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Watchmen (2009) More at IMDbPro »

• The movie rights to the Alan Moore graphic novels Watchmen and V for Vendetta (2005) were acquired together in the late 1980s. Moore was asked to write a script, but declined. The studio then had Sam Hamm write a script. Terry Gilliam considered directing this film as early as 1989, but after several rewrites assisted by Charles McKeown, decided the material unfilmable except as a 5-hour miniseries at a cost of $1,000,000 per page (with CGI not in use yet). Michael Bay was considered as director in 2003. In 2004 the rights had been sold to Paramount, where Paul Greengrass planned a loose adaptation set in the present day. Warner Brothers soon reacquired the rights for Darren Aronofsky, who also wanted a present-day setting, replacing Vietnam with Iraq and terrorism. Uncomfortable with that, Warner hired Zack Snyder, of 300 (2006) fame. Casting rumors over the years included Sigourney Weaver (Sally Jupiter); John Hurt, Robin Williams, Doug Hutchison, Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg (Rorschach); Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dolph Lundgren (Dr. Manhattan); Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Busey, Ron Perlman, Thomas Jane (Comedian); Richard Gere, Kevin Costner, John Cusack, Joaquin Phoenix (Nite Owl); Nathan Fillion (either Comedian or Nite Owl); Jamie Lee Curtis, Hilary Swank, Jessica Biel, Hilary Duff (Silk Spectre); Tom Cruise, Jude Law (Ozymandias). In the finished film, Jackie Earle Haley is the only one of the seven primary cast members who was even in the film industry when the movie was first attempted.
  
  
• The first official image from director Zack Snyder - a test shot of Rorshach holding The Comedian's button - was actually hidden in a trailer for Snyder's previous film, 300 (2006). It features that film's associate producer, Wesley Coller, wearing a makeshift mask in front of a composite New York backdrop, and was created as an experiment by Snyder to establish the mood and look of his proposed Watchmen project. Snyder's wife, Deborah Snyder, bet him $100 that no one would discover it, while he was convinced that someone would find it almost immediately. He won.
  
  
• Zack Snyder based his storyboards for the film on the panels of the actual graphic novel. He has stated that in order to be true to the source when adapting a graphic novel to the screen, the original visual art should be respected as much as the written portion. Snyder personally asked Dave Gibbons, the novel's artist, to design the first teaser film poster. Gibbons enthusiastically agreed and designed the poster to have subtle visual clues hinting at the film's plot. When casting the film, each actor was presented with a script and a copy of the book. They were allowed to carry the latter on set and re-write dialog to better match that of the source material. Dozens of scenes reenact panels from the novel. A good example is Rorschach squatting on the windowsill about to enter The Comedian's apartment near the start of the film.
  
  
• Author Alan Moore preemptively disowns all filmed adaptations of his work. When asked in an interview with ReelzChannel.com about original 'Watchmen' writer Alan Moore's dismissal of his movie, Zack Snyder was quoted as saying "Worst case scenario - Alan puts the movie on his DVD player on a cold Sunday in London and watches and says, 'Yeah, that doesn't suck too bad.'" When this was brought up with Moore himself in a later interview in the British Tripwire comics fanzine, the writer commented "That's the worst case scenario? I think he's underestimated what the worst case scenario would be... that's never going to happen in my DVD player in 'London' [Moore very famously lives in Northampton]. I'm never going to watch this fucking thing." Still, Snyder has said that his ultimate hope is that someday Moore will actually see the film and feel it to be a decent representation of the original graphic novel.
  
  
• Zack Snyder wanted to cast his 300 (2006) star Gerard Butler in this film and even promised him a role. When all the roles were cast and Butler didn't have one, Snyder cast him in Tales of the Black Freighter (2009) (V), which is based on the comic-within-a-comic from the Watchmen graphic novel and will be released on DVD around the time Watchmen will be released in theaters.
  
  
• The trailer features the song "The Beginning is the End is the Beginning" by Smashing Pumpkins, which was originally a B-Side for the single "The End is the Beginning is the End", the theme from Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin (1997).
  
