For many comic-book fanatics, “Watchmen” is considered the best graphic novel of all time. So it was inevitable that the stars of the “Watchmen” movie descended up on the last major comic-book convention that took place before the film’s opening. Billy Crudup, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Malin Akerman, Patrick Wilson and Jackie Earle Haley joined “Watchmen” director Zack Snyder and co-creator Dave Gibbons for a February 28 panel discussion at the 2009 WonderCon event in San Francisco.
The last time the “Watchmen” stars gathered for a panel discussion at a comic-book convention was at Comic-Con International in San Diego in July 2008. Back then, no one (not even the stars of the film) had seen the movie trailer that was shown at Comic-Con. This time around, the stars had not only seen the movie, but they had also personally experienced the fan frenzy surrounding “Watchmen” at events such as Comic-Con and movie premieres around the world. In addition to the panel discussion, the audience members at WonderCon were treated to about 20 minutes of “Watchmen” footage. Check out what the stars of the movie had to say at this WonderCon panel.
Jackie, tell us more about the voice you used for your Rorschach character.
Haley: [He says jokingly] I was going through this dumpster behind my house, and there it was. Actually, when I read the graphic novel, that was the thing I heard in my head. There’s something about the little speech bubbles, the way they were drawn. And also just the way Dave [Gibbons] drew the character, that’s what I heard. And that’s what I did on my audition tape.
Zack [Snyder] and I even thought I should try some other stuff. But when it came down to it, Zack felt that [original voice] what was right. That’s what we stuck with. For a long period of time, I’d have to scream before my every shot, scream my voice out. And that’s what we did.
Malin, what about the challenge of wearing those costumes?
Akerman: I don’t usually wear latex or extremely high heels when I fight. The hugest challenge was [wearing] the heels. The costume definitely was not comfortable, but it looked pretty fierce.
Billy, what about the challenge for you playing a character who had to become less human?
Crudup: No problem there. I think Dr. Manhattan was distracted, more than anything. So I spent a lot of my time thinking about other things.
Like what?
Crudup: Like walking on the surface of the sun and stuff like that.
Jeffrey, what did you sympathize with in your Comedian character?
Morgan: The key for me, in reading [the "Watchmen" novel] … I didn’t dislike the guy, which I certainly should. I kind of sympathized with him in a way. In talking to Zack before and during the shooting, what I really found fascinating was to make this guy human in the midst of killing, raping and pillaging throughout the world.
Patrick, do you find it easy to identify with your “Watchmen” character, Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl II?
Wilson: Yeah. I certainly think he has the most heart, if I can put everybody else down. I love Dan. I swear, this sounds so pathetic, but I got teary-eyed watching the scene with me and Jackie. I just feel like when you see a character that comes on screen like that, or on the page, you pull for. You’re pulling for Dan the entire time, whether it’s to get the damn suit back on or get it up. It really doesn’t get more basic than that.
That’s what so cool about him: his identity through the suit and what that means in every aspect. You rarely get characters that are that well-developed. Any questions that he had were informed by the words and the pictures. I’d never done a comic-based movie before, but when you have such dynamic drawings like Dave had and the words that Alan [Moore, co-creator of the "Watchmen" graphic novel] had written and the script that was an amalgamation of that, it’s the most inspiring template you have to create your character. Because any question you had was answered by the graphic novel. We all felt like we just had to do what they wrote, and the characters just take care of themselves.
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