I haven't read Watchmen since it came out so I don't remember much about the characters other than Dr. Manhatten was blue. The only thing I remember vividly was really liking the first eleven issues and passionately hating the last issue. I was around fifteen then, I wonder if I'd feel differently about it now.

Anyway, casting this movie was a discussion among some coworkers a few years ago. My only contribution was the chick who smoked crack could be played by Susan Sarandon. (To fit one coworker's description, "You want an older actress who's still kinda hot, but you can tell that when she was younger she was really hot".)

Oh and Gaiman to write and Hitchcock to direct. Well, we are dreaming when we think Hollywood could actually make a good film out of the material so why not?

I considered Susan Sarandon for the Sally Jupiter part. I think she’s still a bit young for it, but if playing an old woman didn’t bother her, yeah, absolutely — your coworker’s right. :)

And you should read it again.

I'm not sure Macy can appear in both The Watchmen and Mystery Men.

I only just read Watchmen, and liked it very much.

But I couldn't quite get past the thought that Rorschach talks an awful lot like the Very Secret Diaries.

I know he predates the Diaries. Even so.

Dead dog in gutter. Kicked it. Go me!

Saw Veidt looking longingly at Hollis Mason. Dreiberg will kill him if he tries anything.

Not done purifying America yet.

(Anyone happen to know whether Rorschach's writing style was borrowed from the original version, the old Charleston character The Question? (See my entry about Dark Knight 2 for an example of Frank Miller's rendition of The Question.))

Ahem. What I really meant to say is that I think you're right on target with some of that casting, David, but I think some of it is a little off. Tim Robbins still, to my eye, looks a little too boyish and goofy, despite being in his mid-40s, to play Dan; Kilmer is too quirky and offbeat to play Veidt. (Yes, despite having played Batman.) I thought Macy was too old for Rorschach, but then I saw a picture of him and now I think it's pretty good physical casting, though I'm not sure he could manage the level of anger and scary intensity necessity. Turturro and Connolly are fascinating choices; I wouldn't have thought of them, but I like the idea.

I'll have to think about who else I'd pick when I have more time. Somehow I never participated in all the newsgroup casting discussions back in the day; maybe I'll poke through the multi-megabyte Watchmen discussion archives at some point and see if anyone had any suggestions I particularly liked (though twenty years later, any such suggestions are probably useless, given actors aging).