The taping of Cinema Sessions Part II: Filmmaking Careers. The event occured on January 23, 2009, with guests Sean Wainsteim, Rick Palidwor, Anthony Young and Lynn Willis. Various careers and educational opportunities with regards to directing, screenwriting and producing are discussed.
Shelagh M. Rowan-Legg
Were you familiar with Watchmen before you got involved with the project?
I’m embarrassed to say it, but now I wasn’t. I was never into the comic book genre. I watched the films, I think everyone’s into the films, Batman, Spiderman, Superman. My first introduction to Watchmen was through the script, which was phenomenal, and I had no idea what happened to me when I read the script. When I read the novel, I was extremely happy with how faithful it was. That’s one of the things you worry about when you see a script that’s adapted; they often loose so much and get watered down. But it was amazing how intricate the whole script was. I was really excited to audition for it.
Certainly with this film, there was a lot of action. Did you train a lot before, and perform a lot of your own stunts?
Absolutely. We did 95% of the stunts. All the fight sequences you saw were filmed first with us, and then our stunt doubles. Basically two months before shooting, I started a boot camp with an ex-Navy Seal, to train to gain some muscle mass, and feel more like a strong fighter. A month before shooting, we shipped off to Vancouver and started all the fight training. The fight training continues through the whole six months, the whole length of the shoot, which was pretty gruesome and pretty awesome. On our days off, we would go in and fight train, and learn the sequences. Our trainer was really meticulous; he really wanted it to be stylized. We would train with our stunt doubles, so we would have the same style. It was crazy because my double would do the sequence, and it would be so cool. And when I did it, it was so frustrating, but it would not look the same at all, and she just looked so cool. But eventually, once we got the hang of it, it felt pretty phenomenal, you felt really strong.
When you’re playing a character like this, who’s from a well-known book, do you feel constrained, or do you have freedom to give it your own spin?
Cinema Studies Students Mixer/Open House
Thursday March 12th
6:00-9:00pm
Innis Student Lounge & CINSSU Office Rm 107
Snacks & Drinks provided!
An event to familiarize Cinema Studies students with the CINSSU executive, members and office-student space; discuss our events and suggest potential events and film screenings; talk about the Cinema Studies Institute and the program; meet other Cinema Studies students and inquire about anything else you want to know about us, or want us to know.
Also, if you are interested in joining CINSSU, this would be a good chance to learn about the many positions and opportunities we have for Cinema Studies students.
Zack Snyder spoke with several journalists from various Universities around North America, who asked a variety of questions.
Darren Aronofsky was once attached to direct this film, and he dropped out to do another movie. How did you end up directing it – did the studio contact you?
They contacted me. I was in postproduction on 300, and I got a call from the studio. They said they had the script for Watchmen, and I don’t they knew much about it, but they thought that since I love comic books that I would like the project. It was strange, because I don’t think they realized how crazy it was.
The release of your film 300 raised a fair amount of political controversy. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denounced the film for its portrayal of Persians. Superhero films have taken on darker edge in recent years. Do you think there is anything political you want to say with Watchmen?
I think the thing that’s interesting about Watchmen is that it does talk about the politics. Superhero politics and superpower politics are similar in the sense that what we learn from the book and the film is that the morality of policing your neighbors, or the morality of being a vigilante, is a slippery slope, and the movie asks, who polices the policemen, or who governs the government, who gods god? To me, those are the questions of Watchmen, and they are political. I think it also takes on American popular culture, and looks at America in general. Alan Moore is English, and he is looking at America through the prism of distance and time. It’s interesting how the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Can you talk about Alan Moore at all?
CINSSU spends most of its time bringing back the greats of the past through our Free Friday Film series. And though we often have timely sneak previews, never have we had such a timely week as this. Both Pontypool and Watchmen open tomorrow, and I thought it imperative that I write something on these films.
The bottom line is, Peter was right when he said the better film of these two screenings was going to be Pontypool. As was discussed at the Q&A after the film with our own Professor Kass Banning, director Bruce McDonald, producer Jeffrey Coghlan and actress Georgina Reilly, the premise for the film is just so damned… cool. The allure is somewhat ineffable – how could you not at least have a curiosity about this film? And yet it holds up beyond that. Its Canadian specificity, in my opinion, hits far closer to home than One Week ever will. Its very premise (a virus that spreads through the English language) combined with its setting in small town Ontario opens it up for humorous scenarios centred around the French/English Canadian conflict. As Kass pointed out, it shows no shame in the details of its location. One of the most heart warming moments of the film is when Mr. Mazzy (Stephen McHattie) himself admits the winter is simply too much for him. But I may not be truly qualified to make this argument as 1) I am not Canadian and 2) I haven’t seen One Week. But you should know that Canada holds a very special place in my heart, and that when I think back to Pontypool that part of my heart wrenches just a little. When I see advertisements for One Week, there’s nothing. In short, Pontypool is a must see film. It’s playing at the Varsity, so there’s no excuses.