  
• When offered the role of Adrian Veidt, Matthew Goode had never read the graphic novel. He called a friend who had and asked if he should even bother to read the script. Not only did the friend say yes, he insisted that Goode immediately read the graphic novel and accept the role without question. Later, after he read both the script and the novel, Goode admitted his friend was right to make him take the role without delay.
  
  
• Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays Edward Morgan Blake, the Comedian. Morgan initially turned down the role after reading the first 3 pages of the script, assuming the character was only a cameo. His agent persuaded him to read the entire script and then make a decision.
  
  
• Zack Snyder cast actors younger than their characters because of the large number of flashbacks in the story. Snyder decided that make-up and special effects artists would have an easier time making actors look older, rather than younger. Carla Gugino (born 1971), 37 while filming, plays the 64-year-old mother of Malin Akerman (born 1978), who in turn is supposed to be younger than the character of Laura Mennell (born 1980). Jeffrey Dean Morgan, however, was not deemed able to play a 16-year-old, so it was decided to change the Comedian's birth year from 1918 to 1924. Jackie Earle Haley, 47, played Rorschach, 45 in the book. The Rorschach newscast gives his age as 35, but this is a character error, as all other chronology in the film indicates that Rorschach is 45, not 35.
  
  
• Zack Snyder cast Matt Frewer after working with him on Dawn of the Dead (2004) and Stephen McHattie after working with him on 300 (2006).
  
  
• When Patrick Wilson was offered the role of Dan Dreiberg he called one of his best friends who is a huge comic book fan and asked him what he knew about the Watchmen comic. He told Patrick that if Patrick was ever to do a superhero movie that this was the one to do. Having got the part, Patrick invited his friend to visit the set when filming the prison escape scene.
  
  
• In the graphic novel, Captain Metropolis and Hooded Justice are a gay couple. There are also several hints questioning the sexual orientation of Adrian Veidt and Rorschach. While the sexuality of the first three is not addressed in the movie, Adrian's sexual orientation is hinted at twice. The first time in during the opening montage when Adrian is in front of Studio 54 (a well known homosexual club in the 70s) with The Village People. The second time is when Night Owl II is on Adrian's computer, a folder on the floppy disc he opens in entitled "Boys".
  
  
• Pieces of 80s pop culture shown on Adrian Veidt's bank of monitors include Apple's "1984" commercial for the Macintosh and the music video for "Addicted to Love" by Robert Palmer.
  
  
• Three Bob Dylan songs are used in the movie. "The Times They Are a-Changin'" for the opening credits, "All Along the Watchtower" near the end, and "Desolation Row" for the closing credits. All three songs were referred to in the original graphic novel. "The Times They Are a-Changin'" is the only one where the Bob Dylan version is used as the other two are covered by Jimi Hendrix and My Chemical Romance.
  
  
• In the opening montage, Neil Armstrong says 'Good luck, Mr. Gorsky' on the moon. In urban legend, the child Armstrong, searching in his neighbors' backyard for his lost baseball, overhears Mrs. Gorsky from the bedroom saying 'Oral sex?! I'll give you oral sex when that kid next door walks on the moon!' and so, years later, says 'Good luck, Mr. Gorsky' as the first lunar transmission to Earth. This story has been debunked by Armstrong himself and other sources.
  
  
• Rorschach's name refers to the famous Rorschach inkblot test used in psychotherapy. In the graphic novel, we learn that the material from his mask was intended for a dress belonging to Catherine Genovese, better known as Kitty Genovese. Her murder in public view sparked an outcry about bystander apathy. Ozymandias is a Greek name for Rameses II, and the title of a sonnet by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The inscription from a ruined statue quoted in the sonnet appears under a massive Egyptian bust in his lair.
  
  
• Silhouette kisses the nurse in the V-J Day celebration in Times Square, taking the place of the sailor in Alfred Eisenstaedt's famous photo. As the women part, the sailor is walking towards them. Sally Jupiter's retirement party recreates the Last Supper painting by Leonardo Da Vinci. The photo of The Comedian shaking hands with President Nixon is based on the photograph of Richard Nixon and Elvis Presley.
  
  
• Was shipped to some theaters under the codename 'Old Heroes Never Die'.
  
