Watchmen: A History of the Movie that Couldn't Be Made

When people talk of a “development hell,” I’m pretty sure they’re envisioning the ninth circle as a private party for the Watchmen film, with buddies Ghostbusters 3 and Halo: The Movie in attendance.

Seeing is believing though, and with the release of Zack Snyder’s kick-ass Watchmen trailer, we finally have visual confirmation that the movie will actually, at some point, exist. In the least, I’ll settle for it being an elaborate hoax at Alan Moore’s expense.

Now that we have an idea of what to expect from 300’s Snyder, let’s take a stroll down memory lane to an alternate history where Nixon was still impeached and masked vigilantes were still imaginary – but an earlier version of the Watchmen film was made.

The Original Plan
Producers: Lawrence Gordon and Joel Silver
Director: None attached
Writer: Sam Hamm
Development: 20th Century Fox, 1986-1991

Producer Lawrence Gordon, who’s the only person to see development all the way from start to finish, grabbed the rights to Watchmen in 1986 shortly after the graphic novel was released. Pay attention, because this marks both the first and last time anyone handled the project with a sense of urgency.

Alan Moore, shortly after being asked to write the screenplay.

Fox initially offered Watchmen author Alan Moore the opportunity to pen the big screen adaptation, but those of you familiar with his notorious anti-Hollywood stance won’t be surprised to learn he declined. Instead, Sam Hamm (screenwriter for Burton’s Batman) was handed the arduous task of distilling the 400-page comic behemoth into a two-hour film, becoming the first in a line of writers to wonder if Lawrence Gordon secretly hated his guts.

Hamm took a number of liberties with the source material, first and foremost simplifying the comic’s elaborate ending, which would become something of a development trend. Given Hamm’s willingness to depart from the text and the fact that no director was ever announced, this is the one entry on the list we can all perhaps appreciate more unfinished.

“Hurray, We Have a Great Director!” Round 1
Producers: Lawrence Gordon and Joel Silver
Director: Terry Gilliam
Writer: Terry Gilliam, Warren Skaaren, and Sam Hamm (cred.); Charles McKeown (uncred.)
Development: Warner Bros., 1991-2001

After Fox nixed development on the project, producers took the film to Warner Bros., where the talented Terry Gilliam was secured to direct. As if this weren’t awesome enough, Gilliam announced that Hamm’s script would be rewritten to hew more closely to the original story and characters, pleasing fans worldwide, with the notable exception of Hamm himself.

In addition to introducing Rorschach’s diary as a voice-over, Gilliam brought back a number of scenes from the comic that had been previously cut, so we at least know his head was in the right place. Casting rumors from the time inspire slightly less confidence, with Robin Williams pegged to play Rorschach, Jamie Lee Curtis as The Silk Spectre, and both Richard Gere and Kevin Costner as possible Nite Owls. The only choice that really nailed it was Gary Busey as The Comedian, which is just so fucking brilliant I can barely contain myself.

Artist's rendering of how this version would have turned out.

Gilliam’s a unique, impressive director, and I’m utterly curious to see what he would have done with the material. Unfortunately, his answer to that seems to be “nothing” as he ultimately chose to leave the project, claiming the original’s length and complexity rendered it un-filmable. This highlights what I call the “Watchmen Good Director Paradox”: the more a given director “gets” the original comic, the more apt he is to think he shouldn’t be directing it at all.

Start from Scratch, Again
Producers: Lawrence Gordon and Lloyd Levin
Director: David Hayter
Writer: David Hayter
Development: Universal, 2001-2003

Budget issues and a producer shake-up brought the project to the next stop on the studio-go-round, Universal. Development here began with a reported seven-figure deal for David Hayter to write and direct a new treatment of the graphic novel. In case you’re unfamiliar with him, it’s worth noting that Hayter doubly earned his geek cred: both by writing X-Men/X2 and by voicing the popular video game character Solid Snake. He’s like a renaissance man specifically for nerds.

Imagine if this guy made the Watchmen.

Although Hayter’s script removes the Cold War setting, opting instead for a contemporary depiction, it’s supposedly one of the more faithful film adaptations. For example, though the climax has still been tampered with (honestly, I don’t blame him), Hayter holds onto the fundamental character motivations and the ambiguous resolution that color it. In all, it’s supposed to be incredibly faithful to the original characters, and Hayter himself claims to have earned Moore’s blessing (I’m fairly certain this has to be an outright lie).

That old development kryptonite, “creative differences,” drove the team to eventually leave Universal. Nevertheless, this is an interesting wild card among the various versions, as Hayter’s script is well-regarded, but his directing talent unproven. Sounds like a recipe for more substance than style, but such an anti-Snyder approach isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“Hurray, We Have a Great Director!” Round 2
Producers: Lawrence Gordon and Lloyd Levin
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Writer: David Hayter
Development: Paramount, 2004

Now at Paramount, the producers at this point were starting to look like film development sluts. Here, the studio’s first action was to replace novice director Hayter with the more experienced (in terms of directing, not virtual character voice acting) Darren Aronofsky.

Like Gilliam before him, this is a very compelling choice. Known for artsy, engaging fare like Pi and Requiem for a Dream, Aronofsky is well-equipped to capture the psychological and philosophical headiness that permeates the original work. Of no less importance, he also knows how to make things look pretty.

Still, the contemporary setting that distinguishes Hayter’s script also brought with it an inevitable “war-on-terror” theme. I happen to think Aronofsky and Gilliam would both be better serviced by an adaptation willing to depart further from reality, engaging the fantasy of an alternate world. Unfortunately, we never got to see what Aronofsky would have done anyway, as he soon departed the project in order to focus on The Fountain (although if you squint really hard in its final space scene, you can pretend Hugh Jackman is Dr. Manhattan).

Add in some blue and you've got yourself the Doc.

“Hurray, We Have a Great Director!” Round 3
Producers: Lawrence Gordon and Lloyd Levin
Director: Paul Greengrass
Writer: David Hayter
Development: Paramount, 2004-2005

After his departure, Aronofsky was quickly replaced by Paul Greengrass, who at the time had just finished directing the excellent Bourne Supremacy. Meanwhile, David Hayter was reportedly seen packing up the director’s chair he bought for himself about two versions earlier and then quietly crying himself to sleep.

Greengrass, who would soon go on to film the visceral United 93, definitely has a knack for grounding svelte action sequences in incredibly realistic and convincing stories. He would undoubtedly handle Hayter’s war-on-terror business with tact – if anyone has a shot at making it work in the Watchmen, it’s this guy. Still, could he bring the appropriate amount of visual pizzazz to a sci-fi alternate universe? In terms of futuristic concept designs, he’s not exactly the pizzazz-iest (forgive me, former English professors) director.

Concept drawing from this version,
demonstrating distinct lack of pizzazz.

Casting rumors from this round are pretty intriguing. Simon Pegg as the twisted Rorschach? Weird, but sign me up! In addition, Jude Law, Daniel Craig, and Sigourney Weaver all supposedly expressed interest in the film. With budget concerns materializing and Paramount experiencing a leadership shake-up, the project eventually gets put into turnaround and Greengrass leaves to work on United 93.

Meanwhile, a relatively unknown director, Zack Snyder, releases a muscular Spartan romp to great commercial success, attracting the attention of Warner Bros., which the project has somehow found its way back to. The rest, as they say, is alternate history…

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So, which one of these versions would you be excited to see?