Back in November of 2007, Comic Related was introduced to an individual who works in the film industry. This individual, who called herself Cassandra Faust, has been good enough to share two first hand reports direct from the set of the Watchmen film. Ms. Faust has been working as an extra during the filming and offered a great summary of what she witnessed. We're pleased to share her third set report today and Ms. Faust has our sincere, continued thanks...

 

MANHATTAN TRANSFER

by

Cassandra Faust

 

Getting a return invitation to work on WATCHMEN just before the holiday break was an early Christmas gift for this extra. And it came with a change of scenery. After working several days on that incredible New York set, I was surprised and curious to learn that this new shoot would be on location.

 

We weren’t told much about what the scene was to be, but for any fan of the novel, a little information goes a long way.

 

Allow me to illustrate:

 

We were told that the scene was to be set in a TV studio and we extras were to be the studio audience.

 

Need I say more? I didn’t think so.

 

So I trundled myself off to the Burnaby campus of BCIT and into costume for my first face-to-face meeting with Dr. Manhattan. Oh, his mug was plastered all over the walls and storefronts of the New York set on posters precisely recreating the cover of Nova Express from the novel – and the magazine itself sat on the newsstand. However this was the first time seeing him in the flesh.

 

So to speak.

 

Also, to be part of so pivotal a scene in the story only added to my anticipation. I can’t say strongly enough how refreshing it was to see the enthusiasm of my fellow extras. Copies of the novel abounded in the holding tent and were well thumbed by those familiar with the story and others who just had to know what all the excitement was about. Groups of extras would return to the tent after being called to set for a quick shot and would rush over to someone with the novel to see what scene they had just done. In fact, one extra was not even an extra. He was a fan who pressured the casting department to let him work on the film, finally agreeing to do it for free just to be part of it. And this guy had to drive 3 hours up from Washington State! Sadly he got into a minor traffic accident on the way back the next morning and missed the second day of shooting. Folks like this only added to the feeling amongst us that we were part of something special, not just your run of the mill movie production and fueled the excitement even more. When the call came to go to set, I was more than ready to answer it.

 

As usual the set designers had done a superlative job of bringing to life what is on the comic page. Long familiar with the novel, I felt as though I was, literally, stepping into it. The rows of seats, the vintage cameras and monitors aimed at the spartan (no pun intended, Mr. Snyder) set with its two chairs in front of a large sign that read: FACE TO FACE WITH DR. MANHATTAN – it was perfect! And when the actors playing the reporters took their places amongst us, they were right in the spots they occupy in the novel. The scene was coming to life almost exactly as it had been drawn.

 

With a couple of tweaks however.

 

The first being that there are three reporters, not two and the questions they ask are different as well though in keeping with the scene. The extra reporter is from the New York Times. The female reporter gets the first question as she does in the novel but she does not ask about Afghanistan. The reporter from the Times is next, then it’s time for you know who.

 

Or course Doug Roth is there, just as he appears in the novel although he is now brunette, not blonde. And as far as his questions go, well, if you’ve read the novel, you already know.

 

Did I mention Ted Koppel?

 

That’s right – Dr. Manhattan is on Koppel’s show. The actor playing Koppel sounds just like the journalist and is wearing enough prosthetics to be the man’s twin. Also, for the record, Manhattan and Koppel have switched seats. Manhattan sits on the audience’s right, Koppel on the left.

 

But what about the good doctor, how did he appear?

 

Good question.

 

The answer: I can’t tell you. Because I don’t know. Well, I do and I don’t…. sheesh! Nothing is ever cut and dried where Dr. Manhattan is concerned.

 

Actor Billy Cruddup was present for the two-day shoot. He was dressed in Manhattan’s impeccable black suit, but he wore a tight-fitting skullcap and what looked like soccer goalie gloves…

 

Now before you WATCHMEN purists cry foul and start boycotting theaters that will be showing the movie, let me explain further. The skullcap and white gloves were dotted with tiny, blue fiber-optic lights. When switched on they cast a warm, rich blue glow. Cruddup’s face, not blue, was dotted with reference points and lines around the mouth so that special effects added to the lights and dots will transform Mr. Cruddup into the good doctor we all know and love. And they’ve included the darker shade of blue scene as well.

 

There, now put down those ‘End Is Nigh’ signs.

 

Cruddup gives a reserved yet captivating performance in the scene. He invests Manhattan with a voice possessed with a Hal 9000 dreaminess as the doctor tries his best to answer the early questions. Also, his physicality is very restrained. He sits in the chair as sedately as a ‘God’ should and yet conveys just the right amount of concern and unease when Roth starts into him.

 

Having now seen Rorschach/Kovacs, Dreiberg and Laurie, the two Bernards, Dr. Malcolm Long, and Hollis Mason in person as well as pictures of the Comedian, Nite Owl (cover of the New Frontiersman) and Dr. Manhattan (Nova Express), I can safely say that this is one fan who is completely satisfied as to the look of these timeless characters. You don’t have to look twice at the actors in full costume and make up to know who they are playing. The filmmakers have the look of these characters down.

 

Readers of the novel know how the scene played out. There is an alteration – more a combining of plot points handled separately in the novel – that I won’t go into out of respect for the filmmakers. I will say that we may NOT get Osterman’s flashback to his watchmaker father as he tells that story to the TV audience. That is just speculation on my part as getting this information twice in the film might be redundant. I hope I’m wrong as it’s a powerful scene in the novel, one that should be shown, not described. I suppose one has to expect a certain amount of compression from comic to screen.

 

It was a lot of fun being in the group pouring out of the stands to press Dr. Manhattan when all hell breaks loose. There were more than 100 of us of varying ages, athletic ability and mobility and yet we surged forward with convincing gusto in every take. We may just be background performers but we sell the chaos at the end of this scene. It’ll look like a mad house on screen, but let me state for the record that no extras were injured during the filming of this scene.

 

It was a great couple of days – like I said, a wonderful Christmas present.

 

And I for one am looking forward to disappearing as Dr. Manhattan whisks us out to the parking lot in postproduction. It’ll be great to be part of the Manhattan transfer.

 

 

Check out our previous Watchment set report!