  
• The first trailer for the film, which premiered with The Dark Knight (2008) sparked so much interest that it sent the graphic novel back onto the bestseller list. Barnes and Noble Bookstores reported selling out of the novel nationwide.
  
  
• Premiered in more theaters (3,611) than any other R-rated movie. Scored the biggest debut of 2009 with a $55.7 mil weekend gross, in March of the same year, until Monsters vs Aliens (2009) opened a few weeks later.
  
  
• The pistols used by the Comedian are D&L Sports "Professional Model" .45 longslides, and are actual firearms, not prop pieces.
  
  
• Traditionally, CGI characters such as Doctor Manhattan would require two shoots for every scene the character appears. First, the scene would be filmed with a placeholder instead of the CGI character. Then the character's movements would be recorded on a "motion capture" stage to provide a reference in creating the CGI character. Given the amount of screen time Doctor Manhattan has, this would have been an expensive process. Instead, Billy Crudup simultaneously provided Manhattan's placeholder and motion capture on set. Crudup wore a specially-designed motion capture suit and face markers, and was constantly filmed by at least two cameras, one for all-over movement and another trained on his face to follow his expressions. This way, his on-set performance as the placeholder could be used directly in creating the CGI character. To provide the effect of Doctor Manhattan's eerie glow, Crudup's suit was studded with 2500 blue lights, so that he could act as an "exotic lighting instrument". Therefore Manhattan's glow follows his movements more closely than an on-set light could, and illuminates his surroundings in a more convincing manner than a computer effect would.
  
  
• While writing the original graphic novel, Alan Moore was surprised to find out that his intended ending had remarkable similarity to the TV episode "The Outer Limits: The Architects of Fear (#1.3)" (1963). Near the end of the film, Sally Jupiter can be seen watching the series on TV.
  
  
• "Who watches the watchmen?" was spoken by Aristotle responding to the theory of Plato about filakes (Watchmen) who will be the ultimate, infallible authority in the city-state. Aristotle said "Pios tha filatei tus filakes?" ("Who watches the watchmen?") to deny that theory. In the graphic novel, the phrase is never fully seen, being always either partly cover or incompletely written. In the film, the complete phrase appears at least twice, perhaps as the result of editing errors.
  
  
• The computer in Adrian Veidt's office is a black Apple Macintosh SE/30, running in inverted mode on screen. Macintoshes of the era were never officially sold in black, but a consignment is believed to have been once used by the National Security Agency. The program running is an early version of the Mac OS. At the time, these versions were still in black and white, and the production team simply inverted the black and white colors to make it look different.
  
  
• Moloch has a copy of Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" on his bedside table. In this poem the word "moloch" appears several times.
  
  
• On Veidt's desk a copy of Hollis Mason's fictional biography 'Under the Hood' can be seen. The book was quoted in the graphic novel and used to expose plot points that would have been otherwise left unexplored. The song "Ride of The Valkyries," played during Dr. Manhattan's Vietnam battle, is referenced in Mason's recount of a sad childhood memory.
  
  
• The song played during the love scene between Night Owl II and Silk Spectre II is Leonard Cohen 's 1984 version of Hallelujah. This song is often used in movies (by several cover artists) depicting a moment of sadness or heartbreak. In this case it is used in exactly the opposite situation. Significantly, the part used includes the last verse which is usually omitted in most cover versions, but which is fitting in the context of the scene.
  
  
• A copy of the graphic novel "Watchmen" can clearly be seen on Dan's desk in the scene where he and Laurie first make love. Malin Akerman has confirmed its presence in public comments. At 2:14:30 of the two-disc director's cut, a copy of the same book is on the bottom shelf of Hollis Mason's bookshelf when he is being beaten up by the Top Knots.
  
  
• Most of the songs featured in the movie are referenced directly in the comic. The first issue was titled after a "Desolation Row" verse. "Unforgettable" and "The Times They Are A-Changin'" are used in commercials for Adrian Veidt's cologne Nostalgia. "You're My Thrill" is played by Nite Owl II while he and Silk Spectre II are flying people away from the burning building. Issue 11 got its title from a verse in "All Along The Watchtower". "Ride of the Valkyries" is mentioned by the first Nite Owl as being the saddest thing he can think of due to an incident from his childhood. Additionally, the name of "Tales of the Black Freighter" was taken from the Marc Blitzstein translation of Kurt Weill & Bertolt Brecht's "Seeräuber-Jenny" ("Pirate Jenny").
  
