Alan Moore on Zack Snyder
fuck
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ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Don't you have the slightest curiosity about what Watchmen director Zack Snyder is doing with your work?
ALAN MOORE: I would rather not know.
He's supposed to be a very nice guy.
He may very well be, but the thing is that he's also the person who made 300. I've not seen any recent comic book films, but I didn't particularly like the book 300. I had a lot of problems with it, and everything I heard or saw about the film tended to increase [those problems] rather than reduce them: [that] it was racist, it was homophobic, and above all it was sublimely stupid. I know that that's not what people going in to see a film like 300 are thinking about but...I wasn't impressed with that.... I talked to [director] Terry Gilliam in the '80s, and he asked me how I would make Watchmen into a film. I said, ''Well actually, Terry, if anybody asked me, I would have said, 'I wouldn't.''' And I think that Terry [who aborted his attempted adaptation of the book] eventually came to agree with me. There are things that we did with Watchmen that could only work in a comic, and were indeed designed to show off things that other media can't.
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.
ALAN MOORE: I would rather not know.
He's supposed to be a very nice guy.
He may very well be, but the thing is that he's also the person who made 300. I've not seen any recent comic book films, but I didn't particularly like the book 300. I had a lot of problems with it, and everything I heard or saw about the film tended to increase [those problems] rather than reduce them: [that] it was racist, it was homophobic, and above all it was sublimely stupid. I know that that's not what people going in to see a film like 300 are thinking about but...I wasn't impressed with that.... I talked to [director] Terry Gilliam in the '80s, and he asked me how I would make Watchmen into a film. I said, ''Well actually, Terry, if anybody asked me, I would have said, 'I wouldn't.''' And I think that Terry [who aborted his attempted adaptation of the book] eventually came to agree with me. There are things that we did with Watchmen that could only work in a comic, and were indeed designed to show off things that other media can't.
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.
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i wonder why he would hate hollywood? Oh now I remember, because maybe hollywood is made up of people who onyl want to make a quick buck, as opposed to making an important and long lasting art.
Alan Moore is probably the greatest living comic book writer, maybe the greatest of all time. Watchmen is the ultimate comic book. It is the high water mark.
As far as I am concerned he is 100 percent correct. Watchmen was a mindblowing book, I read it as one of my first comic book reads ever. It kind of ruins the comic book experience in a way, because I started with the best ever. How does one find any other comic book remotely in the same league?
Comic books are great, and any way they get more exposure is great, but this to me seems like the ultimate in commercialism. Even the writer of the comic book is opposed to it.
Their shouldnt be a movie made of it. its wrong.
your right in a way. But thats the whole point. Alan Moore could give a damn about money. His legacy is set. Even if every single comic he makes from now on is crap he will be the greatest comic writer ever. He is rich already. And from what I can tell, he isnt into making gobs of cash anyway. He seems like a man in the mold of many folks we on this board admire. Folks like uncle neil, uncle bruce, ed, etc... People who are rich, but make art for arts sake, as opposed to making things that can fatten bank accounts. After all his new book is some sort of porn comic or something. it isnt going to sell millions.
I think Alan understands this. People should indeed be buying Watchmen books, its the comic book that everyone should own, its just troubling in my view how this is going down.
In many ways its inevitable. Into the Wild the book effected alot of folks. But I think the movie effected people more, because thats how our generation understands things, and experiences things. People dont read books anymore, they go to movies. And thats sad in some ways.
From Hell
League of Extrodinary Gentleman
V for Vendetta
all much better as comics then films.
I hope Watchmen is awesome, but it seems obvious why he has some concern.
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alan moore and kayne west would probably be pretty good friends.
One thing they did have at SDCC was the owlship, all 9,000 pounds of it:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bauwauhaus/2718988554/
(not my picture, but a good shot of it).
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Charlotte 03
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Greenville 16, Columbia 16
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Ohana Festival 24 x2
But I can see why he's worried about this. Watchmen is such an amazing comic, and to have the guy who did 300 do this film is pretty worrying... I just hope Snyder doesn't fuck it up.
But at the same time, he is kinda moaning for no reason. Moan at the start of production, not when the film's done and ready for distribution.
