Alan Moore on Zack Snyder

fuck · August 2008

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.

tybird · August 2008

That's Alan Moore.....he hates Hollywood...pure and simple.

musicismylife78 · August 2008

tybird wrote:

That's Alan Moore.....he hates Hollywood...pure and simple.

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.

NothingSound · August 2008

Think about how many more people are into comics now since 2000? Like it or not, that's due to the movies that have been made. Plus, it's not news for a book to be better then the movie made based on it. It's not like Snyder's movie will replace Moore's book. They'll both exist and one is just one guy's view of said book. Also, it's going to make Moore very rich. Right now Watchmen is on a 16 week backorder off of Amazon!

musicismylife78 · August 2008

NothingSound wrote:

Think about how many more people are into comics now since 2000? Like it or not, that's due to the movies that have been made. Plus, it's not news for a book to be better then the movie made based on it. It's not like Snyder's movie will replace Moore's book. They'll both exist and one is just one guy's view of said book. Also, it's going to make Moore very rich. Right now Watchmen is on a 16 week backorder off of Amazon!

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.

intodeep · August 2008

Alan Moore comics made into films-
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.

PearlJamaholic · August 2008

alan moore is a great writer, cant argue that, but he's also a big crybaby. sure he got screwed in the past. but now he complains about everything comic related that isnt him. he has nothing but negative things to say.

alan moore and kayne west would probably be pretty good friends.

merkinball · August 2008

Dave Gibbons is completely on board with the Watchmen movie. I saw some additional clips of it (beyond the trailer) at the San Diego Comic Con a few weeks ago, and was very suprised at how detailed it looks. Some of the casting, (Ozymandius in particular) doesn't work for me, but I think it has the potential to be a good adaptation.

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).

intodeep · August 2008

merkinball wrote:

Dave Gibbons is completely on board with the Watchmen movie. I saw some additional clips of it (beyond the trailer) at the San Diego Comic Con a few weeks ago, and was very suprised at how detailed it looks. Some of the casting, (Ozymandius in particular) doesn't work for me, but I think it has the potential to be a good adaptation.

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).

G4 was boradcasting live from comic con and i got to watch some of it and they did a little tour on the owl ship. Very cool stuff!

fuck · August 2008

Some Alan Moore comics were made into great movies- V for Vendetta in particular.

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.

LikeAnOpeningBandForTheSun · August 2008

i liked 300.

Pauk · August 2008

I can see where he's coming from. He's working hard trying to prove graphic novels as a valid medium with its own devices that wouldn't work in any other media form, when someone comes along and tries to make his work into a hollywood blockbuster. I can see how he would think it's a step back from the progress he's trying to make. Sure the comic book will always be the first and the original, but 99% of people are only ever going to see the film.

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.

intodeep · August 2008

fowls wrote:

Sure the comic book will always be the first and the original, but 99% of people are only ever going to see the film.

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.

PearlJamaholic · August 2008

kinda related to this topic there was an interview with stephen king about the dark tower comics and him letting movies and all that stuff be made based of the books. and he said that no matter how much people dont like the movies or comics or tv shows, they can always go back to the book that they liked. i agree with that.

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.

NothingSound · August 2008

Didn't Moore have to consent to the movie being made? They must have paid him a royalty fee for his characters. If he didn't want the movie to be made, he probably had the power to keep it from being made.

Pauk · August 2008

PearlJamaholic wrote:

kinda related to this topic there was an interview with stephen king about the dark tower comics and him letting movies and all that stuff be made based of the books. and he said that no matter how much people dont like the movies or comics or tv shows, they can always go back to the book that they liked. i agree with that.

Stephen King also insists on closely monitering every film based on his books after Kubrick messed up The Shining....

PearlJamaholic · August 2008

fowls wrote:

Stephen King also insists on closely monitering every film based on his books after Kubrick messed up The Shining....

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.

NothingSound · August 2008

fowls wrote:

Stephen King also insists on closely monitering every film based on his books after Kubrick messed up The Shining....

And I hate Kubrick, but the Shining is the only Stephen King movie I think was well done.

Vedderlution_Baby · August 2008

Not to derail the thread but I took a look at the dark tower comics and they're pretty damn sweet.

Pauk · August 2008

PearlJamaholic wrote:

true but compared to his books they still fail.

I never said they were good.

Personally, I don't see why he bothers. Doesn't look like it makes the slightest bit of difference to the quality.

NothingSound wrote:

And I hate Kubrick, but the Shining is the only Stephen King movie I think was well done.

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.

Rhinocerous Surprise · August 2008

PearlJamaholic wrote:

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.

To be fair, if the movie succeeds, it'll be because of Moore's source material. So pay him for the use of the IP, and nothing more - unlike, say, Stan Lee, who had a far more involved approach in his franchise's movies. It is a sucky situation for the Snyder, cos if the movie is good, it'll be because Moore gave him great material. If the movie sucks, it'll be because Snyder sucks.

Alan Moore on Zack Snyder

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