Interesting news this week regarding casting for 300 director Zack Snyder’s upcoming adaptation of Watchmen. If you haven’t heard: recent Academy Award nominee Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children) is slated to portray the enigmatic vigilante Rorschach; Billy Crudup (Almost Famous) has been tagged for the role of the godlike Dr. Manhattan; relative unknown Matthew Goode (Match Point) takes on the pivotal role of Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias; Patrick Wilson (who also appeared in Little Children) will play the Nite Owl; Dean Morgan (Grey’s Anatomy) stars as the cigar-chomping Comedian; and statuesque actress Malin Akerman (Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle, Entourage, the upcoming Invasion) steps into the stilettos of the comparatively plain Silk Spectre. 

I don’t think anyone who’s read Watchmen would argue with the fact that these aren’t the first names that come to mind. Haley’s turn in Little Children suggests he’s got the goods to pull of Rorschach’s creepy aura and pathos, and Morgan, who’s got a rugged-looks thing going, seems like he might do well as the slimy Comedian. But the mannequin-handsome Wilson seems all wrong for the pot-bellied sad sack Nite Owl; Goode is way too young and clean-looking to pass as Veidt’s worldly adventurer and magnate; Crudup just seems too pretty and bland for Dr. Manhattan; and Akerson’s too tall and attractive for the Silk Spectre. And as Gary Susman at Entertainment Weekly’s Popwatch blog points out, all of these actors are kind of young for the middle-aged characters they’re portraying.

But I can’t get too worked up about the casting. Already, there’s no way that Watchmen can live up to anyone’s expectations. By necessity, lots of stuff will hit the cutting-room floor — you’d need a 12-hour miniseries, at least, to keep everything in. There’s no guarantee that the graphic novel’s complex structure will translate to the big screen; a lot of the intricacies that make Watchmen what it is would probably come off forced and even precious. And as even Alan Moore has admitted, the plot — particularly the contrived ending — is the shakiest element of the book.

The point is, no matter what, it’s going to be different. It’s unreasonable to expect a two-hour (or even a three-hour) Watchmen movie to be as moderately faithful to its source material, or as aesthetically successful as either 300 or Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City. It’s just not going to happen. The whole thing is a leap of faith. As long as we’re leaping, we may as well go all the way. There are so many other hurdles to overcome that the casting seems relatively minor. Make no mistake: At first glance, parts of this cast aren’t exactly confidence-inspiring. But second-guessing a man who’s already in a near-impossible situation is fruitless. You can either use this news as an excuse to tear the whole thing to shreds (”I knew he’d screw it up!”) or you can trust that the people involved have an idea what they’re doing, and let them do it. I’m skeptical, sure, but I’m withholding judgement until I see the finished product. After all, I might not have bet on Sin City, either.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 27th, 2007 at 6:23 pm and is filed under Movies, Comics, What's Shaking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.