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Thursday
08Jan2009

'Watchmen' Producer Sounds Off

DateThursday, January 8, 2009 at 6:20PM
Here's a perpsective on this whole Watchmen imbroglio we haven't heard until now. HitFix (via Ain't It Cool) received an "open letter" from producer Lloyd Levin regarding the lawsuit and the future of the film, now locked up in legal proceedings between Warner Bros. and Fox.

Levin takes us back a few years, to what he calls "the flashpoint" of all of this, in the spring of 2005. "Both Fox and Warner Brothers were offered the chance to make Watchmen. They were submitted the same package, at the same time," remembers Levin. "It included a cover letter describing the project and its history, budget information, a screenplay, the graphic novel, and it made mention that a top director was involved."

Adds the producer, "And it's at this point, where the response from both parties could not have been more radically different."

Levin goes on to detail what Warner Bros. did right, showing faith in the $100 million project and director Zack Snyder, who had yet to release 300. "Would another studio in Hollywood, let alone a studio that didn't show one shred of interest in the movie, not one, have taken such a risk," asks Levin. He also spares no words describing how Fox got it all wrong, in his estimation.

"The response we got from Fox was a flat 'pass.' That's it. An internal Fox email documents that executives there felt the script was one of the most unintelligible pieces of shit they had read in years. Conversely, Warner Brothers called us after having read the script and said they were interested in the movie - yes, they were unsure of the screenplay, and had many questions, but wanted to set a meeting to discuss the project, which they promptly did. Did anyone at Fox ask to meet on the movie? No. Did anyone at Fox express any interest in the movie? No. Express even the slightest interest in the movie? Or the graphic novel? No."

The producer believes that Warner Bros. should enjoy the spoils of its labor, forward thinking, and commitment to the project. His line, boiled down, is why should Fox get something now they didn't want when they had the chance?

Legalese aside, that's a hard point to argue against.

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AuthorColin Boyd | | in , , , , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | Comment2 Comments |

Reader Comments (2)

All that Warner Bros. wants is money, all that Fox wants is money.
The fact that Warner owns DC was surely a factor into deciding this was going to be succesfull financially, the fact that Fox thinks so low of the human intelligence was, as now proven, a deciding factor for them passing on the project.
The people that poured more money and more talent into this movie were obviously at the Warner Bros. company but still the Fox should be reaping what they sewn, given that the proportion is respected, which would tranlate into a little piece of sh!t, financially speaking.

Thursday, January 8, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterRich-Hard

Isn't the issue that Fox DOES retain some legal right to Watchmen, even if they didn't make the film, due to the specific turnaround agreement? Because then it doesn't matter that Fox said "Pass," they still have some rights to Watchmen.

Oh god, does that even make sense? This whole situation has become a complete mess, and I'm not even going to pretend I fully understand it. And I'll ask again, why the hell didn't WB make sure everything was in order when Fox contacted them in 2007 (2007!!) about this?

Thursday, January 8, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterJosie

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