Who are the Watchmen that you will be Watching?

Ah Comic Con is in full swing on the West Coast which means comic news is going to be coming fast and furious over the next little while. I'm going to blog the highlights of what I hear (I'm not there so it'll all be second hand) and provide links to better version of the story.

First up and roaring out of the gate is confirmation on Watchmen casting. If you have not read Watchmen, stop reading, hit a Chapters or comic shop, buy the paperback (or if you have the cash the amazing absolute edition) and read it and then come back. After you read it, you'll know why I'm excited and frightened by this coming to the screen. This is kind of like Lord of the Rings for fantasy nuts.

Jackie Earle Haley is Walter Kovacs/Rorschach
Billy Crudup is Dr. Manhattan
Malin Akerman is Juspeczyk / The Silk Spectre
Matthew Goode is Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias
Patrick Wilson is Night-Owl
Jeffrey Dean Morgan will play The Comedian

(pics available at http://www.aintitcool.com/node/33449 )

I'll be honest, I have not seen many of these people in anything. Haley apparently was nominated for an Oscar for a movie called "Little Children" but I have not seen it. In fact the only credit of his listed on IMDB that I can say 100% sure I've seen is The Bad News Bears...the original one. Crudup I know from Almost Famous and Big Fish. Patrick Wilson does an amazing job in a small thriller called Hard Candy which was one of my favorite films of last year. The rest I don't really know.

But before everyone starts critiquing the casting choices and saying things like "How can Crudup be Dr. Manhattan? He isn't 30 feet tall or blue!" I'd like to present some things to calm fan boy minds.

1) Zach Snyder. The dude has performed two film miracles. He created a remake of a Romero zombie film that wasn't only not horrible, but it was pretty damn good. he also took a graphic novel that not many outside of comics had heard of or read, called 300 and made it into a movie both faithful to the book and a blockbuster.

2) Micheal Keaton. When he was chosen to play Batman, everyone, including myself thought it was a terrible idea. Who thinks that now?

3) Hugh Jackman. No one had any clue who the dude was until X-Men came out. And he wasn't even the first choice. First choice was Doug Ray Scott.

So take heart fanboys. Yes it is one of our most cherished books but there is possibility it might not suck.