Malin Akerman, who filmgoers may recognize from her breakout role as Ben Stiller’s eccentric (if not straight-out nutty) wife in “The Heartbreak Kid,” or as Katherine Heigl’s self-absorbed man-stealing younger sister in “27 Dresses,” takes on a whole new kind of role in the dark adaptation of the graphic novel “Watchmen.”

Malin recently told Access Hollywood’s Scott Mantz and Dish of Salt, Laura Saltman, that working long hours on a film set in the form-fitting super heroine costume of the second-generation Silk Spectre was anything but smooth.

“I’m not gonna develop a fetish for latex,” she said. “It was an interesting process, let’s just put it that way.”

Malin discovered the hard way that typical garb for a costumed crime fighter in the colorful pages of a comic book does not always translate to a comfortable fit for the actors who have to conform to their real-life constrictions.

“It’s literally like pulling an elastic band over your whole body,” Akerman said, describing how her skimpy yellow and black latex costume breaks away from the thick leather jumpsuit style of the “X-Men” films or the colorful spandex seen in “Spider Man.” “Then you let go and let it snap and then you gotta wear it for 16 hours.”

“Throw a corset on top of that and some high heel shoes and you’re ready to fight, right?” she laughed. “I mean, it definitely looks phenomenal and fierce, but it’s not.”

Malin not only logged daily long hours on the “Watchmen” shoot in her costume, she also had intense sequences that required her to fight, walk through flaming sets, and perform various stunts as the Silk Spectre.

So if she were a true-life superhero, Malin’s outfit of choice to fight crime in would be far different.

“I’d be wearing sweats and running shoes, not high heels and latex,” she added.
“I actually have to say having to put that on, by the third month, I would rather have walked around naked.”

From Access Hollywood

MoviesOnline sat down with Patrick Wilson and Malin Akerman to talk about their new film, “Watchmen,” the big screen adaptation of the most celebrated graphic novel of all time, brought to life for the first time by visionary director Zack Snyder. A complex, multi-layered mystery adventure, “Watchmen” is set in an alternate 1985 America, a world darkened by fear and paranoia where regular human beings who once donned masks to fight crime now hide from their identifies and where the ultimate weapon–an all-powerful superbeing–has tilted the global balance of power, pushing the world implacably closer to nuclear midnight.

Malin Akerman plays Laurie Jupiter, aka Silk Spectre II, the one human being with a genuine connection to Dr. Manhattan. As he grows more and more distant, there’s nothing left for her in the relationship. His work comes before her in her eyes. She feels him falling out of love with her and the more he drifts away, the more she loses her identity. After the murder of The Comedian, Laurie reconnects with Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl II (Wilson), who shares her inchoate sense of loss. Reconnecting with Dan gives Laurie back her sense of being a woman and reignites the fire that used to be there as Silk Spectre, the need for the adrenaline rush. In turn, Laurie opens Dan up to putting the suit on again. It’s the thing that he’s most terrified of and the thing he wants more than anything.

Patrick Wilson is an award-winning theatre actor who has also become well-known for his work on the screen. He next stars in the title role of the independent comedy “Barry Munday,” due out later this year. In 2008, Wilson starred in three very different films: Neil LaBute’s thriller “Lakeview Terrace,” with Samuel L. Jackson and Kerry Washington; the mystery drama “Passengers,” opposite Anne Hathaway; and the independent film “Life in Flight,” which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Wilson previously received praise for his work in the critically acclaimed drama “Little Children,” in which he starred with Kate Winslet and Jackie Earle Haley under the direction of Todd Field. His motion picture work also includes the indie films “Evening,” with Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Claire Danes and Vanessa Redgrave; “Purple Violets,” directed by Edward Burns; “Running with Scissors”; and “Hard Candy,” opposite Ellen Page. He also starred as Raoul in Joel Schumacher’s big-screen adaptation of “The Phantom of the Opera,” showcasing his musical talents.

Malin Akerman is fast becoming one of the industry’s busiest young actresses. Last year, she starred in the hit romantic comedy “27 Dresses,” with Katherine Heigl, James Marsden and Edward Burns, under the direction of Anne Fletcher. Akerman recently reunited with Fletcher to star with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds in the upcoming romantic comedy “The Proposal,” due out this summer. Also in 2009, she will star in the Peter Billingsley-directed comedy “Couples Retreat,” with Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman and Jon Favreau. In 2007, Akerman starred with Ben Stiller in the romantic comedy “The Heartbreak Kid,” directed by the Farrelly brothers. Her other film credits include the independent releases “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle” and “The Brothers Solomon.”

Patrick Wilson and Malin Akerman are fabulous people and we really appreciated their time. Here’s what they had to tell us:

Q: Were you familiar with the source material before you got the script?

