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After Watchmen, Bring On Next 'Unfilmables'

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 21, 2009 1:45 PM CDT

(Newser) – Alan Moore’s Watchmen was supposed to be unfilmable. But with the director’s cut hitting stores today, that pretty obviously wasn’t the case. Scott Thill lists some supposedly unfilmable geek bibles for Wired:

  • Sandman: “It’s not film-shaped,” says creator Neil Gaiman. “What I got was, ‘Does The Sandman have a clearly defined bad guy?’ I said, ‘No it doesn’t,’ and they said, ‘Thanks for coming!’” OK, but why not, say, an HBO miniseries?

  • The Dark Knight Returns: We’re probably stuck with the young Christian Bale Batman right now, not Frank Miller’s geriatric version. But The Dark Knight proved that America likes its Batman dark, so it’s possible someday.
  • The Invisibles: Grant Morrison’s brain-bending epic stomps merrily through taboos, and its anarchist heroes are a bit like terrorists, so it’s probably not big-screen material. But a TV version’s eminently possible.
  • Gravity’s Rainbow: Actually, never mind. Nobody's tangling with Thomas Pynchon classic.

A page from The Invisibles.
A page from "The Invisibles."   (Flickr)
A page from Neil Gaiman's Sandman, depicting the faerie Puck of Midsummer Night's Dream fame.
A page from Neil Gaiman's "Sandman," depicting the faerie Puck of Midsummer Night's Dream fame.   (Flickr)
A few panels from Neil Gaiman's Sandman.
A few panels from Neil Gaiman's "Sandman."   (Flickr)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 6 comments
lonewolf17
Jul 22, 2009 8:00 AM CDT
"If it can be written, or thought, it can be filmed." Stanley Kubrick
The_Pinkston
Jul 21, 2009 10:39 AM CDT
One of the only exceptions of the movie better than the book that I can think of is "Jaws".
johntitor
Jul 21, 2009 9:49 AM CDT
Thats why it was "unfilmable." Also why Moore wanted nothing to do with it. Also why sandman will NEVER (hopefully) suffer the same. Most books made into movies aren't as good, they lose something. With graphic novels its even worse since the visual element is already there to begin with. Who knows, maybe Hollywood's exploitation of comics for money give us a screen version of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac? That I would go see.....

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