan ("Grey's Anatomy") and Malin Akerman will star in the Warner Bros. movie, which Zack Snyder is directing. Larry Gordon, Lloyd Levin and Deborah Snyder are producing.

Set in an alternate America, Watchmen follows costumed hero Rorschach, who is living a vigilante lifestyle because most masked heroes have retired or been outlawed. While investigating a murder, Rorschach learns that a former masked-hero colleague has been killed, prompting him to begin investigating a possible conspiracy.

Haley will play Walter Kovacs, aka Rorschach, who ignores the ban on costumed vigilantes.

Crudup will play Dr. Manhattan, a superpowered being with godlike powers and temperament.

Akerman will play Laurie Juspeczyk/the Silk Spectre, who is involved with Dr. Manhattan -- but that relationship begins to fall apart as he becomes more disconnected from humanity.

Goode will play Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias, a costumed adventurer who retired voluntarily, disclosed his identity and built a large fortune. He hatches a plot to avert a global catastrophe he believes will be caused by Dr. Manhattan.

Wilson will play the Nite-Owl, a crime-figher who uses technical wizardry and has an owl-shaped flying vehicle.

Morgan will play the Comedian, a cigar-chomping, gun-toting vigilante-turned-paramilitary agent.

Watchmen was created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

Shooting is set to start in the fall in Vancouver, with Snyder employing many of the filming techniques he used for his boxoffice success 300.

Screenplay was adapted by David Hayter, and has been hailed as the best adaptation to date of this iconic graphic novel. In the same manner that the film "The Godfather" transcended its original medium, so it can be said of "Watchmen".

I had the pleasure and privilege of knowing David. Our paths crossed on many occasions, especially during the production of "BURN" which he produced and starred in, and whose other producers included Adam Duritz (Counting Crows) & Bryan Singer ( XMen).

For anyone who might be unfamiliar ( Shame on you!!) with this iconic Hugo Award winning graphic novel - I offer this from Wiki ( which I have reworked)

Watchmen is set in 1985, in an alternative US, where costumed adventurers are real and the country is edging closer to a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. (The Doomsday Clock featured in the novel, is at five minutes to midnight). It is the story of a group of superheros who have been forced as outcasts in a society that no longer embrace Superheros, and the events surrounding the mysterious murder of one of their own. Watchmen depicts superheroes as real people who must confront ethical and personal issues, who struggle with neuroses and failings, and who - with one notable exception - lack anything recognizable as superpowers.

Watchmen's deconstruction of the conventional superhero archetype, combined with its innovative adaptation of cinematic techiques in written form and heavy use of symbolism, multi-layered dialogue, and metafiction, has influenced both comics and film. What is unique is that Moore incorporates a comic book within the Watchmen universe: Tales of the Black Freighter, which serves as a foil for the main plot.

Read this to get a detailed plot summary, an understanding of the themes, iconography, art & history allusions. Better yet - read the graphic novel!

Update: Watchmen Production Blog
Check out the awesome pics from the set!