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Watchmen


Watchmen
is an upcoming 2009 American superhero film directed
by Zack Snyder. Based on the 1986 comic book limited
series Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons,
the film adaptation stars Patrick Wilson, Jackie
Earle Haley, Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Jeffrey
Dean Morgan, Matthew Goode, Stephen McHattie,
Matt Frewer, and Carla Gugino. Set in 1985, the
film follows a group of former vigilantes as tensions
heighten between the United States and the Soviet
Union while an investigation of an apparent conspiracy
against them uncovers something even more grandiose
and sinister. The film began shooting in Vancouver
in September 2007 for release on March 6, 2009.
As
with his previous film 300, Snyder closely modeled
his storyboards on the comic, but he chose not
to shoot all of Watchmen using chroma key and
opted for more sets.
Following the series' publication, the film adaptation
was mired in development hell. Producer Lawrence
Gordon began developing the project at 20th Century
Fox and Warner Bros. with producer Joel Silver
and director Terry Gilliam, the latter eventually
deeming the complex novel unfilmable.
During
the 2000s, Gordon and Lloyd Levin collaborated
with Universal Studios and Paramount Pictures
to produce a script by David Hayter (who set it
in modern times).
Darren
Aronofsky and Paul Greengrass were attached to
Paramount's project, before it was canceled over
budget disputes. The project returned to Warner
Bros., where Snyder was hired to direct (Paramount
remained as international distributor). Fox sued
Warner Bros. for copyright violation arising from
Gordon's failure to pay a buy-out in 1991, which
enabled him to develop the film at the other studios.
Fox and Warner Bros. settled this before the film's
release and Fox will receive a portion of the
gross.
A DVD based on elements of the Watchmen universe
will be released; it will include an animated
adaptation of the comic Tales of the Black Freighter
within the story, starring Gerard Butler, and
the documentary Under the Hood, detailing the
older generation of superheroes from the film's
back-story. An extended edition of the film, with
Tales of the Black Freighter interspersed through
the main storyline in a manner reminiscent of
the comic, is forthcoming. (Credit:
Wikipedia).
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