300 JUNKET: ZACK SNYDER TALKS WATCHMEN

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- It was the 300 press junket, but it didn't take long for director Zack Snyder to start getting questions about his next project, an adaptation of Watchmen.

In fact, it didn't take any time all in this roundtable interview. It was the first question.

Here's an excerpt of the interview, focusing on Watchmen. (Look for Snyder's comments on 300 soon here in The Continuum.

Question: What's going on with Watchmen?

Snyder: Well, we're trying to get a budget together now. I feel like the movie is in a pretty cool place. I think the script's started to become pretty cool. I've been talking to some actors -- I'm not going to say who. But it's cool because in some ways, you can get real actors. You don't have to go Hollywood. So that's all going along.

I've been drawing away, you know. I think it's coming along, as they say. They have talked about maybe shooting in the summer -- so it's imminent.

Question: What's been the delay with the movie? Ten years ago it was a Joel Silver film with Terry Gilliam going to direct.

Snyder: I can only thank God they haven't got it together yet. I think the delay is always that they haven't known what it was.

I've set the movie in 1985, and I have the luxury of being far enough away from 1985 so that is a viable idea. I think that what happened in the past was that when you're only five years from 1985, it's a weird Š it's hard to make a period piece that took place only three years ago. Studios don't get that. And there has been a push on the other scripts that exist about trying to update the movie or make it take place in present day or things of that nature.

I think by setting the movie in '85, by having the Cold War, having Nixon, having all of that stuff, you sort of reinvigorate what the story is about. And it allows all the metaphors to sort of erect.

Look, if you set the movie in modern time, you're basically saying it's the war on terror. Right? Then the movie's asking me, "Oh Zack, what do you think of the war on terror? What's your take on it?" And who gives a fuck about what I think about the war on terror? That's not why people go to the movies.

I think what Alan (Moore), in his book, the comment he has made on authority and government, the big themes, maybe if you make that movie right, what that has to say makes people think about what's happening maybe now or in their own lives. That's my hope for what the movie can be.

Question: How has the universal praise for 300 assisted you with making Watchmen and possibly other projects?

Snyder: I can't saying it hasn't helped. It helped a lot. ... What it does do, people have said to me, "Dude, what's going on with Watchmen? You gotta make sure you don't fuck that up.'" He'd said, "What can I do to help?" I'd say, "Go see 300." Because the truth is 300 -- to the studio anyway -- is a graphic novel movie.

It is not a movie necessarily understand exactly when I pitch it on paper. When I say, "Listen, it's this -- in a movie." They don't get that. So my point is they feel the same way about Watchmen. They don't understand why it's not Fantastic Four. I have to remind them, it's much more Strangelove than it is Fantastic Four -- which they don't like hearing. They believe that I know, so in that way it helps. And the way that this movie when they finally saw it, I think they felt, "Wow! We didn't know that was the movie you were making necessarily, but we like this movie." So maybe that will apply to Watchmen.

Question: You've talked about the tone with 300, with a lot of CGI. What's your approach on Watchmen going to be. Is it going to be attacking the same kind of tone? Will there be a lot of CGI.

Snyder: The thing we really tried to do with 300 was not make the movie look like it was made by a computer. I wanted it to feel organic, as much as we could. You don't want to make it look like Polar Express. You know, it's a possibility if you get enough CGI in there. Suddenly, it's that movie.

Although that's a great-looking movie and super-cool, I feel that it doesn't then relate back to the printed medium it came from. I know that sounds contrary because you'd say, "An animated film is much more like a graphic novel." But I disagree because I feel like Frank's (Miller) graphic novel is an organic experience. It's a gritty book. There's a lot of spilled paint on that book; it feels that way anyway.

The idea with Watchmen is not to do a CG movie, but to do it ... when Dr. Manhattan goes to Mars, there's an issue there. You've got to figure that out. We can't go to Mars. I know there's a lot people are going to be disappointed by that, but I just don't have the money.

Antarctica, also, there's no (compound) built there. I know, again, we should probably build it and go film there, but I don't think they're going to let us do that. So those two things off the bat.

Dr. Manhattan himself. What do you do? How do you render him? Rorschach's mask...there are things that have to be dealt with.

The appetite for me is to make a movie that feels more like Taxi Driver than like Fantastic Four. It's a balance, you know.

Question: Is the budget for Watchmen set right now or is there some sort of plus or minus with the success of 300?

Snyder: That's theoretical. I believe that is probably reflecting reality, but I don't know that for sure. It's not set right now. Maybe that's a coincidence, maybe not.