By David Chen/Jan. 8, 2009 5:28 pm EST
Until now, most of the speculation about Warner’s legal/philosophical/emotional position on this issue has been exactly that: Speculation. However, earlier today, Drew McWeeny (previously Moriarty from AICN) posted up an open letter written by Lloyd Levin, one of Watchmen’s producers. Levin’s letter is striking both for its candor and its detailed description about the trials and tribulations that went into making of the film:
Also endless are the list of studio rejections we accrued over the years. Larry and I developed screenplays at five different studios. We had two false starts in production on the movie. We were involved with prominent and commercial directors. Big name stars were interested. In one instance hundreds of people were employed, sets were being built – An A-list director and top artists in the industry were given their walking papers when the studio financing the movie lost faith.
No one is more keenly aware of the irony of this dispute than Larry Gordon and I who have been trying to get this movie made for many years. There’s a list of people who have rejected the viability of a movie based on Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s classic graphic novel that reads like a who’s who of Hollywood. We’ve been told the graphic novel is unfilmable. After 9/11 some felt the story’s themes were too close to reality ever to be palatable to a mainstream audience…
However you come down on the issue, it’s a fascinating look behind the scenes of one of the most controversial film-related lawsuits in recent memory. Check out the whole letter by going to Hitfix.
