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 an ongoing series of first hand reports direct from the set of the Watchmen film then following the close of production. Ms. Faust worked as an extra during the filming and offered a great summary of what she witnessed. Check out all of her past updates here.
Sign the Petition!
A Cassandra Faust Pointer
Chuck Moore Writing In Conjunction With Cassandra Faust
This isn't so much a Cassandra Faust update as it is a Cassandra Faust request. At the start of the weekend I received an e-mail from our favorite behind-the-scenes Watchmen reporter who writes... "I came across a petition started in an attempt to insure that WATCHMEN stays with a 3-hour running length."
Here's what the internet campaign proposes...
JOIN THE MINUTEMEN
We, the ‘Minutemen’ below, respectfully demand a 3 hour running time for the forthcoming movie ‘Watchmen’ from Warner Bros. Directed by Zack Snyder (300, Dawn of the Dead), Watchmen is a film adaptation of what is widely regarded by comic fans as the greatest superhero story ever.
Written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, Watchmen was originally published in 1986-87 by DC, has been lauded as the ‘Citizen Kane of comic books’, ‘a timeless classic’ and is the only graphic novel to make Time Magazine's list of the best novels from 1923 to the present.
Why? Because Watchmen is no ordinary superhero story – it is a dense, multi-layered and epic meditation on power, morality and the human condition. Its complex structure and symbolism make it arguably the most intricate, thought-provoking story ever presented in graphic form.
Over the past year, Zack Snyder and his production crew have been working tirelessly to bring to life the essence of Watchmen, fully aware that ‘the devil is in the detail’. A brief look at the production diaries at watchmenmovie.warnerbros.com. and the trailer for the movie, which is generating frenzied interest from comic and film fans over the internet, reveals the extent of Snyder’s dedication to faithfully make ‘Watchmen’ the ultimate superhero movie experience when it is released in March 2009, just as it was for comic fans in 1986.
As with any movie Warner Bros have a responsibility to make ‘Watchmen’ a commercial success and to appeal to a broad audience, many of whom will not be familiar with the story – and therein lies the issue. While discussions with WB studio executives are ongoing about the running time of the movie, there is pressure to ensure that it comes in at below 2hrs and 50 minutes.
We, the ‘Minutemen’ below, submit that Watchmen must be a 3 hour movie and ask WB to respect and extend the courtesy of this longer running time to the giant of all superhero stories. The reasons are as follows:
1. The Watchmen experience isn’t just about big events and characters in the story, it’s also about small things, the ‘minutiae’. Minor characters and their dramas are part of the meticulously constructed whole - removing any one piece of Watchmen means losing part of its essence
2. Some tough choices have already been made and elements of the story have had to be left out. Previous draft screenplays from David Hayter and Alex Tse have shown the difficulties in making such decisions. Cutting down the movie further will only dilute Watchmen and its potential value as a unique experience for cinema audiences in 2009
3. Watchmen is a landmark work in the graphic medium which is venerated by comic fans and respected by the literary establishment. No other comic book series has ever been accorded such status, for this reason it should be treated with the level of respect any great epic literary work is afforded, not like the average superhero movie. A longer running time of 3 hours, which allows the story to breathe, will tease out what makes Watchmen truly great and different to any other superhero movie released so far.
4. There is only one opportunity for Warner Bros and Zack to get this right. There will be no sequel to Watchmen - it is a stand alone work. Cutting down the running time because of conventional views about audiences having short attention spans could be disastrous. No one wants a Watchmen movie that is rushed, incoherent and ultimately forgettable. Recent years have shown there is great appetite among the cinema-going public for dark, epic heroic stories which are LONG (Lord of the Rings, the Dark Knight, King Kong, etc.) and of great quality.
5. Zack Snyder and WB are waiting to hear how much we want a 3 hour movie. In an interview with MTV on 12 August 2008 Snyder stated that he is interested to see how much online support there is for a 3 hour running time (source: http://www.mtv.com/movies/news... “Right now it runs at around two hours and 50 minutes”, He stated, ”I just don't want to lose any story line, because you know eventually that's what happens. You start to have to cut characters out, and I just don't want to do that”.
To this end we submit that every minute of Watchmen the movie is critical, and that a 3 hour running time will give the (deserved) respect it needs. Each signature below indicates how precious we feel each minute towards that 3 hours is to us and the story itself.
- The Minutemen
She and I discussed the petition campaign and she wanted me invite you to sign!
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Watchmen3hrMoviePetition/
Page last updated on October 12, 2008