  
• Some of the actors chosen to be newscasters (such as Mi-Jung Lee and Lynn Colliar) for bit parts in the movie are in real life newscasters in the Vancouver media.
  
  
• During the scene in which Dan and Laurie are having dinner you can hear someone in the background say "I'm glad I ordered the four-legged chicken!" In the corresponding scene in the original graphic novel, there is an image of a waiter carrying a four-legged chicken.
  
  
• In the clip from Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) seen on one of Ozymandias's TV screens, actor Martin Kove is wearing a Smilie button, which of course is an image associated with Watchmen and The Comedian in particular. However in Rambo, the Smilie is actually frowning.
  
  
• Dr. Manhattan after his accident creates the perfect human form to replace his old body. To achieve Dr. Manhattan's ultra-ripped muscled look, his physique was modeled on that of the actor/model Greg Plitt.
  
  
• Laurie's last name, Juspeczyk, is never spoken at any point in the film. Rorschach even calls her Jupiter in one scene, despite the fact that in the graphic novel Laurie resents her mother's use of Jupiter to distance herself from her Polish roots. Her name is still written down as Juspeczyk at one point in the film. This is likely a nod to the fact that neither Dave Gibbons nor Alan Moore settled on a pronunciation for her name when the comic was made, although they have offered some guesses.
  
  
• The Hustler magazine on The Comedian's table is from August 1985 and contains the headline "Comic Relief".
  
  
• Director Cameo: [Zack Snyder] In the extended cut, as a U.S. soldier during the Vietnam Battle. He is on the chopper with the Comedian.
  
  
• Popular John F. Kennedy assassination-conspiracy-theory suggests that the President was killed by a bullet fired from the front; specifically, from a fence behind a grassy knoll; also that three transients arrested soon after Kennedy's murder are said to be the "additional assassins". The opening montage portrays the Comedian delivering the fatal bullet from the grassy knoll's fence dressed in the same outfit as one of the "3 Tramps" as they were famously photographed. The puff of gun smoke said to have been seen, turns out to be Blake's cigar smoke. At Blake's funeral, the soundtrack plays "The Sound of Silence" by Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel, a song reportedly inspired by national emotional trauma from the Kennedy murder.
  
  
• If you looks closely during the opening credits sequence when Silk Spectre is having her photo taken with the police, you can see the Police Chief slyly trying to look down her blouse. Watch him turn his head and grin.
  
  
• The perfume Nostalgia makes an appearance at the beginning of the film in The Comedian's apartment. It was featured in Laurie and Dr. Manhattan's scene on Mars in the graphic novel and was shown to be one of Veidt's product lines.
  
  
• The clip the Comedian watches on TV is a remake/homage of the famous "Share the Fantasy" Chanel No. 5 ad directed by Ridley Scott, the actual commercial does not contain the song 'Unforgettable' on its soundtrack.
  
  
• Early in the movie, as US-USSR tensions escalate, the 1983 song "99 Luftballons" plays. This song by German singer Nena originates from one of her concerts in Berlin, when her guitarist noticed a mass of balloons being released. He wondered if the balloons drifted over the Berlin Wall to the Soviet (East German) side, whether something so innocent could trigger nuclear war. Both the German and English version "99 Red Balloons" were massive hits. The song is now one of the most famous "one hit wonders" in music history as most of Nena's later recordings were only modestly successful.
  
  
• Lee Iacocca wasn't informed about his portrayal in this film, and wasn't pleased when he heard that he was killed off during the attempted assassination on Veidt. "It's nothing against Lee; I think Lee's awesome," Snyder said. "But he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." About the legal ramifications, Snyder added: "I think we got away with it because the movie has a satirical quality to it. And there were so many other famous people [in the film], lookalikes of Nixon, Annie Leibovitz, or Kennedy. These are the people that we need in the movie to try and create this '80s vibe. And so, when we had the scene where Adrian was meeting with the captains of industry, Lee just kinda jumped out as a famous person you identify with the '80s, but also with being in the automotive industry." Lee later admitted that the actor Walter Addison looked good in the part.
  
