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Exclusive Interview: Zack Snyder at the Saturn Awards
Watchmen director talks Comic Con and gives an update on the production.
by
Jun 30, 2008
Jun 30, 2008
Zack Snyder knew what he was getting into when he went to the Saturn Awards. He was up for, and won, Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film for 300. In a room full of genre press though, all the talk was Watchmen. He was ready to talk all night.
CraveOnline: How does it feel to beat Meet the Spartans for the Saturn award?
CraveOnline: How does it feel to beat Meet the Spartans for the Saturn award?
Zack Snyder: You know, it feels good because their movie looked certainly as good as ours. Maybe we should have thought of getting Brittany Spears possibly or a lookalike to put it over the top.
CraveOnline: How trippy was it to see that they did it on a soundstage and got pretty close?
Zack Snyder: I thought it was cool. I thought it was hilariously awesome.
CraveOnline: So where exactly are you in Watchmen?
Zack Snyder: Director’s cut stage. Like I showed a cut to the studio and I'm working on it now.
CraveOnline: How long is it?
Zack Snyder: Yeah, it was three hours.
CraveOnline: How much of that has finished effects?
Zack Snyder: I think the version I have right now has maybe two real Dr. Manhattan shots in it and they're not even done. There's two shots that don't look like Billy in the light suit in the movie.
CraveOnline: How do those two Dr. Manhattan shots look?
Zack Snyder: What we did with Billy is basically, because Dr. Manhattan glows and has all sorts of light, we built him this suit that has LEDs all over it because he's going to be a CG guy. They film his face with two HD cameras and that performance goes onto the CG guy so it's Billy's face.
CraveOnline: Can we be sure that at least the DVD will have that full three hour cut?
Zack Snyder: Yeah, that's my hope. Who knows what they do to me but the hope is to do this crazy epic DVD that's a freakshow. That seems like a no brainer to me. A freakshow of length and extras and fan fetish.
CraveOnline: Isn't it already fan fetish?
Zack Snyder: Absolutely. It's the king of fan fetish. You know, it's funny because I've lost perspective on that now because to me, the honest truth is I geek out on little stuff now as much as anybody. People will go, "Oh, we've got to cut. You don't need that shot of the Hollis Mason Garage sign." And I'm like, "What are you talking about? Of course you do. Are you crazy? How will people enjoy the movie without sh*t like that?" It's hard for me and I think it's probably good because we're going to end up with that stuff in the movie.
CraveOnline: Who is your favorite Watchman?
Zack Snyder: Of the characters? It's hard to say. Look, I like them all for different reasons. There's two way 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. I love Manhattan. 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. So those two really for me. I mean, Rorschach is seminal and he's everyone's favorite so I never say him because it's too on the nose. And Jackie's a frickin' rock star in the movie.
CraveOnline: Do you get attached to every minute of the three hour cut?
Zack Snyder: It’s impossible. That's the balancing act for me is you want the movie as tight as possible, I don't know why, I guess so people can enjoy it. For me the hardest part is when is it not Watchmen anymore? I don't think that's a danger but it's a thing that I'm trying to be the gatekeeper of while other forces conspire to say, "No, length, length, length, playability." Whatever the hell that means.
CraveOnline: They're going to advertise this from the director of 300. What will be in there for those fans?
Zack Snyder: I mean, listen, the trick is, you can read the book and see there's spectacle in the book, right? Manhattan goes to Vietnam and he's 200 feet tall and he's burning up the Vietcong. Not that that's the movie, but those pictures exist and those pictures can be used to help introduce Watchmen to an audience I think that normally might be like, if they knew exactly what Watchmen was, they'd be like, "What? No, no, no. That seems weird." But I can trick them a little bit with the shots that I've made into thinking it's an action movie. I always say the movie has like an IV drip of action. Every now and then something happens. "That's actiony, I guess that's cool." So it's a lot of ideas. It's like 300 for your brain I guess a little bit.
CraveOnline: Are you nervous to present something at Comic Con?
Zack Snyder: No, I'm excited. I feel like Comic Con for me is like, when you make the movie, everyone who makes the movie loves the movie. I've never been around so many people that just took the book. It's like a yearbook. At the end of the shoot, we all would sign each other's Watchmen copies. We had Dave Gibbons in there too and he would draw on our books and it was just super cool. And so then you come back from that experience and you go to the studio and the studio's cool, don't get me wrong, but they don't love it like we do, right? It's like just a movie. Like, "Oh, we have this movie Watchmen that's f*ckin' long. What are all these superheroes? They look crazy." So you have that experience so for me right now, I'm in the middle of that. So for me to go to Comic Con is to get a chance to go back to people that love it.