'06 - London, Dublin, Reading
'07 - Katowice, Wembley, Dusseldorf, Copenhagen, Nijmegen
'09 - London, Manchester, London
'12 - Manchester, Manchester, Berlin, Stockholm, Copenhagen
I think you make a valid point, but i will say this. I have had two friends in the past couple months ask to borrow my copy of Watchmen so they could read it before the film came out, and i have another who i wants to check it out after my friend is done with it.
I think the film will draw more interest in the comic, but overall i agree the majority will still just see the film.
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i hated the re-animator movie, well every lovecraft based movie, but after i watch it i just think oh well, his books are still better, no loss other than a few hours. its never once devalued the stories for me.
does the fact that staind covered black make the original any worse? thats how i see it, just another artists view on someone elses work.
'06 - London, Dublin, Reading
'07 - Katowice, Wembley, Dusseldorf, Copenhagen, Nijmegen
'09 - London, Manchester, London
'12 - Manchester, Manchester, Berlin, Stockholm, Copenhagen
true but compared to his books they still fail. i like the dark tower comics cause they tell a new story, and it isnt a remake. but i havent liked a single king movie i saw (havent seen the stand yet, just parts)
im sure moore could have had a hand in the movie. but he'd rather sit and complain about it being no good (even though he hasnt seen it) rather than help it be great. and for this reason alone i hope he doesnt get a penny for the movie. he doesnt want his name attached to it, fine. if alan moore didnt have 'anything' to do with the movie than there is no reason to pay alan moore for the movie.
And I hate Kubrick, but the Shining is the only Stephen King movie I think was well done.
I never said they were good.
Nah, I think The Shining sells out on storyline and characterisation for cheap thrills and scares. It may be creepy, but it made no sense.
I'd say the only halfway decent King adaptation is Christine. The best King books rely on emotion and relationships between characters, which is the first thing to go when a director wants to write a brain dead horror film. But on the other hand King does write a whole lot of toss (Lisey's Story is one of the worst books I have ever read), so I guess he does bring it on himself.
'06 - London, Dublin, Reading
'07 - Katowice, Wembley, Dusseldorf, Copenhagen, Nijmegen
'09 - London, Manchester, London
'12 - Manchester, Manchester, Berlin, Stockholm, Copenhagen
The publisher, DC Comics (DC/Vertigo in some cases), owns the rights. Moore is not a part of the equation. He was an EMPLOYEE of the company.
This had always been common practice in all mediums until the early 90's, when musicians began to negotiate for control of publishing rights when signing record deals. This enabled musicians to control their masters and reap the rewards of licensing fees.
Authors shopping their pre-existing work to a publisher may be able to negotiate with the publishers for control of their work...as in, selling the rights to the story. After all, the publisher didn't pay them to create the literature in that case...they wrote it on their own and are just hoping to get mass distribution and a pay day at that point. But that's simply not how it works when a writer is a salaried employee of a company.
(Shawn Smith's official website, but not Thee Shawn Smith)
'06 - London, Dublin, Reading
'07 - Katowice, Wembley, Dusseldorf, Copenhagen, Nijmegen
'09 - London, Manchester, London
'12 - Manchester, Manchester, Berlin, Stockholm, Copenhagen
but nice people sw****w
Interesting! Sounds like web comics are similar to newspaper dailies in that sense. I recall reading that a lot of the creators do their comics on their own and then get picked up by the papers, so the paper has no control over the comics in any way. Content, licensing, etc.
With print comics and graphic novels, it's pretty much the opposite. The publisher controls everything and uses the writers and artists on-staff for their projects. However, for guys like Moore, I'm not sure if he's continued to sign longterm deals with publishers not named DC or if he's started to fund projects on his own and then pitch them to publishers afterward.
(Shawn Smith's official website, but not Thee Shawn Smith)
Which, while being a slight tangent, does have relevance here. You're never going to see any kind of adaptation of Penny Arcade or PvP that doesn't have a huge involvement of the respective creators.
Yeah, it's a great storyline (to continue the derail). They'll be a version of the Stand coming out soon too, that has a similar look to it.
And yes, everyone should read Watchmen. And then read it a few more times to pick everything up you missed the first couple times. Mrs. Merkinball (who only reads Fables) has been reading it lately based on the talk about the movie.
I'm really looking forward to this book (Watching the Watchmen):
http://www.amazon.com/Watching-Watchmen-Dave-Gibbons/dp/1848560419/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218085507&sr=8-2
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