Entertainment Weekly has an interesting interview with Alan Moore on comics and motion media.

Do you think that any good can come of comics movies?

I increasingly fear that nothing good can come of almost any adaptation, and obviously that’s sweeping. There are a couple of adaptations that are perhaps as good or better than the original work. But the vast majority of them are pointless.

We all know that Alan Moore has never been a fan of his work being translated into motion picture or television form.  I just thought this was a good summation of his overall argument.

via Entertainment Weekly

Apple’s QuickTime Trailer site has it in the full glory, and you are going to want to download the HD version, just so you can watch it again, and again, and again, and again.

For those of you who think this movie is going to suck - I gotta say I was blown away by the visuals in this trailer.  From the visuals alone, this looks like a great interpretation of the film.  Yes, there are going to be some differences, but oh boy I’m thinking I can look past that.

Check it out for yourself!  Click the image to view!

Watchmen Trailer

HOLY FREAKIN’ CRAP!  March 6, 2009 can not come fast enough.

via Apple

EW.com has the first images of the Watchmen action figures based on the upcoming Zack Snyder movie from Warner Bros.

The figures look spectacular, I just hope they are truly action figures instead of nicely molded pieces of plastic that end up as inexpensive maquettes for those who can’t afford the real deal.

If you happen to be in New York and are attending the New York Comic Con, DC Direct will unveil the first four prototypes on Friday, April 18.

BTW: Both figures will arrive in stores in January 2009 with a price tag of $14.99.

via EW.com

Now that principle photography for Watchmen has wrapped, Zack Snyder updated his blog to thank everyone involved, including the legion of Watchmen fans who have supported everything he has been doing.

While I’m in the process of thanking people, I figure it’s a good time to say thanks to the Watchmen fans for all of their continued support. Since the crew got wrap gifts, I figured you deserved a little something as well. So, to bring a little closure to the previous “Storyboard” blog, I’ve included a frame from the film that shows what it looks like when it all comes together. Thanks!

Oh yeah, you wanna take the jump for this one!

(more…)

Even though Fox is trying to stop Warner Bros. from completing the film, Executive Producer Herb Gains has a report on the final days of shooting.

As we approach the last days of shooting Watchmen — yes, the end is nigh — it’s time to reflect on the whole Watchmen experience. I think back to January 2007 when I first met Zack and he walked me through his drawings for the title sequence. I remember my initial reaction was, How can we shoot all of it? Why do we have to shoot all that? And if we do, how do we shoot all of it? We spent the next two months scouting, researching and budgeting locations all over the world, including Australia, London, Prague, Spain — at one point we even considered New York — and, of course, Los Angeles.

Read the rest of his comments and his thank you to Zack Snyder at the official Watchmen website.

Every bit of news that now comes out about this film, means it is closer to release than every before. I’m so excited!

via Watchmen

Who watches the Watchmen? No one if Fox has its way. The writer’s strike cost Hollywood an estimated 2 billion dollars, and it looks like movie company is trying to recoup some of that lost revenue by suing Warner Bros. over the film rights to the Watchmen movie.

According to an article in the Hollywood Reporter, 20th Century Fox holds the exclusive copyrights and contract rights to the Alan Moore inspired film.

Fox claims that between 1986 and 1990, it acquired all movie rights to the 12-issue DC Comics series and screenplays by Charles McKeown and Sam Hamm. In 1991, Fox assigned some rights via a quitclaim to Largo International with the understanding that the studio held exclusive rights to distribute the first motion picture based on “Watchmen,” according to the lawsuit.

When Largo folded, Fox said the film could be shopped around only when a buy-out price was paid. Now that the film is deep in production under the watchful eye of Zack Snyder, Fox decided it was time to pull its trump card claiming the company never received the fee.

I’ll say one thing about Marvel, creating their own movie company where they control everything is probably the smartest move any comic company could do. It’s a wonder Warner Bros., which owns DC, never came up with the idea to keep its properties in house to avoid this very thing.

While I have only seen a few select shots from the film, if someone like me has been in the know about the Watchmen film, it’s a sure bet Fox knew long before a single frame of film was shot, which makes me believe this lawsuit is nothing more than a way to extort money from the WB. Hurm…

via Hollywood Reporter

Carla Gugino has been cast as Sally Jupiter/Silk Spectre in the Watchmen movie. Since the graphic novel features Jupiter at various points in her life, it is expected Gugino will go through some makeup treatments to age her throughout the film.

via Hollywood Reporter

Serves me right for reading the small print too quickly … corrections below.

DC Comics has announced the much anticipated (at least by me) League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill will not ONLY be published in the United States of America due to concerns over international copyrights and related issues.

