We’re going to need a bigger boat licensing budget!
According to MTV’s newly launched Comics blog, Splash Page, “Watchmen” director Zack Snyder is trying to inject some counter-culture gravitas into the dark and politically torn world of the graphic novel adaptation.
Snyder tells the blog he’s already using some very iconic songs in the movie by Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Simon & Garkfunkle, Nat King Cole and Nena’s ’80s hit, “99 Luft Ballons.” Snyder tells SplashPage:
“The music we have in the movie right now. We have Jimi Hendrix’s ‘All Along the Watchtower,’ ‘The Times They Are A-Changin” the Bob Dylan song, [Simon & Garfunkel’s] ‘The Sound of Silence.’ [We’ve also got Nena’s] ‘99 Luftballoons,’ the German version of course. And ‘Unforgettable’ by Nat King Cole. And then there’s a lot of others, but it’s that kind of vibe.”
Make note, “Watchmen” is eight months off and these clearances probably haven’t been sought yet. Yes, it’s Warner Bros. and they have deep pockets, but any of these artists’ or their estates could ostensibly not approve the use of the songs. We’ll see. But we can’t see already reluctant Dylan handing over ‘Times Are A Changing’ to the guy that did “300,” sorry, but we suppose any thing’s possible. As for that awful Smashing Pumpkins song in the trailer, you won’t hear it in the movie thankfully. “The Smashing Pumpkins are not in the movie, of course, because the movie takes place in 1985,” Snyder said (it’s an alternate universe ’85 where Richard Nixon is still President)
