An anonymous source who was an extra on the set of the Watchmen movie has been sending spoilers to website Comic Related. Her latest post features a bunch of photos and an illustration of the sets used in the film with full descriptions of points where they are used in the movie in relation to the comics. The best stuff answers a lot of questions that fanboys have been asking about--including how it ends. GO NO FURTHER IF YOU ARE GOING TO WRITE ME AN ANTI-SPOILER EMAIL!
The first bit with all the set pics and map is
HERE, but I've included the majority of the spoilers below because this report is surely going to get yanked as soon as the "powers that be" find it. So, head over there to read all 7 reports before that happens.
Here it is...
Back in November of 2007, Comic Related was introduced to an individual who works in the film industry. This individual, who called herself Cassandra Faust, has been good enough to share seven first hand reports direct from the set of the Watchmen film. Ms. Faust worked as an extra during the filming and offered a great summary of what she witnessed. Her latest update is a complete show stopper! Today Ms. Faust returns with a walking tour of the Watchmen World and has our sincere, continued and ongoing thanks...
STILL WATCHING THE WATCHMEN
by (fake name) Cassandra Faust
When I signed off in March, fellow WATCHMEN fans, I thought that was truly the end of my brief journalistic career. The production had wrapped, the New York street set stands bare and deserted and the raw film footage had been consigned to the trials and tribulations of postproduction.
However, WATCHMEN employed so many local people working in the film industry that one is hard pressed to come across anyone in the business who did not have something to do with the film. In my continuing work as a background performer, I’ve rubbed elbows with numerous people who, like me, had the privilege to work on what has already been dubbed the “Blade Runner of the 21st Century”. And in the weeks since production shut down, I’ve learned a lot about the movie. The details, big and small, kept adding up until I found myself dusting off my keyboard and donning my reporter’s cap to bring you wonderful WATCHMEN fans yet another update. And these nuggets about the film are solid gold.
Hang on to your masks!
To start off, I’ve learned that the supplemental material at the end of the individual issues of the comic series will be included in the film in the form of newsreel-style reports. Whether these will be part of the opening credits – as has been reported elsewhere – or interspersed throughout the film, we will have to wait and see. Perhaps the Mothman scene I reported on months ago will be part of this footage.
The next little tidbit of information I’ve come across concerns the scene with Nixon and Kissinger after Dr. Manhattan has fled Earth and the situation with the Russians is reaching the boiling point. I’m told that the actors, with the aid of make-up and prosthetics, resemble their true-life counterparts to a great degree. The two important figures will indeed get reports on a doomsday scenario and the potential loss of the East Coast of the United States. My source tells me that Nixon, upon hearing this news, will quip: “Let’s see those bastards at Harvard figure a way out of that one.” Also, Kissinger will make reference to the “mad Nixon”. However, my source’s memory is sketchy on this point as the scene was shot months ago and he is unfamiliar with the novel. My source may have been referring to the “mad bomber” reference in this scene from the novel. A new wrinkle appears to be an escalation of the situation and potentially a limited nuclear strike as my source (with faulty memory, remember) made reference to reactions shots that were filmed where the generals react to some horrific cataclysm that has taken place. These shots featured the generals covering their faces and expressing concern for their families. This Nixon/Kissinger information should be filed in the ‘grain of salt’ category as the details may have gotten a bit blurred over time. I’m merely reporting what I was told.
Moving on to much more reliable information, we turn our attention to Rorschach. I’ve learned a great deal about him from someone who worked for months on the film and am pleased to pass on what I know since it sticks so closely to the novel that it may put some fans at ease.
We will be seeing Kovacs’s tragic childhood faithfully brought to life: His whoring mother, the fight with the bullies (Zack Snyder’s son plays young Kovacs) and his eventual employment in the garment industry where he comes upon his mask just as described in the novel.
Rorschach will also be employing his particular interrogation techniques in the bar. Broken fingers anyone?
Kovacs’s unforgettable battle of wills with Big Figure has been reproduced in the film. However, Zack Snyder and crew have upped the ante a little. We all know how Kovacs binds Big Figure’s flunky against the cell door, which ultimately gets the man’s throat cut. Well, for the film, Figure’s other murderous henchman cuts the bound man’s arms off with a circular saw in a gruesome scene. For the record though, Kovacs affects his escape in the classic manner depicted in the novel and Big Figure also meets his demise off-camera in the rest room. This is one fan who can’t wait to see Danny Woodburn as Big Figure. Some might remember Woodburn as Kramer’s friend Mickey on Seinfeld, but he is also a great dramatic actor. What a casting coup this will turn out to be.
We’ve all seen the alterations made to Adrian Veidt’s appearance and the changes don’t end there. His domed, Antarctic retreat appears in the film but there is no green house and he does not murder his three accomplices. And poor Nite Owl and Rorschach will be walking to the retreat from Owl’s ship. No hover bikes. Nite Owl will have his winter outfit though.
Another alteration is that Dr. Manhattan will crash through the ceiling of Veidt’s retreat, not the wall, but he will be 100 feet tall.
Veidt will catch the bullet fired by Laurie but will not break Nite Owl’s nose with a plate and does not pin Rorschach to the table. I’m told that Veidt will fight Rorschach, Nite Owl and Laurie at the same time. Given Mr. Snyder’s genius with staging fight scenes, this should be something extraordinary as we see an outnumbered Veidt wipe the floor with his worthy opponents.
For those fans already starting to grind their teeth at these alterations, perhaps you will take comfort in the fact that Rorschach will meet his explosive demise at the hands of Dr. Manhattan – no alterations there.
The last nugget of information I have can best be described as the BIG ONE. It concerns the end of the film and the presence of a certain monstrous something many fans are hoping to see. Squid or no squid? That is the question on the minds of WATCHMEN fans.
Well, I’ve been given, I’m told, the definitive answer to this question and it comes from a source who worked months on the production, right up until the film wrapped.
It’s been revealed to me that the squid is definitely… IN! The hideous brainchild of Adrian Veidt will be unleashed on the city of New York (and yours truly as an extra for the filming of a portion of these scenes) to wreck havoc and destruction.
There you have it. A treasure trove of WATCHMEN gold. That’s all I have to report for now. Under the circumstances, I’d normally be closing up shop yet again, but I’ve learned to never say never with WATCHMEN.
So this is your intrepid reporter signing off for now.
See you in the funny papers.
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