With Joel Silver putting the boot in to Zack Snyder’s Watchmen last week, it hasn’t taken Snyder long to come out fighting, defending his film and dismissing Terry Gilliam’s abortive plans for the project.
Much of Silver’s attack was based upon criticism of the way Snyder ended the film, but according to Snyder, Gilliam’s version was too far out of leftfield…
“If you read the Gilliam ending, it's completely insane,” says Snyder. “The fans would have stormed the castle on that one. I would not have grabbed something from out of the air and said, 'Oh, here's a cool ending' just because it's cool.”
“Honestly, I made Watchmen for myself,” continues the director. “It's probably my favourite movie that I've made. And I love the graphic novel and I really love everything about the movie. I love the style."
“I just love the movie and it was a labour of love. And I made it because I knew that the studio would have made the movie anyway and they would have made it crazy. So, finally I made it to save it from the Terry Gilliams of this world.”
Five years on, then, and Watchmen remains as divisive as ever. At least Snyder’s next one won’t be likely to draw as much criticism! Oh, wait…
