When it finally opened in 2009, Watchmen had been developing for decades under a great many different people. One of them was Terry Gilliam, whod been attached in the 90s to helm from a script by Charles McKeown with Joel Silver producing. Alas, they were unable to make it work, and the project eventually fell into Zack Snyders lap. Gilliams version of Watchmen was close to the source material in terms of tone, but it would change many of the details radically, including the controversial ending. However, Gilliam had trouble distilling the book down to its essence and keeping the script at a reasonable length, while still making a marketable product for the studio. In the end, budget concerns and an impenetrable source material killed Gilliams Watchmen before any traction could be made on it.
Jesse Gumbarge is editor and chief blogger at JarvisCity.com - He loves old-school horror films and starting pointless debates. You can reach out at: JesseGumbarge@JarvisCity.com
