On Wednesday afternoon, IESB was invited to attend a Blu-ray presentation at Warner Bros. in Burbank to discuss the upcoming July 21st release of both Watchmen: The Directors Cut and 300: The Complete Experience Cut with filmmaker Zack Snyder.
 

{sidebar id=1}What these two discs have in common, aside from their director, is that they are two of the most comprehensive and interactive Blu-ray discs to be released. Watchmen: The Directors Cut has an additional 24 minutes of footage (making it 186 minutes long), with newly included Rorschach material and a scene of Hollis Masons death. The Blu-ray also includes Warner Bros. Maximum Movie Mode, with director walk-ons with scene analysis, picture-in-picture video from the cast and crew, side-by-side comparisons of the graphic novel and the film, timeline comparisons of our world events to those from the world of the film and photo galleries of production stills and storyboards. If that still isnt enough, the BD-live feature will allow viewers to have an interactive experience, enabling them to ask questions and make comments through their Blu-ray player -- a feature that will be put to use on a wide scale at this years Comic-Con, with Snyder himself as host.

300: The Complete Experience Cut will provide an interactive picture-in-picture experience with three unique perspectives to explore while watching the film. Combining previous material from various sources with new material, viewers can either listen to Frank Miller and Zack Snyder interpret the graphic novel (in Creating a Legend), learn about bringing the work to life in cinematic form (in Bringing the Legend to Life) or compare the historical perspective on the legend of the Spartans (in The History Behind the Myth).

In promoting these extremely thorough viewing experiences, Zack Snyder spoke about the heightened interest in the details of films like these, and how this Blu-ray technology will continue to affect his work, as it is with his latest venture, Sucker Punch, currently in production.

Q: With all of the added features on the Watchmen DVD, do you want to hear comments from all of your fans?             

Zack: Absolutely not! No, Im kidding. Yeah, that would be awesome. The truth is, I think the movie is the exact kind of movie that people who want to comment on things will comment on. For me, the experience of finding out how people took each scene and the way they read the different parts of the movie is an experience that Im interested in, as a filmmaker and just as a fan of movies. Im interested to see what the reaction was to each scene, and whether it was what I designed, or people brought their own experiences to it, and what they perceived.

Q: Dont you think there is an obsessive interest in the details of films like this, and the complexity of the layering of the imagery and iconography?

Zack: Absolutely! I have that problem myself. I think its definitely fertile ground for said discussions.

Q: Just from a consumer point of view, whats the difference between this Blu-ray of Watchmen and the Ultimate Edition that will come out later?

Zack: I dont believe the Ultimate Edition will have the walk-ons. I think the Ultimate Edition is going to more just about that Black Freighter version of the movie than it will be about all this deep drilling-down on the subject matter. The way the Black Freighter stuff works is that we had the Bernies and we shot their ins and outs, so its the Directors Cut, slightly tweaked to accommodate the Bernies, and then the Black Freighter in between. I think two or three times, we go into the actual comic book, and then it comes to life. Thats the big difference. As far as just finding out about how we made the movie and all the details and everything, this is the place to go, 100%.

Q: Is there any risk of having too many editions of the same movie?

Zack: I think there would be, on a movie that wasnt as cool as this. I just think that the thing with Watchmen is that its really a movie that, in some ways, customized for this kind of thing. Its exhausting to say theres three entirely different versions of this movie that exist. Theres the theatrical version, theres the directors cut of the theatrical version thats about 25 minutes longer, and then theres the Black Freighter version, thats an additional 25-30 minutes longer than this. They are not deleted scenes. I wouldnt call them deleted scenes. I really dont look at it that way, at all. Its really more about just the completing of the idea. This is the way the movie was, for me. And then, I just tried to squish it down to a length that might be more acceptable to general audiences. Even then, the movie was long. But, this is a much fuller experience, as far as the graphic novel goes, and its relationship to what I originally intended for what the movie would be.

Q: When you were on the set filming Watchmen, how much of what you were going to do eventually for the DVD did you know ahead of time? When youre condensing the film down, does it make it easier to know that those scenes will eventually see the light of day?

Zack: Yeah. The script that I shot was 160 pages long. Did I feel like a lot of it could get cut out? I dont know. I try not to think about it that way. But, it was cool to know, in the back of my mind, that hopefully there would be a directors cut or a directors DVD. It used to be that the theatrical version was the hardcover version of the book, and the VHS or the DVD was the paperback that you could just throw away and was disposable, and thats changed.

With the pressure of IMAX and all these things, the more commercial version of the movie is the theatrical version, and then the more custom version is the Blu-ray. If you want to watch this film and your experience is, Oh, I saw the movie in the theater and I really liked it, and there are a couple parts of it that Id really like to explore and look into, and youre just the average moviegoer, all those questions will be answered for you.

