Alan Moore’s “Watchmen
” graphic novels, about two generations of flawed vigilantes and a nuked supersentient being working for the U.S. government, took nearly two decades and several writers to make it to the big screen earlier this year.
“Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut”
We talked with Alex Tse, the last of “Watchmen”‘s long series of screenwriters, about the challenges of adapting a revered and iconic work, and why Alan Moore is a reluctant elephant in the room.
Mavervorl Media: “Watchmen” is a beloved series of books in a fiercely partisan genre, and fans are very protective. Were you worried about keeping comics fans happy when you took the gig?
Alex Tse: I made peace with the fact that I would be judged for taking on this piece of work, but some dude in a Night Owl costume is not going to intimidate me more than a gangbanger.
MM: It seemed like “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” (another Alan Moore movie adaptation from which the author removed his name) was a non-starter, but people were especially passionate abut “Watchmen” being just so. Was that a lot of pressure?
AT: You lose the right to complain once you take the job. but in our initial conversation, (“Watchmen” director) Zack Snyder, who obviously was also a huge fan of the books, said, “Do you really want to do this? I don’t want to fuck it up.”
Zack is the only motherfucker who could have made a movie like that. Very few people had the leverage to do “Watchmen” the way they wanted, but Zack had just come off of “300″ and. he had the currency to fight the studio. And I said, “I don’t want to fuck it up either!”
MM: But the ball had been passed around for so many years…
AT: Right, and one of the things you’re left saying, as a fan, is “Do you want someone else to fuck it up?” It all comes down to who has the ball at the end of the game.
MM: Alan Moore is famously prickly. And I notice his name is not on the DVD packaging.
AT: Yet anyone i know who’s actually dealt with him has nothing but nice things to say. David Hayter, “Watchmen”‘s previous writer, said that Alan Moore could not have been more supportive. He is supportive of writers in general. But I came at this project like a fan. I saw properties of Alan Moore’s fucking destroyed. “League” was utterly heartbreaking. I became increasingly nervous about what people would do with his stuff.
MM: Does it take a fan to adapt something like this?
AT: Well, I’m a fan, and not a fanatic. I’d like to think I have a little perspective. I read “Watchmen” when I was 13. I started out with “X Men,” maybe because it was more accessible, read “The Dark Knight Returns” and thought “Holy shit – you can do that with Batman?”
There was a whole world of comics I wasn’t aware of.
But after “Dark Knight” I started paying attention to the writers. I wanted to know who Frank Miller was. I started following his work. And then someone said, “If you like Frank Miller, then you should read Alan Moore.”
And the first thing I read was “Swamp Thing.” It was like literature. It was one of the things I read where the entire paradigm shifted. If “Dark Knight” had advanced and opened my eyes to what the medum of what comics could be, “Watchmen” did that for me for stories in general.
MM: There have been a number of writers onboard “Watchmen” as it has passed between studios and directors. What personal touches are you proudest of?
AT: The “McLaughlin Group” scene seemed like an Alan Moore-ish thing to do, to have John McLaughlin talking about superheroes was pretty fucking cool. But in the Ultimate Edition where the “Tales of the Black Freighter” story is integrated, I suggested using Nina Simone’s version of “Pirate Jenny” from “The Threepenny Opera,” suggesting that the Freighter was an allegory for civil rights.
Tse said the “Watchmen” job elevated his profile. In Hollywood special attention is paid to people who can get a project off the ground. Tse, who was the screenwriter with the ball at the end of “Watchmen”‘s long drive to theatres, was under intense scrutiny from fans but also executives who could get him further work.
“But it didn’t make my life night and day,” Tse said. “I still have to go to work.”
In addition to adapting Paul Pope’s “Battling Boy” graphic novel for the screen, Tse is also writing “Frankie Machine” for Michael Mann and an adaptation of “The Illustrated Man” for Zack Snyder.
MM: When “Watchmen” finally appeared -
AT: It was pretty split critically -
MM: Did you go to see it at the theatre?
AT: I had already seen it a bunch of times at screenings, but when it was released I stood outside (Hollywood’s) the Arclight and waited for my friends to come out. I’d spent two years on this project from beginning to end and I just couldn’t sit in the theatre.
MM: The ending of “Watchmen” the movie has been controversial.
AT: I’m quite proud of it, actually. We kept David Hayter’s ending because it keeps the spirit of “Watchmen.” To me, anyway. Besides, you would have to set aside 40 more minutes of an already long movie for the fucking interdimensional cephalapod. People would say, “What the fuck is this?” Don’t get me wrong, there’s something about that that would have been really cool, too, but would it have been an addition for the sake of nostalgia, not narrative.
MM: You’re currently working with Snyder on “The Illustrated Man.” How would you characterize the challenges of dealing with the reactions of Ray Bradbury fans versus Alan Moore fans?
AT: I’d say whatever difficulties are all high class problems to have.
“Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut”
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