7.27.07: Comic Con Day #2: Snyder keeps close watch over the Watchmen

Zack Snyder repeatedly used the term “bullshit” as what he wouldn’t do as the director handling one of the most revered graphic novels ever. That would be a tall order for anyone, but for someone who replaced The Bourne Ultimatum’s Paul Greengrass and The Fountain’s Darren Aronofsky, Snyder has one thing going for him that previous attempts at adapting Alan Moore’s 1985-set suprerhero allegory that neither one of the other two had – a fanboy’s respect of the material. As he did with 300 last year, the director knew all the right things to say – the film will be rated R, the style will be similar to the comic's, but Fight Club production designer Alex McDowell is creating a look more akin to Se7en, if Mars was a practical location, he would use it, etc. – and while he didn’t have any footage to show, he brought out Malin Akerman and Jackie Earle Haley to approving applause. (When one fan asked about the potential casting of Keanu Reeves, Snyder said he did talk to Keanu, a “very nice man” and stopped himself abruptly.) He also got Watchmen illustrator Dave Gibbons to create a special poster for Con attendees, which touched on various elements of the superhero squad.

Watchmen director Zack Snyder and Malin Akerman (Silk Spectre)

However, all in all, the Warner Bros. presentation was a mixed bag, despite the fact it couldn’t have gotten off to a better start. Although the Steve Carell remake of Get Smart has about as much right being at Comic Con as a prostitute in church, the Comic Con crowd gave a rapturous response to Carell when he, the Rock, Heroes’ Masi Oka, Nate Torrence, Borat’s sparring partner Ken Davitian and the film’s director Peter Segal took to the stage following a sizzle reel for the film. And boy did it. Although the action scenes involving a car enduring a head-on collision with a train and the various intrigue in the battle between the criminal organization Chaos and the spy syndicate Control looked somewhat out of place, Carell looked right at home as Maxwell Smart, especially in the teaser’s money shot – Smart gets airsick onboard a fighter jet and as the plane turns, so does his barf bag. (Trust us, it’s funnier than it sounds.)

Get Smart's Steve Carell and The Rock

Another humorous highlight of the panel came when Ed Burns and Shannyn Sossamon took questions from the crowd about their remake of Takashi Miike’s One Missed Call and wound up giving iPhones to those that asked questions after. It wasn’t the only instance in which Warner Bros. was generous –that extended to both the lavish swag bags of Get Smart and Invasion shirts they handed out to their Q & A attached to the Kate Beckinsale thriller Whiteout. Lasting what seemed like an interminable 45 minutes, Beckinsale was stuck in traffic while producer Joel Silver looked visibly nervous. (One imagines the famously tempermental producer firing at least one of his assistants over the gaffe – though it should be mentioned Kristen Bell also was caught in traffic en route to her Fanboys panel yesterday.) Instead of presenting something from Speed Racer, the Wachowski Brothers update he’s currently producing and which was in the Comic Con guide as part of the WB presentation, Silver got organizers to replay the exclusive Whiteout trailer while he looked for Beckinsale. When she did arrive, she told the crowd that he moved a train for her – we believe her.

Whiteout producer Joel Silver

Despite the rumors, Warner Bros. stayed true to its word that they would not be promoting The Dark Knight or I Am Legend during the panel, leaving Whiteout director Dominic Sena to fill the air by answering questions – the best of which was when a boy no older than seven or eight asked whether there were any fun pranks played on the set. Sena could be forgiven for only hearing the voice and perhaps not seeing how young the boy was, but shortly after deferring the question, Sena started mumbling about Beckinsale’s dry sense of humor, which somehow led to the director mentioning sex toys. In a year when Comic Con is apparently paying attention to such matters to keep a family friendly environment, it might’ve been even more ridiculous than the Get Smart trailer. (That's the only explanation why we're currently watching a trailer for Lindsay Lohan's I Know Who Killed Me instead of having Fox presenting R-rated footage from Alien Vs. Predator 2.) Sena said he felt bad the rest of the panel, though he should’ve been onhand Thursday for Clive Barker’s rant about ingesting pot-infused cookies and how that led to the title of Midnight Meat Train.