Watchmen Casting

If you've been wondering why there's been a significant decline in posts here, it's primarily because I've been working a full time job at a postproduction house in New York. It's fun, but takes up a lot of time, meaning that I neither have time to watch the stuff to write up, or to write up the stuff I watch. Hopefully I'll get my schedule set better, and have more time to write stuff, but it's been pretty busy so far. Anyway, on to a variety of topics.

Watchmen Casting

Well, it looks like it's finally happening, with the casting announcement hitting today, and for the most part, I'm unimpressed. I won't go into a lengthy fanboy rant, but my major issue is the casting of Malin Akerman, a pretty generic pretty blonde, for the role of Laurie. For one, she's ten years too young, and this is a character for whom age is a central issue. She and Dan shouldn't look like models, they're a bit past their prime, and the casting should have reflected this. I heard Virginia Madsen's name being thrown around for Sally, which is pretty ridiculous. Someone closer to her age should be playing Laurie.

But, ultimately I don't really care about the film. This is a work that belongs so singularly to the medium of comics, the reason it's the "Citizen Kane of comics" isn't because of the story, it's because it's a masterclass in what can only be done with the combination of words and pictures. This movie is like a novelization of Citizen Kane, the story might be the same, but the impact is vastly diluted, and that's even assuming that they manage to convey all the complexities of the story in a two hour film. I thought 300 was pretty bad, so I'm not expecting much from Zach Snyder on this one. I'll probably see the film, just out of curiosity, but like V For Vendetta, the film will quickly be forgotten, but the book will linger on.