  
• A line said by Rorschach, referring to a pagliacci visiting a doctor, is a line taken by a poem from Mexican writer Juan de Dios Peza Reir Llorando, based on famous English comedian David Garrick.
  
  

• SPOILER: As Dr. Manhattan transports a generator to Veidt's laboratory, a large sign is visible in Karnak reading '(S)ub (Q)uantum (U)nified (I)ntrinsic Field (D)evice', the first letters forming the word SQUID when read top to bottom. At the same time, the first generator emits tentacle-like energy emanations housed in a plasma sphere, upon going off the first time and again in New York just before exploding. This is a reference to the original ending of the comic series, which centered on Veidt's creation of a squid-like creature.
  
  
• SPOILER: While Rorschach and Nite Owl are investigating Pyramid International at Veidt Interprises, we can see the Palette of Narmer, an ancient Egyptian work of art, on the mantle above Veidt's cabinets. The palette recounts the rise to power of King Narmer, who, after much violence, united the Upper and Lower Kingdoms of Egypt under one ruler. Similarly, in the film Ozymandias plots to unify the divided nations of the world against a common enemy by globally committing acts of violence in framing Dr. Manhattan.
  
  
• SPOILER: There is a postmodern joke towards the conclusion. In the film, Ozymandias chides Nite Owl II, saying, "Dan, I'm not a comic book villain." Whereas in the comic book he says that he is not a film villain, specifically, "Dan, I'm not a Republic serial villain." Of course, it could be argued that Ozymandias is not in fact a villain at all.
  
  
• SPOILER: Doctor Manhattan likens Laurie's birth to the "thermodynamic miracle" of "turning air into gold". In the comic, Doctor Manhattan elaborates that a "thermodynamic miracle" is an event which is incredibly energetically unfavorable, such as an oxygen atom spontaneously turning into a gold atom. In quantum mechanics, although the odds are beyond astronomical, such a classically-forbidden event can still occur.
  
  
• SPOILER: In the finale, Laurie remarks that Jon (Doctor Manhattan) would say "nothing ever ends". In the comic book, the meaning of this comment is more obvious. The line is delivered by Doctor Manhattan in response to Ozymandias asking if Ozymandias' plan will turn out to be worth the sacrifice "in the end".
  
  
• SPOILER: One of the inkblots that appears during Rorschach's examination, which he perceives to be two lovers (but which he describes as "some nice flowers"), appears twice during his final confrontation with Dr. Manhattan: on his mask, and in the blood pattern on the snow.
  
  
• SPOILER: While Veidt talks to the press, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center can be seen outside his office window. A blimp is also in the background, and appears to be flying towards the towers very slowly. At the end when New York is in ruins and Veidt Enterprises is rebuilding the city, the towers still stand, unharmed.
  
  
• SPOILER: During Dr. Manhattan's recitation about Martian non-biologic type of life, the pan over the Martian surface begins with a close up of something looking like the Cydonia Face on Mars. The Martian "Smiley Crater" is shown in the last scene.
  
  
• SPOILER: Towards the end of the movie, the word Pioneer above the New Frontiersman logo has Rorschach's "calling card" symbol using a backwards P in front of Pioneer.
  
  
• SPOILER: Near the end of the graphic novel, a newspaper headline can be seen: "R.R. Runs for President." Though we are led to think R.R. is Ronald Reagan, the initials turn out, a few pages later, to stand for Robert Redford. The film simply changes the reference to Reagan, with no mention of Redford.
  
  
• SPOILER: Richard Nixon's address to the world at the end of the film is strikingly similar to George W. Bush's response to the September 11 attacks: "None of us will ever forget this day, yet we go forward to defend freedom, and all that is good, and just in our world. Thank you, good night, and God bless America." In the film, Nixon's line is "This is a day we shall never forget. And yet we go forward to defend the human race, and all that is good and just in our world. Thank you. God bless us all."
  
  

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