Jeffrey Dean Morgan played Edward Blake aka The Comedian in Zack Snyder’s 2009 film Watchmen. It was this lesser-known DC property that launched Snyder’s career into one of the fan-favorite CBM directors. Morgan only had great things to say about the film, which he shared was ahead of its time. Morgan was sure that the series created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons would be loved forever by fans.
Watchmen events are set in an alternative history Cold War era. The film stars Malin Åkerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Carla Gugino, Jackie Earle Haley, and Patrick Wilson. In a recent revelation, Snyder revealed that Tom Cruise wanted to play a crazy anti-hero in the film.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan Cannot Get Over How Great Zack Snyder’s Watchmen Is
Zack Snyder‘s influence on the superhero genre is almost undeniable, despite all the criticisms against it. Even the Oscar-winning director Christopher Nolan believed that all modern superhero films carried Snyder’s blueprint. Nolan had specifically mentioned Snyder’s Watchmen as a movie ahead of its time. One Watchmen actor completely agrees with this notion.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who played The Comedian, remembered his challenging role with fondness in 2018 in an interview with Variety. It was one movie that the actor was very proud of. He shared that it was great that people are still finding the film and watching the film after all these years. Interestingly, the film was at a financial loss after its theatrical run but profited from all the home media runs (via @gregsilverman).
Morgan himself caught the second half of the film on home TV while flipping through channels and loved rewatching it. He shared with Variety:
“I’m very proud of that movie. People are still finding it and watching it and I think it’ll have fans forever. I think it was ahead of its time. I don’t know what else to say, other than I’m extremely proud of it. Not long ago, I caught the second half of the film, just flipping channels, and loved it. It was great.”
Snyder’s film was criticized for a lack of thematic depth and nuance of the comic when it was released in theaters. The film’s reception was very similar to Snyder’s DCEU releases, Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman. The films were also critically panned but received love from hardcore Snyder fans.
Zack Snyder Revealed That Tom Cruise Asked For Rorschach Role In The Film
Fans have seen the many action roles of Tom Cruise, but they could never imagine him hacking a child killer to his death with a meat cleaver. But Cruise wanted to play Rorschach, the man who “even in the face of armageddon, never compromises”. Snyder revealed this detail to Josh Horowitz of the Happy Sad Confused podcast:
“I wanted Cruise for Ozymandias, he wanted to play Rorschach. He obviously could’ve done the role. I certainly would’ve considered Tom, in retrospect, if I hadn’t had Jackie.”
Jackie Earle Haley portrayed the role in the film and was already cast by the time Cruise demanded it. Haley was chosen for the role after fans largely supported the actor, who had read the comics as a child. When the relatively unknown Haley puts on the mask containing the Rorschach test inkblot and says, “I abandoned my disguise and became myself,” it is very convincing.
While Cruise could’ve hardly carried the disguise part, he was at an experimental phase of his career at the time, even playing Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder. Interestingly, Keanu Reeves was also considered for the part of Dr. Manhattan in the film.
Watchmen is now available for streaming on Max.