On the other hand, if youre just a crazy cinephile, who just loves movies and is obsessed with how movies are made and the ideas behind them, all of that is here. You can drill down as far as you want, on any part of the movie. It really becomes about customizing the experience of seeing the movie, and everyones experience with the movie would be different because youre going to select different things to look at, or be interested in things that maybe other people arent interested in. Thats really how this evolves.

The cool thing about Blu-ray, as far as Im concerned, is that its strength is that it does things that downloadable movies or the home market could never do. Its not just about watching the movie. Its about having an experience with the movie, and that is transcendent of just watching the movie on your iPod. The real experience is not only this awesome transfer, but that youre seeing it on a system that supports it. Youre not using your gear, unless you have a piece of material you can play on that, that utilizes all the aspects of it. The things thats awesome about this is that its one of the first times that you have a Blu-ray that really is challenging the equipment, rather than the other way around, where the equipment is sitting there with nothing to show. Theyre caught up to each other, and its really an amazing thing that theyve done.

Its embarrassing to have me standing there, talking about the movie, but there is something to having the filmmaker in your living room going, Oh, look at this! Thats unique. It would be like, if I was over at the house and we were showing the movie, and I was talking you through it. Its not just commentary, which is fine, but its really saying, Oh, no, pause it and lets look at it. Thats a different thing, entirely. Its cool.

Q: Was it entirely your idea, as far as which scenes you wanted to focus on?

Zack: We talked about it together, as far as what would be the most interesting. It was things I liked, things we had real, heavy material on, and things that were visually interesting. That combination was the thing that made the most sense. It would have been exhausting, if I was there the whole time. But, the next time we do it, thats probably what will happen.

Q: Watchmen is such a meticulous, detail-oriented film, but you pointed out how you have a little cameo in the corner of the death scene with The Comedian. Was that a mistake?

Zack: It was a mistake. The camera was under a piece of black dubatine. We saw it, on the day that I shot it, and I was like, No one will ever see that. I was aware of it, the second we shot it, but its one of those things where, when you see it in the theater, youd never see it, in a million years. But, at this point, were taking the clothes off the movie, so you might as well just expose every aspect of it.

Q: Are you afraid that some people might point other things out?

Zack: Yeah. That would be awesome. They do that anyway. But, I can tell you right now, Id be shocked if it was something I didnt see.

Q: Really?        

Zack: Really.

Q: So, the gauntlet has been thrown, then?

Zack: It is so totally thrown.

Q: The end of the movie was a topic of debate, even before the film came out. Was it important for you to be able to express and explain that decision?

Zack: Yeah. Thats one of those things that we customized to fan reaction, as a way of going, Hey, I know. How do you feel? Lets hear what you gotta say. We had to do that, and its still fun.

Q: To what extent did the fan reaction influence other pieces on the DVD?

Zack: Really, what its based on is just that I have a pretty good idea where interest is, as far as what aspects of production are interesting to either fans of the graphic novel or cinephiles, or whatever you are. Those things mesh up a little bit, so we try to keep that in mind, along with what will have broad appeal and interest. I dont want to make a DVD or Blu-ray thats like, Oh, this is just for fans of the graphic novel, or This is just for people who love movies. It wants to do both, at the same time, which I think it does, in a cool way.

Q: Was there any thought put into what you would say, in regards to informing an audience about the movie without sounding defensive about criticism that might have come to it?

Zack: I think the movie is cool. If I felt like I had something to hide or I needed to protect the movie, then maybe it would be different. Its grown up. It can take care of itself. It doesnt need me. I will defend it, if someone specifically says, This part sucked. Why? Ill talk about it. Im happy to say, Youre right, or Youre wrong, or whatever. But, the point is that, for me, Im pretty wide open with the process, and so I have no issue sharing it. I make genre movies that are for people that love movies and love the experience of watching them. The last thing Id want to do is keep that process secret or defend it. The more I put it out there, the more accessible it is. Its fun for me. I like doing it, so I dont mind saying, I thought this part was really cool, when we did this. When we threw The Comedian out the window, that was awesome.

I just think its fun, so I hope that other people think its fun as well. Maybe it will open the movie up to some more criticism, but I think, if anything, it explains a lot of stuff. When you actually look at a lot of the criticism of the movie, I feel like some of it was just from people who dont understand the material. And then, when you watch this, I hope the why of it becomes even clearer. It wasnt just like, Oh, we just shot a bunch of shots and, wow, it went together crazy. There were barely any accidents, other than seeing me on camera.

Q: The Hollis Mason death scene is really cool. Did the original comic have all those villains? Did you invent any of those guys?

Zack: They are similar. The Nazi guy, Captain Axis, was there. The magician guy was there. I think there is a spaceman. I dont know if there was a specific shot of him getting punched, but hes in the background. And, there is a gangster. The gangster has the fedora and the .45. Those were the only villains we could make.

