Comic Con Reactions

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 5:31 pm

I don't remember seeing anything too cool Transformers wise, except for a con exclusive MP-class Movie Bumblebee.

Iron Man looks awesome. I always thought Downey was a good choice, and they're going the right route using a lot of non-CGI special effects.

It was cool to see Harrison Fod as Indiana Jones, and Shia LeBeauf post big summer hit.

The Dark Knight teaser was as ace a teaser can get without showing footage, basically. Has that party with Bale happened yet, Impy?

Zach Synder is going to do Watchman right, and it is going to be good.

G4 TV sucks.

Hot Shot · Post by **Hot Shot** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 4:08 am

I didn't go, but I caught bits and pieces from G4. From what I saw, Iron Man looks ace, Indy 4 doesn't look as good as the past three, and Watchman might be good.

Outside of G4, TF: Animated looks good, as well as Classics 2.0.

Also, Alt. Hot Rod looks good. I got one for me and one for my dad at Hasbro Toy Shop while it was available for a whopping three hours.

Tit. Menasor was still available last I checked, but they only ship inside the U.S.

Shanti418 wrote:I don't remember seeing anything too cool Transformers wise, except for a con exclusive MP-class Movie Bumblebee.

That was Ultimate Bumblebee. Hardly a masterpiece from what I've heard. He dances and sings Whip It.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 12:23 pm

Edit > Quote

Hot Shot · Post by **Hot Shot** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 12:24 pm

Rebis wrote:Edit > Quote

I hit the edit button, but it made it a quote. It happened earlier in another topic.

My buttons aren't working right.

sprunkner · Post by **sprunkner** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 1:51 pm

That's what she said.

Legion is getting his coat...

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 6:42 pm

Downey's could well be the best bit of superhero casting since... well.... Christopher Reeve.

I've seen a pic of Harrison Ford in the new Indy movie. Still looks the part.

How faithful can we expect the Watchmen adaptation to be?

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 3:58 am

spiderfrommars wrote:Downey's could well be the best bit of superhero casting since... well.... Christopher Reeve.

I've seen a pic of Harrison Ford in the new Indy movie. Still looks the part.

How faithful can we expect the Watchmen adaptation to be?

Here's what they had to say:

WATCHMEN

Director Zack Snyder appeared on stage to loud applause. “It’s lonely up here,” he quipped. “I know there’s a couple fans of this graphic novel out there.”

Snyder discussed his history with the project. He said that “I think the thing that’s awesome about the book, and the thing that resonates” is “where [fans] were in the world when they first read it.” For him, it “legitimized a way of thinking,” combining “all the things I think comic books can be,” with an action team “representing more than what’s on the page, bigger ideas.” The book “let the genre grow up” and he felt the concept needed to be “nurtured.”

When he was first approached about doing the movie, he felt it was “crazy talk.” After hearing the pitch, to update Watchmen and set it in modern times, he thought it over. He came to the conclusion that “Watchmen should not come to the people – people should come to this.” This got applause from the audience.

He revealed that the film will be set in 1985. He felt there was enough distance from the Cold War that it was “kind of cool to go back and see what that means.”

Snyder said that the studio initially brought up the idea that Watchmen would probably be an R-rated film, based on the content of the original graphic novel. He said that the idea of doing an R-rated superhero movie was “pretty cool,” and half-jokingly inquired about other R-rated comic films, such as Blade or the original Punisher film.

He said that the film wouldn’t dumb down the graphic novel for “teenyboppers:” “If you get to the place in your life where you need Watchmen, you’ll find it.”

“The cool thing is, the mainstream cinema audience is where a lot of comic book fans were when Watchmen came out,” Snyder said. He said that he hoped the film would have an affect similar to the original graphic novel, and show people that superhero films didn’t just have to be for kids.

Snyder said the movie would be shot on sets in Vancouver, including a New York City backlot. “(Sets are) pretty practical, except for Mars and Antarctica,” he joked, further joking about negative Internet banter. “They don’t have the money to send us to Mars.”