Here’s how the solicitation reads for those of you overseas who won’t be enjoying the 200+ page tome:

England in the mid-1950s is not the same as it was. The powers that be have instituted some changes. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen have been disbanded and disavowed, and the country is under the control of an iron-fisted regime. Now, after many years, the still youthful Mina Murray and a rejuvenated Allan Quatermain return in search of some answers — answers that can only be found in a book buried deep in the vaults of their old headquarters — a book that holds the key to the hidden history of the League throughout the ages: The Black Dossier. As Allan and Mina delve into the details of their precursors, some dating back centuries, they must elude their dangerous pursuers who are hellbent on retrieving the lost manuscript…and ending the League once and for all.

THE BLACK DOSSIER is an elaborately designed, cutting-edge volume that includes a “Tijuana Bible” insert and a 3-D section complete with custom glasses, as well as additional text pieces, maps, and a stunning cutaway double-page spread of Captain Nemo’s Nautilus submarine by Kevin O’Neill. Don’t miss what’s sure to be one of the most talked-about books of the year!

Sorry for the confussion!

via DC Comics

Comic2Film recorded this clip from the San Diego Comic-Con Watchmen panel. It isn’t the complete panel, but gives you enough information to see that Zach is truly motivated in doing something right.

via Comics2Film

The cast for the Watchmen movie has been announced. Some of the names may be familiar to some and surprises to others.

Jackie Earle Haley
Rorschach

Billy Crudup
Dr. Manhattan

Malin Akerman
Laurie Juspeczyk (the Silk Spectre)

Matthew Goode
Adrian Veidt (Ozymandias)

Patrick Wilson
Nite-Owl

Jeffrey Dean Morgan
The Comedian

Shooting will start this fall in Vancouver, and will be directed by Zach Snyder. If you are at the Warner Bros. Panel on Friday at the San Diego Comic-Con, don’t be surprised if the cast and director make an appearance.

via Hollywood Reporter

Daniel Robert Epstein has an interview with Ron Perlman over at Newsarama, in which the actor says he may be up for the role of the Comedian in the Zach Snyder directed Watchmen movie. Interesting if it is true!

Daniel Robert Epstein: Besides Hellboy what has been necessary for your work in terms of reading comics?

Ron Perlman: Well, Frank Darabont is a really close friend of Guillermo’s and they share a boyish passion for comic books. The first time I ever met Frank was in a comic book store here on Melrose in Los Angeles. In aisle three we had a long, wonderful meeting and he told me I had to read League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and everything that Alan Moore wrote. Then Watchmen came up because [Hellboy producers] Larry Gordon and Lloyd Levin have the rights to make the film version of that. They were pushing for me to play the Comedian.

You can check out the entire interview at Newsarama

According to Aint It Cool News, hidden in one of the YouTube trailers for 300 is a test shot of Rorshach from Zach Snyder’s next project - Watchmen.

COOL!

via Aint It Cool News (link)

Northants News is reporting writer Alan Moore will be appear on an upcoming episode of the Simpsons.

Moore, aged 53, recorded his lines at The Lodge studios in Abington Square last month for an episode which will be called Husbands and Knives.

The Simpsons’ production team are long-time fans of Moore’s, whose reputation in the world of graphic novels is legendary.

A chance meeting with his fiancée Melinda Gebbie got the project rolling.

Mr Moore said: “Mel was in America promoting our new book The Lost Girls and one of the Simpsons producers spoke to her and asked if I would be in the show.

“She said: ‘Why don’t you give him a ring he’s very approachable’. “I was happy to do it. I’m a big fan of The Simpsons.”

No info on the date the episode will air.

via Northants News (link)

Top Shelf Productions is pleased to announce that the Canada Border Services Agency (Canada Customs) has formally cleared Alan Moore & Melinda Gebbie’s LOST GIRLS for importation into Canada.

In a thoughtful letter from the agency, dated 27 October 2006, the CBSA stated that the “depictions and descriptions are integral to the development of an intricate, imaginative, and artfully rendered storyline,” and that “the portrayal of sex is necessary to a wider artistic and literary purpose.” They concluded with “Its importation into Canada is therefore allowed.”

We’re very grateful to the Canada Border Services Agency for their enlightened decision regarding Lost Girls, as well as to our Canadian attorney Darrel H. Pearson (of Gottlieb & Pearson) for helping us prepare the documents necessary to request a formal review of the work.

What this means is that the book will now be available to all Canadian retailers and fans as soon as the new printing arrives at our distributor (Diamond Book Distributors) in mid-December. This new printing will likely sell out in a single day, so please be sure to put your orders into the Diamond system as soon as you can, to make sure you get the copies you need.

via Top Shelf Productions (link)