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Crudup is a good choice. The rest are meh. I'm not feeling it.

I like the dad from "Supernatrual" as the Comedian. I can really see it.

Can't say much about the rest. I only barely know Crudup and Wilson, and the rest not at all.

Aside from Rorschach and the Comedian everyone seems way too young.

I can't imagine a twenty year-old tale needs a spoiler warning, but...

When was the last time Jeffrey Dean Morgan played a character who made it to the end credits? The guy's made a career out of dying. It's kind of admirable.

And, I dig the cast, on the whole. Goode and Akerman are unknown quantities to me, but the rest seem solid, Crudup especially.

Patrick Wilson was the male lead in Hard Candy, so chalk up another person who's played a child molestor in a previous role.

Huh. I like the idea of relative unknowns playing characters based off of relative unknowns and if that emans more $ for the SFX or that they can get a really good writer then great. But off the top of my head....

They couldn't find a brunette for Silk Specter? Plus, you know, she is supposed to be a physical ass kicker not just the eyecandy. The hot girl from one scene from Harold and Kumar go to White Castle wasn't really my first idea when i think of Laurie.

Crudup is a good actor and thinking about it, there were some scenes from Almost Famous where he had that "lost inside his head" look that Osterman. I can't quite see it but I'm hoping this is going to be like casting Rosario S=Dawson as Gail: hated the idea but was pleasantly surprised and loved it when i saw the final product.

Oh come on, they couldn't find a paunchy, mid life crisised Jewish guy to play Night Owl? Unless Frank Miller is somehow writing this, he's not the goddamn Batman.

Now I could see Morgan and Goode as their charcters just based on the look and Haley as well.

But I really wanted Simon Pegg as Rorschach.

Wilson's performance in Angels in America is enough to sell me on him as an acceptable choice for the character. He's not as old as the character was in the comic, but it's easier to make a younger man in good shape look old and paunchy using makeup than it is to make an older man look young and thin for flashbacks.

Despite that, I'm still not looking forward to this movie at all. Snyder's a complete style-over-substance director, and given the track record Alan Moore movie adaptations have had, I'm not too enthused about any of this.

They couldn’t find a brunette for Silk Specter? Plus, you know, she is supposed to be a physical ass kicker not just the eyecandy.

I didn't want to insult Ms. Akerman, considering I don't know anything about her, and she may be some great actress, but yeah, I'll admit that when I saw her pic I thought, "Oh great, they just went with eye candy instead of actually casting an actress."

Papa Winchester as Comedian? Damn.

I'm not holding my breath on this movie, because adaptations of Alan Moore stories never live up to the original. Shit, I get nitpicky thinking about the JLU take on "For The Man Who Has Everything," and that had the awesomeness of a young Bruce Wayne rooting his dad on in beating the crap out of Joe Chill.

"But I really wanted Simon Pegg as Rorschach."

Not creepy enough.

Harvey is f***ing creepy.

I've long for the day that Billy Crudup to play a superhero (he would ahve been a great Superman). That day is now here.

I'm not sold on this being any good because 300 was pretty bad despite the fact it was faithful (but looking back 300 the comic wasn't all that great either).

Hey kudos to anyone who gives it a try.

I gotta stick up for Matthew Goode. I've seen him in IMAGINE ME & YOU, MATCH POINT, and THE LOOKOUT, and he displayed quite a range. I think he'll surprise a lot of people.

~ Jay

Damn it. I hate the way I can't help but get a little bit excited about this. Logically I know there's absolutely no way in hell this can possibly do justice to the original- the only way to do that would be to make a twelve part TV series, with each episode adapting an issue of the comic, and even then, you'd run into trouble with "The Black Freighter" and all the text portions. But I can see Crudup as Dr Manhattan, and Wilson as Nite Owl (he may not look like the character in the comic, but that's hardly the most important thing; as long as he can pull off that kind of sad, defeated air with an undertone of repressed energy and violent potential -so that when he starts to kick arse you'll really believe it but be surprised at the same time- then he'll nail it). So I find myself really wanting to see what they do... and that little glimmer of hope starts to shine. And that way lies nothing but pain.

It does seem a little strange that Rorschach should be like twenty years older than Nite Owl, though.

I was a tad surprised at the buffness of Nite-Owl, but as a previous commentator mentioned, that's easier to cover up...

Malin Akerman as Silk Spectre? What, Jessica Alba wasn't available to empower women?

Give me an (F)F'n break...

The most exciting thing is that now they have a cast anounced, it's going to be harder to derail the thing. It looks like they're finally going to do it. Now, whether it'll be any good is a different matter. And to be fair, 300 had mostly unknown actors, and that turned out okay. At this point, it's all about how much the studio is going to let the director get away with. Naked Dr. Manhattan? Heady philosophical discussions? Or are they going to neuter the thing?

As for the cast, yeah, don't know most of them outside of Crudup, and yeah Akerman is smokin hot, almost too hot. I'm making no comments on it till we see something. It's too damn early to start ripping apart the movie.

Am I the only one kind of sad that Dennis Farina wasn't cast as The Comedian? I swear that's the role he was born to play.

