Q&A with Dave Gibbons of “Watchmen”

Q: Will Alan Moore ever see the movie? 

Dave Gibbons: I really don’t know. I hesitate to speak at all for Alan.

I certainly… Because he’s asked me not to talk to him about the movie. He’s happy to talk to me, but don’t talk about the movie. I’m unlikely to phone him up and say, hey Alan, it’s really great, why don’t you see it?

Even in the backwoods of England where I come from it’s inescapable. In my little corner store are all the movie mags with Watchmen and Dr. Manhattan, so I suppose he won’t be able to escape it completely.

Q: How do you think the film came out?  The book has been called been called “unfilmable” before.

Gibbons: I think it came out really well.

I think to (director) Zack (Snyder), unfilmable is a challenge rather than an, ‘oh, well let’s not bother.’  I think to say anything is undoable shows a lack of vision.

Clearly the movie is a different beast than the comic book. The story in its purest primal form is the comic book. But I Think the movie has a lot of the virtues of the comic book and is an exciting translation of it.