Wilson: Well –

Akerman: You can speak for me, too. You know the story.

Wilson: No. I had heard of it, but I did not know the comic at all. Both of us sort of came into it knowing the script. Certainly, we had the same sort of visceral reaction of, ‘What the hell is this? It’s amazing. It’s great, crazy -’ and nothing like you had expected. I called my friend who’s a huge comic fan. I always call him with whatever comic book script it is and I said, ‘”Watchmen”?’ He just goes, ‘Oh, God.’ I sort of gauged the interest and fear of the ‘Watchmen’ fan right there because he’s a very big fan of the comic. So I knew going into it that it was a very sort of special thing, treading on hallowed ground. Then I went out and got the graphic novel and was so blown away by it. Even though I didn’t grow up reading a lot of comics, I always had a great respect for it and I just felt like this was everything that they could be which was almost Greek in its importance, I think, to literature, if that’s being too deep.

Akerman: No. It was the same for me. The first contact that I had to do with anything having to do with ‘Watchmen’ was the script which was amazing. I went, ‘Wow. There’s source material for this and I have to get my hands on it.’ I went and got the book and I think anyone who reads ‘Watchmen’, there’s no way that you can’t become a fan. I was shocked because I always had the idea in my head, having watched superhero films and my cousins would read these comics and seeing ‘Batman’ with the ‘pow’ and the ‘pop,’ but this was something completely different. It was amazing to finally read it and understand why people are so in love with this amazing graphic novel. It’s well worth the pedestal it’s been put on. I think we all became huge fans from this and we’ve read it over millions of times over.

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Swedish-born actress Malin Akerman has had quite a busy few years. She starred in numerous character-based romantic comedies such as 27 Dresses and The Heartbreak Kid. In Watchmen, Akerman turns up the heat taking on the role of superhero Laurie Jupiter, a.k.a. Silk Spectre. Watchmen is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated movies of 2009; directed by Zack Snyder, it also stars Billy Crudup, Carla Gugino, Matthew Goode, and Patrick Wilson. “All the characters have real human qualities,” says Akerman. “We’re not superhuman. We’re just people trying to figure out within ourselves good vs. evil.”

Tell me about your character in Watchmen.
I approached Laurie like a woman who had a stage mom who pushed her into a career that wasn’t really her own choice. When we first start this movie, we come into Laurie’s life where she is sort of breaking free because she had been this sheltered woman. She hasn’t really had her own identity or her own choice in life. She just followed and did what she had been told.
All in all, I think Laurie’s just a regular woman on a journey with these crazy circumstances around her in a really unusual job that she does. I love her because you can relate to her in so many ways.
Did you read the Watchmen graphic novel before you read the script?
I read the script first. I loved it. It took me a while though. Already on page one, it was so dense. When I finally read it, it blew me away and I couldn’t put it down. It was amazing. Then I ran out and got the actual graphic novel. That blew me away even more. I wasn’t well-versed in the comic book world, so I didn’t really know what to expect. And it was well beyond my expectations. It was so well-written and complex.

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If you’re attracted to women, you’ve no doubt stared slack-jawed at the black-and-yellow latex-clad images of Malin Akerman as Silk Spectre II in Watchmen. Though she spends much of the movie as her civilian identity, Laurie Juspeczyk, the fanboys will be most looking forward to when she finally dons her dominatrix-like superhero costume to unleash much whoop-ass on the criminal denizens of Manhattan. I know I was. As part of my ongoing series of interviews with the cast and filmmakers behind the big-screen adaptation of the greatest comic book series of all time –- that’s Watchmen for those of you not keeping track –- I discussed with Akerman how she gave dimension to an underdeveloped character on the page, latex fetishes, and her soon-to-be-infamous four-way with three Billy Crudups.

Cole Haddon: You’ve seen the movie in its entirety now, rather than as a bunch of unfinished scenes. What do you think?

Malin Akerman: It was so beyond my expectations. I was breathless for the rest of the day. I’ve never actually felt like this because, most of the time when you shoot a film, you know what it’s going to look like. But this was great because it was such a surprise. You got to see [director] Zack [Snyder's] vision, everything he’d been imagining in his head. This guy is unbelievable. Watchmen is the thing I’m most proud of in my career, to date.

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“The Insider” is with Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Malin Akerman and Patrick Wilson of the highly anticipated big-screen adaptation of the Alan Moore graphic novel ‘Watchmen,’ in theaters everywhere Friday, and one thing seemed to be very consistent on their minds: whether or not they were familiar at first with the source material, the actors quickly learned how important ‘Watchmen’ is to the fans, and they’d better not screw it up!