CraveOnline: Would you do another graphic novel after this and 300?
Zack Snyder: The studio sent me some graphic novels, I'm not going to say what they were. Just graphic novels that are out. I'm like, "Are you guys crazy? I can't do this stuff. I can buy this in the store. My kids have these." I don't know how to, no.
CraveOnline: So no more graphic novels for Zack Snyder?
Zack Snyder: Not necessarily, there's just only a couple left. I'm not going to say what those are but there's only a couple left. Look, I love genre. I love genre movies. I always say to these guys, I go, when I'm talking to the studio, I go, "You don't understand. Genre filmmakers and genre movies, it's not a movie to them." Not to be mean, but no one has the figures of 13 Going on 30 on their computer. That to me, these people, who are myself, it's not like a movie. It's like a lifestyle choice. I think that's what I love about genre. It's not a movie. Don't think of it like a movie.
CraveOnline: How did it feel to be back on sets after your green screen movie?
Zack Snyder: It was fun. I liked it. I like sets. Green screen's cool but it's exhausting.
CraveOnline: Are you starting the DVD plans already?
Zack Snyder: Yes, I have been working on it so it's cool. I've been working on the DVD and I think it should be pretty radical, I hope. I say to the studio, they're like, "Well, we gotta cut the movie shorter so we don't have to do as many visual effects." I tell them, "We're going to have to finish them anyway." You've gotta finish the thing.
CraveOnline: Do you use Dave Gibbons' art as a cue for Tales of the Black Freighter?
Zack Snyder: I think they took a lot of it, I mean a lot of cues from it. We've been drawing like crazy so it's been pretty, it's looking pretty cool. It's got its own style though. It's got its own thing, although we do use those a lot.
CraveOnline: So when do we get to see the trailer?
Zack Snyder: There’ll be a trailer at some point. I love trailers. Maybe a teaser trailer at some point.
CraveOnline: Maybe attached to The Dark Knight?
Zack Snyder: Well… If that were the case, it'd be super cool because I think there's a lot of people that don't know what Watchmen is and they see those shots, or if they saw shots on that movie, would go, "What the hell is that?"
CraveOnline: Most movies are rushed in under a year now. What does it give you to have several years to do a film?
Zack Snyder: I don't know how to do it. When we did 300 it was like a four year thing and now Watchmen's been two and a half years. I don't know. It seems to me that it's a way to make a cool movie. I wouldn't know how to rush it really. It takes me six months to draw the dang things.
CraveOnline: What pressure is there to pick what to show in a trailer?
Zack Snyder: It’s pressure but at the same time it's fun. Really I've got to tell you it's a blast to do that. When we play around with those shots, I gotta tell you it's just a good time.
CraveOnline: Are you bringing costumes to Comic Con? Wouldn't that be expensive and dangerous?
Zack Snyder: It would be crazy if that were to happen. It is expensive to bring props, large props but if the fans want to see something cool, sometimes you have to just bite the bullet.
CraveOnline: What battles are you having over the length of the film?
Zack Snyder: There’s a battle for running time. That's just the reality of the marketplace and a three hour movie. It's like I say, I think this is an opportunity for fans to, I don't know that they could help, but it's like because it's so specific, this movie is so particular and my whole thing is like if you don't have the core, you don't have anything. This movie kind of starts with the core and kind of goes out to pop culture that way, right?
CraveOnline: Is the studio getting nervous, or do you still have the buzz of 300 going for you?
Zack Snyder: No, no, they feel the buzz and they're starting to feel like this Watchmen ground swelling weirdness. Just the little things like if you pay attention, that Entertainment Weekly, the New Classics where they showed their 100 greatest things and they had Watchmen as 12th in their novels. Then just I saw just in Maxim this month that weird little thing about "In nine months what to do."
CraveOnline: Will you make the March date for all the final effects?
Zack Snyder: Yeah, yeah. The guys, 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.
CraveOnline: What could be the final DVD cut?
Zack Snyder: The DVD with The Black Freighter and everything could be like 3:30 or something like that. It could be longer.
CraveOnline: How are you enjoying post?
Zack Snyder: It’s cool. I like post. I like shooting but I do like post. I think you see the movie come together.
CraveOnline: Is there a home stretch kind of feeling?
Zack Snyder: A little bit, a little bit.
Not in any way associated with Crave Entertainment, Inc.
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