Everyone will watch the Watchmen

Some people would take John Elway over Joe Montana. Some people think Bill Russell had a better career than Michael Jordan. Some people prefer The Godfather to Citizen Kane. But Alan Moore's 80s masterpiece Watchmen is universally recognized as the greatest comic of all time. For 20 years it's been many a director's Medellin, with Hollywood giants Terry Gilliam (Monty Python movies, 12 Monkeys), Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream), and Paul Greengrass (United 93) being attached at various times. But thanks to the success of 300, Zach Snyder is finally going to bring it to the screen. But maybe this was Snyder's plan all along: the above image is visible for a fraction of a second during the 300 trailer.

Much of the highly anticipated casting was announced yesterday: Billy Crudup (Almost Famous, Big Fish) as Dr. Manhattan, Patrick Wilson (Raoul from Phantom of the Opera) as Night Owl, and Matthew Goode (Chasing Liberty, Match Point) as Ozymandias. Previously announced casting included Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the Comedian (Denny Duquette on Grey's Anatomy), Malin Akerman (Sloane's friend Tori from Entourage, Freakshow's wife Liane from Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle) as the Silk Spectre, and Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children, Kelly Leak from The Bad News Bears) as the much sought after role of the above-pictured Rorschach (the inspiration of my pseudonym). Kerry Washington (Ray, Last King of Scotland), Thomas Jane (The Punisher, The Sweetest Thing), and Gerard Butler (Phantom of the Opera, 300) are also rumored to have been promised roles.

I cannot overstate how anticipated this movie is. I've been reading fanboy magazines since the 80s with casting suggestions, but since 9/11 I had given up on ever seeing it brought to life. There are parallels to the attack, and the context of the attack in the movie also calls into question the U.S. being in Iraq, although that isn't as obvious. Keep in mind, this was written in 1986, and it isn't overtly anti-American, it's just that timeless works can refer to current events in any era.