It’s a wave of Watchmania!
The 20th anniversary of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ landmark graphic novel brings us a handsome new oversized edition of the 12-part serial, an oral history of the Watchmen phenomenon in Entertainment Weekly (the reclusive Moore speaks!), the appearance of the comic opus on Time’s list of the century’s greatest novels, and a forthcoming movie adaptation scripted by David Hayter (X-Men).
But whom to cast? PopWatch commenter Ned has already gotten a jump on the casting suggestions (click here and scroll down for his picks), but anyone can play. Here are my picks:
Dr. Manhattan Atomic-powered hero who can rearrange matter at will and can also experience past, present, and future simultaneously. As a result, he has a profoundly passive, fatalistic outlook. I’m thinking Nicolas Cage or Johnny Depp.
Ozymandias Fancies himself the world’s smartest man. Glamorous, sophisticated and lethally cool. I imagine Brad Pitt or Clive Owen.
Rorschach A hooded vigilante with a changing-inkblot mask and a dogmatic righteous streak, he’s the Travis Bickle of the saga. My pick: Steve Buscemi.
Nite Owl Gadget-loving hero entering a soft, sad-sack middle age. Someone like Paul Giamatti, only taller. Maybe Russell Crowe, made up to look the way he did in The Insider.
Silk Spectre Heroine who resents her token female sex-symbol status. She also resents her mother, the original Silk Spectre, for making her go into the business. How about a real-life second-generation screen heroine, like Angelina Jolie or Gwyneth Paltrow?
The Comedian An old-school, cigar-chomping, G. Gordon Liddy-type black-ops specialist who did dirty work for America during the Cold War. Burt Reynolds comes to mind.
Who would you watch in Watchmen?
Comments (1-16) of 16 Add your comment
Hmmm. Egos and salaries certainly don’t allow for the aforementioned cast.
Night Owl – John Cusack
Hollis Mason – Terry O’Quinn
Silk Spectre – Laura Linney
Sally Jupiter – Sigourney Weaver
Dr. Manhattan – George Eads
Rorschach – Brian F. O’Byrne
Ozymandius – Viggo Mortensen
Comedian – Mickey Rourke
I like Mickey Rourke as the Comedian, but I think he’s grown old in a way that, say, Bruce Willis has not. I think Willis would be better. I would actually suggest Burt Reynolds, but I don’t think he really has the acting chops anymore to make a strong impression in what is essentially a cameo.
My list would be:
DR. MANHATTAN
Terry O’Quinn for the flashbacks, when he was a human. As Dr. Manhattan, a CGI version of O’Quinn (idealized, young, ripped) to O’Quinn’s vocal performance and movement capture. Wouldn’t that be great?
(Alternates: Clive Owen or Viggo, done as above.)
NIGHT OWL
Philip Seymour Hoffman.
(You know he’d find some way to make it work.)
(Alternate: Jeff Bridges)
SILK SPECTRE
Sela Ward for I, Laura Linney for II.
OZYMANDIAS
Ralph Fiennes, or possibly Christian Bale.
(You need someone who projects iron control, and who can sell the scene very late in the story where he suddenly can kick everyone’s ass. Bale might actually be better for that purpose, but he lacks Fiennes’ gravitas.)
COMEDIAN
Russell Crowe, if he was willing to take the role.
RORSHACH
Sean Penn.
(Alternates: William H. Macy, Guy Pearce.)
Hey, how ’bout nobody plays these characters. Who wants to see this?
Who’s watching The Watchmen?? NOBODY. The studio heads looking to make this movie are going to see their heads roll. Hasn’t ANYONE learned anything from Hellboy, Catwoman, Sin City, The Phantom or ANY of those other obscure comic book films that made less than modest profits or suffered monstrous losses? Beyond their small core audience, nobody cares!!
Fantasy Casting the Watchmen
Pop Watch is doing a little fantasy casting, contemplating the ideal cast for the Watchmen film, should it ever actually get off the ground. Here are my unscientific, almost-bedtime, I’m really punchy thoughts. Dr. Manhattan. The guy’s blue; he exists…
Sequels are being planned for Hellboy and Sin City, so they must not have done that badly. Catwoman and The Phantom were just really bad movies. Blade was more obscure than The Watchmen, and that was very successful. If done correctly Watchmen could be fantastic, although it’s so intricate, I think an HBO miniseries would be better.
I agree with just about everything you said, Ned. Although I’m a comic reader and I do enjoy some of the obscure comic book movies, I think it’s senseless to make big budget films based on a lot of them, and the Watchmen falls into that category. This could be a disaster of League of Extraordinary Gentleman proportions.
Point taken, but the way I look at it, it ain’t me putting up the money for the budget, so if a studio is willing to take the risk on a great property like Watchmen, more power to them. I don’t see any money from it whether it’s a blockbuster or a flop, all I have to do is watch it. I’m not going to lose any sleep worrying if some producer is going to get richer or just break even.
Dr. Manhattan – Jude Law
Ozymandias – Aaron Eckhart
Rorschach – William H.Macy
Nite Owl – Jeff Bridges
Silk Spectre – Jennifer Connelly
The Comedian – Mel Gibson
Unfortunately the director won’t be Richard – DONNIE DARKO – Kelly
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