One of the most highly anticipated movies of the year is the big screen adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' landmark graphic novel Watchmen. The movie, which Hollywood has been trying to make for years, finally sees the light of the silver screen in theaters next month, thanks in part to screenwriter Alex Tse. That's right, my friends. An Asian American guy wrote the movie adaptation of the greatest graphic novel of all time.
You might be familiar with Alex Tse's previous work as screenwriter of the TV movie Sucka Free City
, directed by Spike Lee. The project actually started as a pilot for a Showtime series, but the plans fell through, and it aired as a movie. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend checking it out -- personally, I think it's some of actor Ken Leung's best work.Arowana Films has a cool video feature on Alex, talking about how he got the highly coveted job of adapting Watchmen: Exclusive AFC!!! Watchmen Writer Alex Tse. Next month, he'll be in conversation with filmmaker Spencer Nakasako as part of the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival: From Sucker Free City to Watchmen: An Afternoon with Screenwriter Alex Tse.
I actually got to see a screening of Watchmen last week, and it's pretty awesome, very faithful adaption. As a longtime fan of the graphic novel, I think they've done the best job they could with some incredibly challenging and dense material. If you've read Watchmen, you know what I'm talking about. Personally, I'm just curious to see if someone who is completely unfamiliar with the graphic novel is going to understand it at all. Watchmen in theaters everwhere on March 6.