My dream cast would have included Tom Cruise as Veidt and Mel Gibson as The Comedian. Not that I realistically expected that

Tom Cruise as Veidt is kind of perfect, really, especially now that he's super-kooky. Mel Gibson, no.

I like this cast, save Silk Spectre. That one I'm not feeling. She's supposed to sort've be past her prime, isn't she? And now the actress they pick is younger than me?

Oh, god...I hope I'm right and it's a bad casting...

My biggest delight: Jackie Earle Haley. Brilliant choice.

And I'm kinda suprised by all the naysaying. You guys are such pessimists! Who knows, this might actually turn out all right! Really good, even!

Of course it won't be just like the comic. If you cling to that hope, you're doomed to disappointment — not unlike the Tolkien purists who loathed Peter Jackson's films. Did Jackson & Co. make some questionable, even outright shitty (no debate necessary) choices? Yes they did. But overall did they do an f'in bang-up job? Why, yes, yes the did!

This could end up being the same thing. It'll never equal the book. I realize I'm driving home the obvious here, but maybe some people need to be reminded: It's a film, not a comic. Given that, it might be really wonderful, taken on the merits of its own medium. We shall see ...

"My dream cast would have included Tom Cruise as Veidt and Mel Gibson as The Comedian. Not that I realistically expected that"

No offence man, but thank goodness you're not making this movie!

If you ask me- and yeah no-one did but what the hell- Brad Pitt should be Ozymandias; Ed Norton should be Rorschach; Keanu Reeves would have been perfect as Dr Manhattan, but I'd go with Christian Bale: Jake Gyllenhall could do Nite Owl pretty well, although I'd also be interested to see what Mtthew Perry would do with the role; Micheal Douglas would be great as the Comedian, or possibly George Clooney; Paul Newman could do the original Nite Owl; Forest Whitteker should play the psychiatrist; Paul Giametti should be the newsvender... and the whole thing should be directed by David Fincher or Steven Soderbergh.

I'm a bit stuck on the Silk Spectre. How about Sarah Michelle Geller?

For some reason, I always imagined Lance Heriksen (sic?) as Rorscach. I think it's the voice...very gravelly, perfect to do the monologues, at least in my mind.

I am the only one that finds most internet posters' celebrity filled "dream casts" for comic movies nightmarishly horrible?

Every time I see these "Cast the _____ Movie!" threads, I'm inevitably facing a headache just reading some of the nightmarishly horrible choices people make.

I kind of prefer mostly unknowns for something like this--less baggage that way.

Jackie Earle Haley as Rorshach should work.

Dennis Farina should be cast as the COmedian--although the guy they got--may work.

ANd thye need a paunchy guy to play Night Owl.

I read this as Watchmen CAT named.

I thought it would be an Amalgam of Curious Cat and Roscharch, or somethin' like that.

I am, of course, horribly dissapointed.

Despite the somewhat decent cast, I'm so completely wary of this film.

Looking at this cast, I realize that my dream cast for Watchmen is at least fifteen years out of date and I never bothered to update it: Dan Ackroyd as Nite Owl, Dustin Hoffman as Rorschach, Kenneth Branagh as Ozymandias, Rutger Hauer as Dr. Manhattan and Debra Winger or Sean Young as Silk Spectre.

I have no idea what to make of this cast, so I guess I'll have to see how it works on screen. Shame about Jude Law not getting cast-- I had heard he really wanted to be in this project. I would have loved Simon Pegg as well (and Christopher Eccleston would have been an amazing Dr. Manhattan)

Only on the internet, friends, only on the internet could someone be derided for dreamcasting Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson when the opiner had in mind Brad Pitt, Ed Norton and many others...

PEOPLE (incl. me, I s'pose): get a grip!

Most of them strike me as a bit young.
And to be honest, I have no confidence in Hollywood, or even that it's possible to try and turn such an incredibly detailed and nuanced story into a two hour mainstream film.

Oh, and I support the casting of Dennis Farina in ANYTHING.

Frankly I'm still campaigning for Jeffrey Combs as Rorschach.

Agreed on the Silk Spectre casting - she looks far too young and pretty for the role... maybe it's her in flashback?

Patrick Wilson as Nite Owl.

I think one of his costars on another movie made a comment that he was eating a lot for someone who is playing a superhero.

They can always use prosthetics to give him some paunch.

I like the lack of name actors. I think Crudup is the only one and he hasn't been in much lately.

Aside from Rorschach and the Comedian everyone seems way too young.

Yeah they're younger than the characters are in the modern day segments, but half of The Watchmen is flashbacks, so maybe it makes more sense to cast the characters somewhere between so they can be made up to look younger or older as a given scene requires.

Isn't this supposed to be a thirty/forty something cast??

I'm sure they'll cut it out of the theater version, but maybe the DVD will have an animated “The Black Freighter,” extra. I thought that was one of the coolest parts of Watchmen. It kind of struck me like HP Lovecraft writing House of Mystery.

