By Greg Ellwood
Special to MSN Movies

2008 Comic Con Coverage:

Comic Con 101: What's Hot in 2008? 
'Twilight' Preview
Surprise: 'Wolverine'; plus, 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' and more 
'Knight Rider' Returns 
Preview: 'Star Trek' and 'Eagle Eye' 
'City of Ember' Train Ride

July 25, 2008

After the euphoria over yesterday's "Twilight" presentation and the super surprise of Hugh Jackman teasing next summer's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," Friday's Hollywood showcases could have easily disappointed. But the long-time programming wizards at San Diego's Comic-Con International made sure that wasn't the case. That's not to say the results weren't debatable ...

Fans Watch the 'Watchmen'

12:00 p.m.

With Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changing" bizarrely playing in the background, the cast of Zack Snyder's highly anticipated "Watchmen" make their way to the stage. Because the movie is an adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon's classic comic series, the panel is on everyone's radar, especially since Snyder created mammoth buzz when he previewed "300" at the Con two years ago. And, by bringing a new sneak peek of the dramatic thriller about a world where super-powered heroes change the course of world events after their arrival in the mid 1960s, he keeps his reputation intact.

The panel expanded on the teaser trailer that debuted two weeks ago. The most impressive aspect of the piece is how Snyder has managed to recreate Gibbon's original iconic imagery with painstaking detail. Some of the shots, timed to what sounded like a Philip Glass score, included: a gigantic Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup) blowing up a group of Vietnamese soldiers in the Vietnam War; President Richard Nixon still in office circa 1985; the second Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman) and Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson) leaning in for an embrace as a nuclear explosion occurs in the background; Silk pulling away a tarp to reveal Nite Owl's life-size Owl ship (coincidentally on display on the convention floor); Dr. Manhattan standing at least four stories tall and putting his hands into a massive generator; the joy on the original Silk Spectre's face (Carla Gugino) before a tragic moment in her life; and the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) being thrown to his death out of his apartment window and the blood-stained smiley button that falls after him.

Damn good stuff.

When the first fan walks up to the microphone to ask a question, cheers and laughter break out because it just happens to be someone wearing a Batman costume. The Caped Crusader proceeds to ask Snyder who his favorite character is, and the "300" helmer plays it to the crowd.

"Good question, Batman," Snyder snaps. "That's not really a fair question. I like them all for different reasons."

Uh-oh, the audience boos, seemingly wanting him to choose.

"OK, I will say this; everyone likes Rorschach the best so that rules him out. Everyone else likes the Comedian because he's kind of a badass and is morally, y'know [corrupt]. Those two I can't vote for. Also, you have the girls, which I think, awesome, but also a cop-out. But just because it seems obvious, is it? Y'know, maybe I should stay with the girls. I like the girls best."

A virtual stranger to the world of big-budget event movies, Crudup was saddled with one of the production's most difficult roles. His transformation into Dr. Manhattan required him to wear a skin-tight CG reference suit. He notes, "How do you pretend to be the 6'4", buffed-out master of matter when you're a 5'9, 40-year-old jackass?"

On the other hand, the easiest prep went to Patrick Wilson who, as Dan Dreiberg, the second-generation Nite Owl, has seemingly, um, let himself go (to put it kindly) after being forced to retire from superhero life.

"Everybody got to get all ripped and I could sit back with a couple of cartons of Haagen-Dazs and a couple of beers and call it a day," Wilson jokes. Then he added, "You always pull for Dan. I just fell in love with the guy."

With the recent acclaim received by "The Dark Knight," everyone on the panel realizes the bar has been raised for superhero movies, and the serious-minded "Watchmen" may have arrived at just the right time.

"I think that's the thing that pop culture has to deal with now," Snyder says. "Comic book movies don't exist just as summer, popcorn, mindless entertainment. ['Watchmen'] talks about humanity and things that are serious. Serious actors and serious filmmakers are making serious movies."

Verdict: Nothing's changed since the debut of the teaser trailer. It's still one of the most anticipated movies of 2009, whether you're a fan of the original source material or not.

'The Wolf Man': There Will Be Blood

2:00 p.m.

Universal Pictures has had an interesting road reinventing its monster properties over the past decade. "The Mummy" spawned a lucrative franchise, with the third installment due in theaters next week, but "Van Helsing" was a major critical and commercial disappointment. The studio hopes to turn that luck around when it brings "The Wolf Man" back to the screen next spring. Before introducing the cast, master makeup artist Rick Baker talked about his contributions to the creature's look and going in a non-digital direction.

"What I did in this film isn't that different than what Jack Pierce did in the original film," Baker says, referring to the original 1941 classic. "I like CG stuff, but this is the Wolf Man and I really thought this was the best approach for this movie. It's pretty old school and I think it's a classic, gory horror movie."

In a surprise to the fans in attendance -- but not the press who'd been tipped off earlier -- two of the films stars, Benicio Del Toro (the nobleman cursed with becoming a monster) and Emily Blunt (the nobleman's sister-in-law, desperate to find her missing husband) walk out on to the dais to face the packed hall.

Del Toro immediately introduces an extended clip that director Joe Johnson (not in attendance) wanted the fans to see. He says, "I haven't seen it. I did see it without sound. It's the first time anyone has seen it, really."