“You’re thrown into the fire with this one,” Jeffrey (who plays The Comedian) explains. “You learn rather fast that this is kind of the top of the pyramid of this genre. One Google search and you know that you’re doing the ‘Citizen Kane’ of graphic novels and it’s quite a humbling experience figuring that out and then having that pressure going into the film.”

“When you’re adapting such a great graphic novel, you want to be as faithful as you can,” says Patrick, aka Night Owl. “It became our bible; I studied it frequently.”

“I was never a real comic fan, so it’s an absolutely amazing book to read as your first graphic novel,” says Jackie, who plays Rorschach. “It’s kind of started me down that road of realizing, ‘Oh wow, this isn’t like a little kids’ medium; this is thought-provoking stuff.”

Malin, aka Silk Spectre II, says, “It’s sort of an exploration of humanity at its worst and at its best. It’s more a character-driven film than anything else.”

“I think the comic book itself is special because it’s so expansive — it tells I don’t know how different many stories all at once, but it also tries to explode the whole superhero myth and why we as a culture are interested in telling stories about superheroes again and again,” says Billy, who plays Dr. Manhattan, adding, “I’ll be digitally altered [for this interview], right? I’m used to that now.”

‘Watchmen’ takes place in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society. The plot of the film is set in motion when one of their own, The Comedian, is murdered. Soon a conspiracy to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes comes to light. Will it have devastating effects on the future of mankind?

From the Insider – Follow link to see video!

Malin Akerman plays Lori Jupiter, Silk Spectre II in Watchmen. Many of her most emotional scenes are with Dr. Manhattan, a big blue humanoid energy force played by Billy Crudup. It’s dramatic on screen, but behind the scene he was just a dude in spandex.

Malin Akerman is Silk Spectre II
“I have to say the first week it took a bit of adjusting to,” Akerman said. “We all must have laughed in his face so many times. He was such a good sport about it he was like, ‘Okay, go ahead.’”

There is even a Lori/Manhattan love scene, in which Manhattan uses his powers to create multiple forms of himself to pleasure his lady. “There were two guys in bed with me for the Billy scene and there ended up being three of them I believe. The thing is that they are in these white sort of pajamas with the blue LED lights so really I was more concerned with like, ‘Guys, are you sure he can put his finger in my mouth and it won’t electrocute me?’ It was really rough and I was like, ‘Billy just try not to touch my face’ because you get scratches. So it was just trying to piece it together and make it look right. It was almost like Raki massage where you aren’t really touching, you are just going through the motions. So the difference was that there was no touching in that scene where [the one with Dan] was more human and natural.”

There was risk of injury in her love scene with Night Owl too. “I had huge bruises on my legs actually because it was a tight chair and it was nice black and blues. Try explaining that to your husband. We had to get a bit closer. There is definitely a difference between trying to act with yourself and acting opposite someone.”

Sex isn’t the only kind of action Silk Spectre gets. She kicks some ass and rescues some pedestrians too. “The scene where Lori comes through the roof, the drop in was actually my stunt double. They wouldn’t allow me to do that but then they sent me in and the fire was in the back so they put fire gel all over my back to make sure the latex didn’t catch on fire because it is very flammable. There were many precautions taken. It was a hot day that day, but it was absolutely real fire, of course only at a distance, but Zack [Snyder] wants it as real as possible. We actually had the opportunity to do a lot more. The set was more tangible and real then he had in 300 where he had a lot more green screen. So that was nice about this whole thing. You really got the feeling of it.”

Watchmen opens to theaters March 6th.

From Can Mag

Thigh-high boots.

Stilettos.

Voluminous cleavage.

Skin-suffocating spandex.

No one ever accused a comic-book sexpot of dressing practically.

“If I was fighting crime, I’d wear sweats and a T-shirt — maybe a belt to fashion it up,” offers Malin Akerman, who has first-hand experience in this sort of thing.

For her role as Silk Spectre II in the graphic novel adaptation Watchmen, Akerman spent months encased in black-and-yellow latex.

Stunning, yes. But functional? Far from it.

The Toronto-raised former model remembers the first time she was shoe-horned into the rubber regalia and discovered that, after eight weeks of combat training with ex-Navy Seals, “I couldn’t even bend my elbows. It was so uncomfortable. I’m not going to develop a latex fetish at all after this.”

Whether it was all worth it, we’ll know shortly. Watchmen opens across the country late tomorrow, one minute after midnight. Odds are good, though, that it will mark yet another success for Akerman, who’s spent the past couple of years shuttling from one high-profile gig to the next.

“When they say you can come to L.A. and have your dreams come true, they really mean it. It’s not without some really hard work and a lot of disappointments, but once it happens — I still can’t believe it. It’s a bit surreal. I still haven’t gotten used to it yet.”

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