The recently-announced cast is “perfect,” according to Snyder. “We have real actors, it’s not an exercise in marketing.” In reaction to accusations about a “lack of stars,” he pointed out, “I made a movie called 300, and it didn’t have any stars.” The audience cheered this statement.

He said that he was surprised the cast was announced early, as he had intended to announce it at the con, but said he felt that was a comment on how passionate people were about the film. He further said that while the cast might have seemed “young,” it was a concession to the number of flashbacks in the story, as he didn’t like casting two actors for one part. “I wanted to hire actors who were in the middle of their age, and age them up and down.”

For example, Billy Crudup (Dr. Manhattan) will be Crudup at his regular age as a human, and a CGI version with “performance scan” a la Pirates of the Caribbean in superhuman form. Snyder said he just didn’t want to see “a guy in blue paint” in the role. “It’s looking pretty cool, I think,” he said of some tests done with these effects.

Snyder was then joined on-stage by actors Malin Akerman (Silk Spectre) and Jackie Earle Haley (Rorschach), for a question-and-answer session, though neither actor was the object of questions.

Highlights from the q&a:
(check names of other actors as announced yesterday)

• Snyder said the people working on the movie got that it’s “not ________” and “has balls.”

• In discussing the challenges of making the film, Snyder cited as an example the sequence of Rorschach going up to Comedian’s apartment and shooting grappling gun through the window. “If you’ve read the graphic novel and you’ve seen how its laid out, if you don’t shoot it that way, you’re full of ____,” Snyder said. He added that the look of the film will stick very close to the look of the book.

• Snyder wants to see the pirate story, and likes how it comments on Adrian’s story and the world. He says that every day, they talk about getting the money for the pirate story….and has even written a script for it separate from the main screenplay.

• How will this be different from previous Alan Moore scripts? Snyder said while Moore probably won’t put his name on it, everyone is working toward trying to please him with the film version. He joked that it’s a noble thing to hope that “the guy who created it [doesn’t] hate it.” He has spoken to Dave Gibbons “all the time,” and that Gibbons is “super cool.”

• The mistake Snyder felt he could make in doing this was to assume that “the movie knows better,” and to not make any assumptions about the material. Snyder said that he was trying to make the best movie he can and respect the material enough so that if Moore ever watches it on DVD one afternoon (“which probably won’t happen”), he’ll say, “Well, they didn’t ____ it up that bad.”

• A fan dressed as Rorschach asked if they’d use the same visual effects as 300. Snyder said he wanted this to have more of a physical presence, and he would be using some stylized sets, though places such as Mars would be CGI.

• A fan dressed as Nite Owl asked if the characters’ troubled pasts would be in the film. Snyder said they would be.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 11:40 am

I'm a lot less scared now.

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 12:19 pm

That party with Bale isnt till August sometime but ill try and get some info on the new Batman movie from Bale himself, whilst getting him drunk.

sprunkner · Post by **sprunkner** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 4:54 am

What's the cast?

Ozz · Post by **Ozz** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 5:10 am

sprunkner wrote:What's the cast?

Of Watchmen?

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=122573

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 7:48 am

Best case scenario for Watchmen The Movie:

Alan Moore catches a few seconds of it while channel surfing and lingers for an almost imperceptible moment before changing the channel.

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 5:29 pm

Professor Smooth wrote:Best case scenario for Watchmen The Movie:

Alan Moore catches a few seconds of it while channel surfing and lingers for an almost imperceptible moment before changing the channel.

God DAMN that would be sweet.

I understand where Alan Moore's coming from, but basically I just have to give him massive props for continuing to act like a passionate, idealistic, irrational young author, instead of most writers, who at his age would be, "F*** it, I'll go see it, give a s*** eating grin, and cash the checks."

And let's be honest, anybody who has read the books cam see that nothing in From Hell, LXG, and Constantine would've made Moore regret his decision. V for Vendetta was better in that it captured the spirit but changed the message, but I think Watchman has a good chance to be better than all four. 300 was bad ass, but the argument could be made that Frank Miller is just better suited to popular film.