Zack Snyder took on a major challenge when Warner Bros. approached him to make Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s classic comic Watchmen into a film. Several directors were considered for the film, which had been in development hell since 1987. Snyder’s stylish take on Frank Miller’s comic 300 impressed the studio.
Snyder took up the project as he viewed it as a deconstructionist comic book in the superhero genre. The Man of Steel director wanted to make a film that showed superheroes with vulnerabilities like sexual anxiety, agoraphobia, and other wild human emotions.
Zack Snyder Made Watchmen To Deconstruct The Superhero Genre
Not every movie-goer is a fan of Zack Snyder‘s films. The director has managed to cultivate a separate fan base for his films, with his unique approach and style of filmmaking. Most movie buffs will describe Snyder’s films as polarizing and this was exactly the case with his superhero film, Watchmen.
Warner Bros. came to Snyder to make the film, which veteran director Terry Gilliam deemed “unfilmable” (via Empire). During an interview with Evan Schwartz for Letterboxd, Zack Snyder revealed that he felt Watchmen was a deconstructive film. He shared that Alan Moore’s comic was the “ultimate deconstructionist comic book”.
Snyder went on to share that it was the human world vulnerabilities like sexual anxiety among superheroes that attracted him to Moore’s comic. In Watchmen, the superheroes were “agoraphobic”, “incestuous”, “insane”, and “addicted to violence”. Snyder shared with Letterboxd:
Watchmen to me is like the ultimate deconstructionist comic book. Superheroes have sexual anxiety. They’re all agoraphobic and incestuous and insane and addicted to violence.
Snyder’s film opened the possibility of adult-rated content in the superhero genre in films, which had been previously catered to a younger generation. Snyder never read the comic book form, which was released in 1986, but instead discovered the story in its graphic novel a few years later.
Like 300, he modeled his storyboards based on the comic (via CBR). Watchmen also didn’t use a lot of green screens like most superhero movies but instead opted to film in real sets.
Zack Snyder Described Watchmen as A Challenge To Your Icons And Morality
During an older interview with EW, Zack Snyder shared the difference between Watchmen and a conventional superhero comic book. He shared that while the audience gets transported to a different world in other comics, Watchmen superimposes its heroes on the real world, which changes the way the reader perceives the world. Snyder shared with EW:
The difference between Watchmen and a normal comic book is this: With Batman’s Gotham City, you are transported to another world where that superhero makes sense; Watchmen comes at it in a different way, it almost superimposes its heroes on your world, which then changes how you view your world through its prism.
He also called the movie a challenge to several of the reader’s beliefs. Snyder shared that the film could challenge one’s existing icons, morality, the way they perceive pop culture, and even the way they perceive mythology and God. Snyder shared:
The movie is a challenge — sort of like the book is a challenge — to your icons, your morality, how you perceive pop culture, how you perceive mythology, and for that matter, how you perceive God. It was absolutely genius that Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons did all of that in the context of a superhero story.
The film underperformed at the box office and could earn only $187 million against a massive budget in the range of $130-150 million (via The Numbers). A director’s cut was released for the movie with 24 minutes of additional footage and performed better than the theatrical release.
Watchmen is now available for streaming on Max.
