Zack Snyder won the Saturn award for 300, but all the talk at the Sci-Fi ceremony was of Watchmen. Still battling for his three hour cut, Snyder also revealed how much of the film’s visual effects work is completed.
“I think the version I have right now has maybe two real Dr. Manhattan shots in it and they’re not even done,” said Snyder. “There are two shots that don’t look like Billy [Crudup] in the light suit in the movie.”
With the movie less than a year away (March 2009), shouldn’t they be a little closer? “The visual effects supervisor is totally on it. I mean, exploratory of Manhattan and all that stuff has been happening and it’s super cool.”
For those who aren’t ultra-comic book fans, Snyder offered a perspective on the Watchmen characters. “There are two ways to look at them. One says like, oh, it’s like a dysfunctional family. It’s like a Thanksgiving. Then you could also say they’re all personality traits of a single person, which is also a really cool way to look at it.”
Perhaps the two main characters are Dr. Manhattan and The Comedian, each of whom could be seen to drive the movie. “I think to me it’s Manhattan’s movie in a lot of ways, because it’s his influence on the world but it’s also The Comedian’s movie in a way because it’s his influence on all of them. I mean, Rorschach is seminal and he’s everyone’s favorite. And Jackie [Earle Haley]‘s a frickin’ rock star in the movie.”
