Walking Dead Star’s Grumpy Attitude Helped Him Bag Zack Snyder’s Cult-Classic DC Film Despite Being the Most Difficult Role To Cast

Jeffrey Dean Morgan being angry at the script helped him bag the role in the Zack Snyder movie, Watchmen

walking dead star’s grumpy attitude helped him bag zack snyder’s cult-classic dc film despite being the most difficult role to cast

SUMMARY

  • Zack Snyder's Watchmen is considered one of the movies adapted from comic books
  • The director wanted a grumpy actor for the role of The Comedian but none was good enough
  • Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who was upset about how the copy he received was terrible, managed to bag the role
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Zack Snyder has always been a visionary director throughout his career. Having an eye for morally grey characters, Snyder became famous in 2009 when he adapted the iconic DC Comics character Watchmen into a movie.

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With a dark undertone and the balance of the thin line between good and evil, Snyder truly created one of the best R-rated superhero movies but the casting process wasn’t so easy. When Zack Snyder wanted a grumpy actor for a role, The Walking Dead star Jeffrey Dean Morgan walked in for an audition!

A still from Zack Snyder's Watchmen
A still from Zack Snyder’s Watchmen

When Zack Snyder Wanted A Grumpy Actor

When the role of The Comedian aka Edward Blake was out for consideration, Snyder wasn’t able to find an actor grumpy enough for the role. With how the character is quite brooding in the comics, the 300 director really wanted someone who could give off that aura of grumpiness.

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Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Thomas Wayne

Also read: “Just give Zack Snyder a call”: Attack on Titan Live-Action Finds ‘Rebel Moon’ Creator as Top Fan Pick After ‘The Flash’ Director Bows Out

Well, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who portrayed the role of Negan in the iconic series The Walking Dead,  was also interested in the role. Surprisingly, he was given a Xerox copy of the original DC Comic which was barely readable. This caused him to be in an angry mood which worked for the better. In an interview, Dean Morgan ranted about how his script condition was quite terrible.

“…and instead of sending me a script, which, you know, that’s what we see as actors are these scripts…it was a Xerox copy of the graphic novel, black and white, thick as a phone book, and I was like, ‘What the hell is this thing?’ [laughs] I mean, literally, I was almost angry, like, ‘They expect me to read this?'”

He further continued,

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“You know, you could barely read it, and you couldn’t see the pictures, really, and then I did read it, and opened it up, and on page three, the Comedian gets thrown out the window!”

This turned into anger and as per trivia, Jeffrey Dean Morgan was quite grumpy the first time he met Zack Snyder. Being impressed with his nature, Snyder finalized Dean Morgan for the role and that is how the character of The Comedian was brought to life!

Suggested: “It was all white people like me”: HBO Didn’t Want Damon Lindelof to Unmask One Watchmen Character That Alan Moore Didn’t Even Dare To

Zack Snyder Will Join Two Different Movies Into The Same Universe!

Zack Snyder is also known for directing Army of the Dead (2021).
Zack Snyder is also known for directing Army of the Dead (2021).

Related: “It’s all extremely personal”: Zack Snyder Confirms His Star Wars Killer Rebel Moon to Get Prequel After Netflix Release

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Back in 2021, Snyder released the iconic zombie movie, Army of the Dead. With a 2-hour and 28-minute runtime at hand, Zack Snyder revealed that there is a vast mythology of the film that was supposed to be turned into an animated series. In a new interview with Total Film (via Games Radar), the director revealed that he was also going to introduce a character from his upcoming magnum opus, Rebel Moon, into the series but wasn’t able to do so.

Army of the Dead has a pretty vast mythology that never made it into the movie. There’s actually a character from Rebel Moon in the animated series that we never did. We did all the scripts and the animatics, and all the voices are recorded. So you could watch it, even in its crazy animatic form – you can watch the whole run.”

With the Man of Steel director busy with his upcoming movie, Rebel Moon Part 1 is slated for a release date of 22nd December 2023 on Netflix while Part 2 will arrive on April 14th, 2024. The movie series will be a space opera much like Star Wars but with Snyder’s dark take on the franchise and fans cannot wait.

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Written by Visarg Acharya

Articles Published: 2097

Visarg Acharya, Associate Content Writer, has been heavily involved in movies, series, and history. Having an experience of 2 years in the field of content writing, Visarg is a seasoned writer. Having a degree in Physics, Visarg Acharya has published a dissertation alongside a plethora of poems and short stories along the way.