If you read the Hollywood Reporter article excerpted over at Newsarama, and you assume that what it says is true, there is a potentially HUGE spoiler there which shows that Snyder is completely changing the ending of the book. If it's true, the film will basically ignore or actively destroy many of the prominent themes of the book.

I can't *wait* for Moore to start publicly bashing it.

The ONLY way Patrick Wilson can possibly work as Nite Owl is if he pulls a DeNiro and gains 20/30 pounds for the role. If they give him a "Big Momma" fake paunch, it WILL suck.

But of course - if Sean is right about this "new ending" for the story, there is NO doubt that it will suck. Because the ONE thing that Watchmen really needs is a better ending, RIGHT?

As you probably can tell, I'm pessimistic about this movie and honestly hope that the whole project crashes. I'd prefer not to have any Watchmen movie adaptation at ALL than another League of Extraordinary Gentlemen disaster.

Yay Septimus (American cast)!!!

Also, I'm very pleased with the choice of Patrick Wilson. It's nice to see that they've chosen a cast (of the ones I know, anyway) that are strong character actors with solid theatre background.

David Wynne, no offense my man, but that is supremely lousy casting (with the possible exception of Perry as Nite-Owl...that might work).

Um...am I just missing the big spoiler in the article? (Other than the one about Veidt -- that's not a spoiler for anyone who's read Watchmen, but it is a pretty dumb thing to have right up front in the publicity, since presumably the movie is meant to reach a wide audience.)

The motivation for Veidt's actions seem to have changed, Mike.

Maybe...it is Dr. Manhattan's disappearance that sets the machinations for WWIII in motion, though, so this isn't necessarily anything more than a sketchy synopsis. (Admittedly, a political defanging of Watchmen is something I think 300 -- and for that matter, Dawn of the Dead, which jettisons all of the original's social commentary -- should give us ample reason to fear; but I think it's still too soon to tell, and one sentence in a puff piece article really isn't enough to go on.)

The best actor for Rorschach would have been Giovanni Ribisi, who has the look and could probably get the Mr. A creepy righteousness down. Jeffery Combs voices a nice Question, and he has the right height for it. But the guy's unmasked for a lot of the book (and I really hope they keep those analyst parts in the movie), and Ribisi looks the part better.

Right on, Lutefisk: Giovanni Ribisi as Rorschach. I can totally see that. A most under-rated actor.

There was a small rumor I bumped into a long time ago that said that Willem Dafoe wanted to play Rorschach. Don't know if that was ever true, but that would have been awesome.

This movie can go two way: a) be true to the book, and suck; or b) completely change the book and try to be a decent movie.

Either way, I expect to be pissed off. But, that doesn't mean I won't go see it.

The ONLY way Patrick Wilson can possibly work as Nite Owl is if he pulls a DeNiro and gains 20/30 pounds for the role.

Nah - he needs to be able to look reasonably okay in the flashbacks and be just big (ie normal) enough to look stupid in the modern day bits.

There is no way this movie won't suck. Absolutely no fucking way.

Casting Crudup as Dr.Manhatten was spot on. I can't say im not a little disappointed that they did'nt offer John Cusack the part of Night Owl, looks just like the comic book character plus he's slightly fat and suitably old. Also Jude Law would have been good as Adrien Veidt for obvious reasons.
Dream casts aside I personally can't wait to see this, if they manage to pull off the pirate comic sub-plot i'll be amazed.

Well, I'm just relieved that I'm not the only one with concerns about the movie. I keep going back and forth between excited it's actually happening to afraid it's going to blow chunks.

I guess for me it comes down to the director. As long as the director has a vision and a strong respect for the original material, the movie doesn't have to be 100% faithful. If it has the right atmosphere and captures the feel of the comic, that is what makes the movie great. Consider Sam Raimi and Spider-Man -- so what if Spidey had organic webshooters, the movie got the feel of the comic and the characters to a T and the movie rocked.

Zach Snyder, to me, is an unknown. I haven't seen 300 yet. Something tells me I probably need to, if only to have a fair opinion about him. From the trailers, it looks much more like an action movie than Watchmen should be. Somehow I'm just afraid he's not the right director for Watchmen. If that's the case, no matter how right the casting may be, the movie will suffer because of it.

As for the casting, I'm extremely unfamiliar with most everyone announced so far. I remember Carla Gugino from Threshold and Spin City, saw the episodes of Grey's Anatomy with Morgan, and I don't think I've seen anything with Haley since Bad News Bears -- that's it. Of course, I wasn't familiar with Christian Bale and I loved him in Batman Begins.

Still -- how can they capture everything that made Watchmen great in 2.5 hours of film? The newsvendor, the Black Freighter, many of the flashbacks?

I hope I'm pleasantly surprised in March of 2009.

Pero que mas se puede decir, Patrick Wilson, es un hombre fabuloso, con unos labios exquisitos y maravillsos, son perfectos, mejor dicho él es perfecto; su sonrisa es angelical, que cada vez que lo veo sonreir mi corazón se acelera como una quiceañera con su primer amor.
Que mas puedo decir, solo que nose como no me habia dado cuenta de su existencia antes, para haber admirado mas a este hombre llamado Patrick Wilson.