When the trailer for Watchmen hit the web a few weeks ago, I was as pumped as anyone. I’ve always been a fan of comics, but when I finished reading Alan Moore’s opus for the first time, I closed the back cover, starred into space, and solemnly said, “This changes everything.” Seriously, it’s that good. And the trailer looks good, it appears to be a faithful adaptation of the source material.

The key word here is appears. The visuals are stunning, some sites even took the time to do shot by shot comparisons with the book. But I’m not worried at all about that, I’m more concerned with how the film will be edited. Like most comics/graphic novels, Watchmen is practically a story board waiting to be transformed into a film. But what made the book so revolutionary was not the art, it was the story, and the way the story was told. Watchmen is a dense web of complicated interconnected stories. Multiple generations of characters deal with epic personal, philosophical, and political struggles, all woven into one masterwork.

Watchmen, the book, excels at the graphic novel version of cross-cutting. Several pages contain nine panels that are set up like a checkerboard, alternating between two separate stories that intimately inform one another, albeit across expanses of space and time. On the one hand, this seems like source material for a final-scene-of-The Godfather level of powerhouse editing. But on the other hand, it could just be a huge mess.

After the jump, Snyder says why he feels up to the challenge…

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One of several sponsored by Entertainment Weekly, this panel brings together four filmmakers who will be flogging their upcoming wares on other panels here this weekend: Judd Apatow (producer of Pineapple Express), Kevin Smith (Zach and Miri Make a Porno), Zach Snyder (The Watchmen) and Frank Miller (The Spirit).

According to the guide, it’ll be an evening devoted to “a free-wheeling conversation on the movie business, their upcoming projects, and what it means—to them—to be a geek.” But mostly, people are probably just anxious to get a seat for Kevin Smith’s annual stand-up comedy session, which begins in the same room immediately after, although if Frank Miller is yet aware of the drubbing The Spirit panel is getting online, things might get interesting…

Highlights:

–Judd Apatow is a) getting laid tonight, and b) has the studios by “a little bit of one ball.” But Kevin Smith, as his inspiration, can call him “bitch.”

–Kevin Smith admits to having gained weight since last year and laments that soon it will be so bad, “they’ll have to remove a wall of Comic-Con to get me out.” But he also insists he will be ready to die once he’s seen Watchmen, so that might not be an issue.

–Frank Miller is a cranky old man who doesn’t understand Google. But he’s pro web video!

–Zach Snyder gives details on the progress (or lack thereof) on a Watchmen video game, and explains why games based on movies are “not marketing, it can’t be an afterthought.”

Full transcript after the jump.

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Just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse for The Spirit than that last trailer, the film’s Comic-Con panel seemed to verify that it’s going to be a disaster. Writer-director Frank Miller, producer Deborah Del Prete and actors Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson and Jaime King led us through the literal mud:

Highlights:

- The Spirit is claimed not to be campy, but it does apparently have toilet humor

- It’s set in a film noir-era “nevertime” yet there are cell phones

- Will Eisner probably would have disagreed with some of the scenes

- Get ready for one of the worst “underwater” scenes you’ve ever witnessed

- Jackson has a lot of toys of himself, but his favorite is Mace Windu

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After seeing the sleek teaser trailer for The Spirit, Frank Miller’s adaptation of the classic Will Eisner comics, it’s hard to believe that this new leaked trailer (originally posted on Film School Rejects, where it may still be available) is for the same movie. It begins with an arty, perfume-ad sort of misdirected marketing angle and then evolves into a goofy mix between the campy Batman series/movies, Sin City, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and Brenda Starr (remember that piece of crap?).

And I’m not alone in thinking it now looks pretty terrible. Bloggers and commenters around the web are mostly critical of Samuel L. Jackson’s look. Personally, I think Gabriel Macht, as the lead, looks about as lame as Billy Zane in The Phantom (is it possible domino masks are never cool on an actor?). For a roundup of what others are saying, since you probably can no longer see the clip out yourself, check out some links after the jump.

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• Lionsgate has moved up the release of Frank Miller’s The Spirit, from January 2009 to Christmas Day. It’s a huge, and not entirely explicable, show of confidence for the comic book movie, which will now compete against family holiday films and Oscar bait instead of having a January graveyard weekend to itself.
• Ellen Page will prove her range by strapping on a corset to play the title role in a BBC Films adaptation of Jane Eyre.
• Sony Classics has acquired Atom Egoyan’s Adoration, which will premiere in competition later this month at Cannes. The film stars Rachel Blanchard, who also appeared in Egoyan’s last Cannes entry, the widely-reviled Where the Truth Lies.

The Underwire passes along the rumor that Lionsgate might be the next company to negotiate a Worldwide Pants-esque deal with the WGA. This of great interest, because in addition to distributing films like 3:10 to Yuma and the Saw franchise and the films of Tyler Perry, the small studio recently began producing original television series, which they essentially rent to networks for broadcast, including the much-beloved Mad Men (above). If this deal were to go through anytime soon, it might mean we could see new episodes in ‘08. Oh, and there’s the little matter of the next slice of fanboy bait from Frank Miller, which, like everything else, is on hold until the strike ends.

I haven’t seen anything about the rumor elsewhere, but if there’s anything to it, I’m sure Nikki will be on it by the end of the day.

***Music video icon Mark Romanek (see his infamous clip for Fiona Apple’s “Criminal” above) is set to direct Ben Stiller in a comedy called In Deep. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Dreamworks is resurrecting the project, which crashed and burned in the late 80s (!) when the prodution company behind it went bankrupt. Steve Conrad has been hired to do a “Page One rewrite/reconceive” on the ancient script, which has something to do with unpaid parking tickets.

***In another high-profile partnership, Frank Miller is turning Raymond Chandler’s noir Trouble is My Business into a star vehicle for Clive Owen. Miller and Owen are apparently BFF since Sin City, and with Trouble Miller will be taking cues from that project, shaping the script around narration to be delivered by Owen.

***Michael Apted, the mastermind behind the 7 Up documentary series, will direct the next Narnia pic.

***The Los Angeles Film Festival will screen a program of celebrity-directed shorts this Sunday to celebrate Live Earth Day, including clips helmed by Casey Affleck and Madonna.