Zack Snyder may have filmed what many thought was an unfilmable graphic novel in “Watchmen.” So what? Does that mean he’s the kind of filmmaker capable of following up Christopher Nolan? Snyder seems to think so.
On iF Magazine, Snyder is quoted as saying, “…I’m interested in Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight [Returns]”… However, the studio has this massive franchise and I don’t think they’ll let me make a Batman movie where he’s fifty years old and Ronald Reagan is president.” No shit!
This line of thinking among mainstream U.S. filmmakers is so dangerous that it almost begs to be indulged by the remake-obsessed studio heads of the world (were it not for ‘TDK’s success). And the way he says it! “However…I don’t think they’ll let me…” After “The Dark Knight,” the bar’s been set too high for Snyder to treat any comic book material (or any adaptation, for that matter) like a cover song. It’s a shame that the majority of fanboys seem to think that’s the way to go – even after seeing how transcendent mere comic book characters can become in the right hands.
Snyder and his sycophants can have their “Watchmen,” but hopefully they won’t rest so easy knowing that calling something material “unfilmable” isn’t a dare as much as a call to respect a story before plundering it in a ham-fisted manner for profit. Who are we kidding, though…