Q: Walking into Watchmen, there was a certain image of you, as a director. Do you perceive that thats changed, post-Watchmen?
Zack: Yeah, I feel a little bit like its changed. Its funny because Ive had people say, You get treated better by the critics than some other commercial directors because you make movies that are more artistic, and Im like, I do? Really? Okay. Theres this weird little perception change. If you do look at Dawn of the Dead, 300 and Watchmen as a trilogy, theyre really consistent with each other, in a lot of ways. I think that theyre very clearly related, and just that makes the movies come from the same voice. In that regard, there is stuff to look at. You can go watch Dawn of the Dead and drill down on it, scene by scene, and understand what I was trying to say. You can do that with 300 as well, and you can do that with Watchmen. Its not just cool shots. We do try to care. We really do try for all that, in those three films. Its not just pointing a camera at the people and seeing what they have to say, and then thats it. Hopefully, there is more to it than that. And, if you want to watch the movie and say, Oh, this is just fun, thats fine too. Its just a movie. It kicks ass, but its just a movie.

Q: Why did you decide to do another packaging for 300?

Zack: The thing was, we had all this material and we really wanted to put it in a single place, with the amazing Blu-ray transfer that we have. We felt like this technology gives a great opportunity for people to take the three paths that theyve been interested in, in relationship to the movie, and be able to go back and forth between them, however youd like. That was really the motivation. And then, once Id seen the way the technology can work and what you can do with a Blu-ray now, it becomes transcendent of just watching the movie. It becomes a whole other experience, and its cool to give the movie a second life that is as entertaining. Youve seen the movie, so you have that, and now you can have this experience with the movie. You could watch the movie a bunch of different times and have a different experience, depending on what path you take in watching and understanding it.
                                    
Q: Is the documentary stuff all new?

Zack: I think Ive done maybe 10 interviews for the movie, for the other DVDs and some of the other supplemental material we had done, but it was all in different places. Now, what weve been able to do is take all those interviews and take the best things from them. And, I did a couple other new interviews, but it was mostly a combination of all those things. When I was interviewed while we were shooting or right after, I had a slightly different perspective on the film, that was much more technical. And then, as I got away from it, it became more philosophical. Its cyclical because you come back around to talking about the technical parts of it again, but youre far away from it, so youre like, I dont know how we did that. Watch the Blu-ray.

Q: Is this the same cut of 300 as the theatrical release?

Zack: Yeah, this is the same cut. I think theres only a few deleted scenes that are on there, but theyre not incorporated into the movie.

Q: Is this so detailed that you learned new things from watching this?

Zack: I dont know if its things that I didnt know, but it is interesting to have it all in one place and be able to say, Wow, thats right. We did our homework when we made the movie, so from a historical standpoint, Ive seen most of the well-known angles of it. As far as Frank Miller goes, Im pretty familiar with the graphic novel and Ive had a lot of conversations with him about it. Once thats all pulled together, its a different experience, even for me. We werent having the same experience, a lot of the time. All those experiences were happening individually, and now theyve all come together to support this.

Q: Does this new Blu-ray stuff impact the way you approach Sucker Punch?

Zack: We have a pretty good relationship. Whenever we think, Oh, theres something to film, we just film it. But, I think you do realize that its becoming more and more involved. Watchmen was pretty extreme, as far as creating supplemental material and things of that nature. But, as far as Sucker Punch goes, weve already filmed some stuff for the movie and were working on it, even now. Im sure it will be pretty rich too.

Q: Some actors are very reluctant to take part in the behind-the-scenes process. Are you respectful of that?                                

Zack: I respect that. Is there value in the actors process, in thinking about the character? Absolutely. Is that essential to this experience of getting at how the movie was made and getting at whatever the underlying material is? Maybe not, 100%. If you have actors, like Gerard Butler, who are completely open to giving, constantly, I think you should take advantage of that. But, you shouldnt change your style to accommodate it. We had a ton of material from 300. Weve been pretty into the supplemental material part of it and, with Watchmen, weve gone one step further, so now its just the way we do it. Its just part of the production.

Im not surprised when the guys are like, Okay, can you give us a little bit of an intro here. The other day, we were doing Sucker Punch down at 8711, which is a stunt facility, and I was basically walking everyone through a certain sequence of the movie to get everyone on the same page with the action, and we were videotaping it for possible use, at some point. The guys came up to me and were like, Hey, Zack, can you tell us why were here?, and Id tell them. Its natural now to just do a little intro.  I dont feel like its weird or anything.

Q: Is it hard for you to watch 300 and not be like, Oh, man, I wish I could have another crack at this?                                             

Zack: No, not really. That time is kind of past. The process was so difficult with that movie. Every shot was cobbled together with spit and ceiling wax, so its painful to think about taking it apart again. Id have to do every shot over. It would be ridiculous. You could do it because we have all the blue screen elements and we could just start over, but Im finished.