The Watchmen Have A Director

I'm still pretty upset about Darren Aronofsky being turfed from the upcoming adaptation of The Watchmen, but you've got to give the studio some credit: they weren't kidding when they said they were serious about having this thing ready to go for the summer of 2006. They've already moved along and hired Paul Greengrass to take over the helm.

I have mixed feelings about this ... on the plus side his Bourne Supremacy was one of the better spy thrillers of recent years and demonstrated amply that he has no inclination towards dumbing his stuff down. That willingness to challenge his audience will be a key ingredient to making The Watchmen work ... if they try to simplify it or make the characters 'softer' they'll gut the story of all it's power. He also seems to be strong when it comes to drawing performances from his actors and he's got good working relationships with some interesting people. If he can pull off the American accent I'm thinking maybe Clive Owen as the Comedian? On the negative I didn't see a lot in Bourne that made me think he had the sense of style needed for this sort of film ... that's not to say it isn't there, I just haven't seen it yet.

This news is all over the place now, but I first spotted it here ...