Alan Moore Refuses Rights to Watchmen

[RJ Dalton]

While I can respect a man with integrity, Alan Moore is an ass. If I understand correctly, Mr. Moore was so adamant that the Watchman shouldn't be made into a movie that he essentially wrote the bizarre ending the comic book had to make it impossible to adapt into a movie. Although I certainly agree that some things shouldn't be taken out of their original medium, his approach to this is so fucking over-dramatic and to betray the story over a minor thing like that is just ridiculous.
This whole "I don't want anything to do with comics" comes off sounding like a whiny child to me. A true storyteller would be more concerned with what's important to the story rather than what people do with it afterward. Hollywood being the factory of broken dreams that it is, you can't dissuade them from doing stupid things and it's rather pointless to try.

 

[Rakkana]

*High-fives Alan Moore*

 

[Outright Villainy]

Is the plot in the film Watchmen the same as written by Alan Moore?

In that case, I am not surprised that he is not interested in monetary pursuit.

If by the same you mean 'adapted from his work', then yes, otherwise, Moore had no involvement with the making of the movie or it's script. Come to think of it, he's had no involvement with any any productions based on work he either wrote or was involved with, i.e. V For Vendetta or From Hell.

Yes but is the basic plot and the characters the same?

...basically, yessssss...guessing you aren't a fan then? ^^' But, even so, there's still a -world- of difference between the book and film, even if the premise is almost exactly the same, with many scenes almost recreated exactly. (Though, I still enjoyed both.)

I wouldn't exactly say a world of difference, just things they had to cut out to keep it under 6 hours. It's probably the most faithful adaption I've ever seen, they just added a couple of extra action scenes really (and the whole ending business. But they didn't really change it, just the specifics). A lot of the dialogue is taken verbatim too.
The only thing the films does wrong is make itself a little redundant, as the comic is definitely the more complete version, and the film isn't distinct enough to be essential viewing when you could just read the comic. But it is cool to watch it all play out, and it rarely puts a foot wrong.
[small]It does feels wrong complaining about something being too faithful to it's source...[/small]

 

[Rubashov]

"The comics world has lots of unpleasant connections, when I think back over it, many of them to do with Watchmen," he said.

I don't quite understand what he means here.

Anyone care to elaborate?

The whole DarkerAndGrittier!(InsertSuperheroNameHere) trend started with Watchmen. It got really old and really pointless really fast.

 

[Loonerinoes]

"The comics world has lots of unpleasant connections, when I think back over it, many of them to do with Watchmen," he said.

I don't quite understand what he means here.

Anyone care to elaborate?

Heh, something tells me he was deliberately elusive so as not to get into a blame-game. But if I had to guess, I'd say he isn't quite a fan of DC comics' approach of 'Hey! Let's throw all of our IP-owned superheroes by various artists into one big bucket via a movie/comics and milk the cash that comes from the various franchise fanbases.' But that's just my guess...

 

[Eruanno]

Thank god. I do -not- want any silly offsprings from Watchmen. It has a beginning, it has an end. It is a closed story. NO SILLY PREQUELS.

*Hugs Alan Moore*

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Personally, I am with this guy on this. I can understand why he didn't like comics after the implosion of the Dark Age which he indirectly caused via Watchman. And I also understand why he doesn't want to do prequels or a sequel.

For one, Watchman had prequels in it SELF via the many flashbacks. There is no major important plot or character development that has gone unexplained. They don't NEED a prequel.

As for a sequel, where do I begin? There is nothing to use. Half the main characters are either dead or in another galaxy, the "bad guy" won, the world is at peace since we fear the attack from the Giant Flying Spagetti Monster, there is no lingering plot thread to work with. Unless they go they way of Bioshock 2 and cut into the original just to GET those plot threads, there is NOTHING they can do with it.

 

[geldonyetich]

*envisions Moore lounging on a deck chair next to a pool with a martini in its hands*
"They want to put me back in charge of the Watchmen again? Bah! Let them eat cake."

 

[Silvver]

good for him
in my opinion it's better to a poor man then a rich whore

Money may not buy happiness but I'd rather cry in a ferrari.

Amen to that, haha. Mucho dinero and enough sex to be labelled a whore. Brilliant!

 

[scarab7]

This isn't news to me, waiting for Moore to take back the rights of something, that will be an interesting article.

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

While I can respect a man with integrity, Alan Moore is an ass. If I understand correctly, Mr. Moore was so adamant that the Watchman shouldn't be made into a movie that he essentially wrote the bizarre ending the comic book had to make it impossible to adapt into a movie. Although I certainly agree that some things shouldn't be taken out of their original medium, his approach to this is so fucking over-dramatic and to betray the story over a minor thing like that is just ridiculous.
This whole "I don't want anything to do with comics" comes off sounding like a whiny child to me. A true storyteller would be more concerned with what's important to the story rather than what people do with it afterward. Hollywood being the factory of broken dreams that it is, you can't dissuade them from doing stupid things and it's rather pointless to try.

What an oddly capitulatory view.

Why should someone tolerate industries that have repeatedly burned him? He created this shit. If he doesn't want to write about it anymore, that's his prerogative.

He's not a young man anymore; maybe he'd rather spend his time telling a new story - or no story at all.

 

[soapyshooter]

George Lucas can learn something from this man.

 

[vaderaider]

Thank god. I do -not- want any silly offsprings from Watchmen. It has a beginning, it has an end. It is a closed story. NO SILLY PREQUELS.

*Hugs Alan Moore*

Why have I got some horrid vision of a watchmen babies thing.


On topic: This is why I respect Alan Moore.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

"The comics world has lots of unpleasant connections, when I think back over it, many of them to do with Watchmen," he said.

I don't quite understand what he means here.

Anyone care to elaborate?

The whole DarkerAndGrittier!(InsertSuperheroNameHere) trend started with Watchmen. It got really old and really pointless really fast.

Didn't Moore actually apologize for what Watchmen unintentionally did to comics? If I remember right that's also why he wrote Supreme which took things back to the more light-hearted and less ambiguous moralities of the pre-Dark Age

 

[Deacon Cole]

"The comics world has lots of unpleasant connections, when I think back over it, many of them to do with Watchmen," he said.

I don't quite understand what he means here.

Anyone care to elaborate?

He has for over a decade now regretted the "dark" turn in mainstream super hero comics that he had a hand in starting with Watchmen and Killing Joke. I can't find the direct quote but he feels bad about taking something meant to entertain children and making it dark like that. Like he took Casper the Friendly Ghost and had him wear a necklace made of ears from all the children he'd killed.

Frankly, I tend to agree. Mostly because the dark and gritty angle just doesn't work for a lot of these characters or from a lot of these writers. It comes off as pretentious. The only thing funnier than a guy dressed like a flying rodent is a guy dressed like a flying rodent who expects to be taken seriously.