The clip begins with a man talking about how his father saw the ravages of a wolf man in their area 25 years ago. The sneak preview then jumps forward in time to find Del Toro's character returning to Victorian England and his family's countryside estate and encountering his sly father, played with a big wink by Anthony Hopkins. Hugo Weaving also appears as a Scotland Yard Detective sent to investigate a number of brutal murders. As the montage plays, it's clear Del Toro has become a Wolf Man and can't control the actions of his "other" self.

One dramatic scene finds Hopkins approaching Del Toro's blood-soaked human form and saying, "You've done terrible things. Be strong."

Another shot shows a captured Del Toro locked into a chair in what appears to be a medical observation room with his hand slowly turning "wolfy." He screams, "I'll kill you all!"

The preview has its moments, but there has to be concern that the movie's production design isn't very distinctive. Perhaps Tim Burton has ruined it for every other Victorian-set horror film after "Sleepy Hollow" and "Sweeney Todd," but "From Hell" also came to mind (and that may not be a good thing).

Del Toro may have been a huge fan of the original movie and character, but Blunt says it was the involvement of her two Academy Award-winning co-stars that peaked her own interest. She says, "I thought, 'I can run, I can scream, I can do that.' The script was great. It was like a vintage horror movie. I liked the idea of being a damsel in distress."

With so much conventional makeup work being done, you'd expect Del Toro to whine about the long, tedious hours he spent in the chair to achieve the perfect Wolf Man look. But that was hardly the case.

"I was working with the best in the world, arguably, and I loved the look [they came up with]," Del Toro says of the four-hour process. "When you are putting it on and it's building and happening, it's exciting. Taking it off is when it gets a little bit more desperate. That might get a little more tedious."

Baker adds, "He seems like a big macho guy, but he's really a pussy."

"Teddy bear, teddy bear," Del Toro corrects him.

Yes, be careful Rick.

He may have kept some of those fangs.

Verdict: The cast certainly looks game, but considering the history of this incarnation (Johnson replaced Mark Romanek as director at the last minute), it could go either way.

We've Got 'Spirit,' Yes, We Do!

3:00 p.m.

Every movie is personal to a director, but for Frank Miller ("Sin City"), "The Spirit" is even more so. Created by his mentor and friend Will Eisner in 1940, the masked, pulpy hero who escaped death to battle crime and charm femme fatales wouldn't necessarily seem like big-screen material these days. However, when Miller was offered the project, he says he only wavered on accepting for three seconds because he couldn't imagine Eisner's iconic character in anyone else's hands.

"The Spirit" has received a lot of buzz because it features the trademark Miller graphic look that fueled "Sin City" to blockbuster status, but it also has an intriguing cast, including Gabriel Macht as the title character and Samuel L. Jackson as his longtime nemesis, Octopus. And, of course, you can't forget the laundry list of The Spirit's femme fatales, including Eva Mendes as Sand Saref, Jamie King as Lorelei Rox and Scarlett Johansson as Silken Floss.

After a refresher course with the trailer, Miller showed the audience three clips from the film. The first found Saref (Mendes) in the midst of a partially underwater battle with Octopus over some jewels she'd stolen. Miller notes smugly that he got the actress in the tightest swimsuit possible (uh, classy, Frank).

The second clip featured The Spirit getting cleaned up after a fight by Ellen Dolan (Sarah Paulson), who may be the hero's one true love. Close to a romantic embrace, she tells The Spirit she can't trust him because he never takes off his mask. Just as he is about to do so, Commissioner Dolan breaks up the party -- leaving Ellen frustrated and The Spirit hitting on Dolan's eager and sexy new assistant.

Finally, Miller provided an outtake of a fight he nicknamed "When Titans Clash" -- an all-out brawl between The Spirit and Octopus. Reminiscent of an old Warner Bros. Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoon, the two actors hit each other with cinder blocks, crow bars, a giant wrench (really) and, finally and most humorously, a ceramic toilet seat. It ends with Octopus grabbing The Spirit's face and yelling, "Come on! Toilets are always funny."

Eventually joining Miller on stage was Macht (though there were only 10 minutes to go at this point), King and the ever-popular Jackson himself.

Keeping Eisner's vision was also important to the cast. Macht says they would always ask each other, "Would Will buy this? Would Will get this? And we wouldn't move on unless Frank thought that he would."

As for Jackson, he's bringing to life a character that has only existed as a pair of gloves for over half a century. He says, "It was a real honor to put flesh and bones and attitude to the Octopus that have only been a pair of hands since 1930-something. Frank was nice to let me explore and pester him [with my ideas during the production], which turned out to be fascinating to us all."

Someone in the crowd screams, "Nick Fury!" referring to the cameo Jackson made recently in "Iron Man," and a character he's expected to return to for Marvel Studios' eventual "The Avengers" movie.

"You know, when I was a kid, Nick Fury was a white man. It was so amazing that he finally evolved into something that makes sense to me," Jackson says as the crowd cheers.

Working it, he adds, "See? You too can grow up to be a black man."

Verdict: It looks beautiful, but is it mainstream or is it a cult film? This preview had its moments, but it didn't convince anyone it's the next "Sin City."


This is Greg's final dispatch from Comic-Con this year, but fear not: Kim Morgan takes over tomorrow.

Are you excited about 'Watchmen'? 'Wolf Man'? Write us at heymsn@microsoft.com

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See also: Thursday Movies Wrap-Up