Dr. Manhattan’s Lab
Warner Bros has produced 12 video production blogs chronicling the making of Zack Snyder’s Watchmen. The first video blog takes a look at some of the sets from the upcoming film. Watch the video over on ComingSoon or check out some of the sets in photo form below. I have included comparisons from the comic book when available. As always, you can click on any of the photos to enlarge. I’m certainly more impressed with the sets and production design than I am with the costumes. Tell me what you think of the sets in the comments below.
Dr. Manhattan’s Apartment
Rorschach’s Jail Cell
Blake’s (The Comedian) Apartment
Mason’s Auto Repair
New York City Set
Watchmen will hit theaters on March 6th, 2009.
April 6th, 2008 at 12:44 am
I’m with Moore: Boycott Watchmen. This looks like a disaster.
April 6th, 2008 at 1:22 am
It actually looks really good. I can say they do have the look from the comics down. And despite my love for the comic I think it will be worth seeing.
April 6th, 2008 at 1:31 am
I’m more of a Supermna/Batman comic-book fan myself but this looks intriguing and will definitely watch!!!
April 6th, 2008 at 1:59 am
@Thats
Your really dense.
April 6th, 2008 at 3:07 am
@Allynd Dudnikov
@thats IS Alan Moore, he just doesn’t want you to know.
April 6th, 2008 at 5:57 am
I was a little bit leery at first about Watchmen being turned into a movie, and God knows Alan Moore wasn’t crazy about it either. Y’know what, though? After seeing those pictures and Snyder’s history with comics-to-film, I’m breathing a little easier now. It looks like he is really trying to be as faithful as possible to the comic, and that should go a long way with a lot of fanboys out there. That said, I always thought from the beginning that Watchmen was better suited as a cable mini-series (read: HBO) rather than a Hollywood feature-flick. There’s just way too much significant content in the book to be condensed into even 3 hours. Well, I’m sure they’ll at least keep the main themes intact. I’m just afraid the movie will leave me feeling like they were trying to stuff a bag too much and too quickly.
April 6th, 2008 at 8:00 am
I am a huge Alan Moore fan. I love his work, and I agree most of his adaption are not that good. But everything I’ve seen from Snyder’s is looking fantastic. Granted I haven’t seen the final product, anything, etc etc. But I will be there opening night.
If you want to boycott the film, go ahead. Don’t give it a chance. Bury it before it’s born. Personally, I think that’s a horrible way to approach things.
April 6th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Everyone keeps saying everything we’ve seen from Snyder. So far all he’s really done is Dawn of the Dead remake and 300. And 300 is really the only comic book adaptation. So it’s way more then possible he can fuck this up. But from what we see it looks great visually and syle wise. But most of us are going to be bitching about how condensed for the screen it was after we see it. Just let it be what it will be. It still looks like it will be fun so here’s hoping.
April 6th, 2008 at 11:07 am
THANK YOU ZACK!!!!!!! watch when this trailer drops, just watch.
April 6th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Good grief, so much whining and bitching. A comic book is a comic book and a movie is a movie, does anyone not understand this? The same crying happens when a novel is adapted, they cut stuff, they changed things, blah blah blah. Watchmen the movie, no matter how it turns out, will not change the genius of the comic book one single iota. Personally, I’m hoping that they make a great movie, it’s entertaining, it’s as faithful as it can be shrunk down to 2 hours or so, and that it doesn’t suck. But either way it won’t change the original.
April 6th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
There’s some really small details in these shots that are pretty cool. The Hustler and gun magazine with the Comedian, the Promethean cab company, and the original NiteOwl’s home filled with old superhero pictures and cassette tapes, stuff like that. It looks well focused on, I like that, considering the very important and VERY minor details in so many panels of the comic.
April 6th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Not only did they manage to bring the comicbook palette into the real world. They did it in a very smart, creative, and intelligent manner. Especially how they filled a lot of the “blank” areas with tons of other great details to bring them alive. They match their respective attitudes and compositions which is just great to see.
I have to say I’m really impressed by how dedicated Snyder is in bringing the actual comic designs from the costumes to the environments into the real world. I wish more directors did this when adapting comic characters and their worlds onto film.
I have to say i’m insanely excited about this. I was very worried at first, but that worry has been lifted after the media that’s been put out on the net.
April 6th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Sorry about the overuse of “I have to say”. I wish there were an edit button for comments.
I’m such a dick, I know.
April 6th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Um. Why not just shoot an actual city? This looks like a lot of wasteful construction that requires CGI augmentation to the depth and height of the sets anyway. It seems that Silent Hill did a pretty bang-up job on the production design by using real locations and just dressing them. I don’t see what the big deal is here. And they don’t even really look like the panels. Moving along…
April 6th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Boycott Watchmen
April 6th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Lars,
The reason for this is that the Watchmen world is a mix of New York style cityscapes from the 80’s era and some European design thrown in the mix. Doing this in real locations would be even more costly. Especially how decorative the Watchmen city areas are. If they used actual locations, they would have to put just as much work if not more into getting them to “look” this way.
It’s cheaper and it’s a lot more stylish from the looks of it. Adding the cg parts to the end of the sets isn’t as hard as trying to coordinate actual city locations with real people walking around and dealing with irregular weather. Snyder shows here it’s possible to have really great looking sets that dont “look” like sets.
It’s not a waste at all.
April 7th, 2008 at 7:07 am
It is also about “controlling” the sets, real world sets are difficult to control for long periods of time.
April 7th, 2008 at 10:06 am
if it weren’t for the campy costume choices (rorschach excepted), and the style over substance approach that i feel the director will take this would be one to watch, despite the unadaptable nature of the source material.
April 7th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Boycott boycotting the Watchmen