In 2009, Zack Snyder made his foray into the DC Universe with Watchmen, basing it directly on the 1986–1987 DC Comics limited series of the same name. Adapting a grim storyline of a dystopian nature posed its own set of challenges and forced the filmmaker to take concrete steps to address issues within the plot.
Additionally, he led a slew of creative decisions, from casting to the color palette, which went on to become some of his signature elements in the coming installments of his then-upcoming full-fledged DC Extended Universe.
In a manner similar to what he did with Man of Steel, the 300 director altered the tone of the plot to suit his version of the adaptation better and, once again, stirred a debate with a hotly debated ending. The conclusion of the dystopian flick involved a significant departure from the comics.
However, this time around, Snyder made the changes only because he felt the original to be going against the prevailing sentiments of the American audience and not to fulfill any of his personal choices for the plot, with even the suggestion not stemming from himself.
The real reason Zack Snyder and team altered the ending of Watchmen
For the movie version of Watchmen, Zack Snyder aimed to retain the originality and themes of the comics and vowed to maintain accuracy. However, an unfortunate distancing became inevitable towards the end, which originally involved the destruction of New York.
In talks with the Script Apart podcast, David Hayter, screenwriter for the movie, revealed that the reason to deviate from the comics was to not mirror the unfortunate events of 9/11.
[W]e knew that it was going to be very difficult to do the ending of the book, and plus, since 9/11 had happened, we also, I didn’t feel that we should have all those images of the dead bodies in Times Square, and I felt that that was not appropriate.
He further continued,
So that inspired me to say, ‘People should just be blown to shadows, like the Hiroshima shadows that are painted on the walls in the comic book.’
The original limited series outing, envisioned and written collaboratively by Dave Gibbons and Alan Moore took on a dark tone that followed the outlawing of mainstream superheroes. However, towards its end, in order to unite humanity, Ozymandias teleported a giant squid-like creature, faking an alien invasion but causing mass destruction and death, which would not have been well-received in a post-9/11 world.
As per the suggestion of the former director of the movie, Darren Aronofsky, the script was altered to instead frame Dr. Manhattan as the reason for an attack on humanity, uniting the nations and averting an all-out nuclear war. Regardless, the end, though debated, helped prevent even catastrophic debates of a complete ravage, something that Snyder’s Man of Steel still reels from.
Tom Cruise could have changed the movie’s fortunes
Made on a budget of $130 million, Watchmen, despite a strong opening, managed to only grab a modest $185 million at the global box office, far below expectations. Interestingly, Zack Snyder made another choice, to not cast Tom Cruise in a lead role despite the actor’s personal request. In talks with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the director revealed a major conflict of commitment coming in the way.
Cruise originally dialed on to Snyder asking to be cast as Rorschach. However, the Rebel Moon director had already sealed Jackie Earle Haley in the role after he impressed him. Moreover, he also imagined the Mission Impossible actor more suitable as Ozymandias. The resulting situation led to neither of them finding common ground and thus, the solo DC outing lost the chance of featuring the literal face of Hollywood.
Watchmen is available to stream on Max and the Max Amazon Channel.
