“Watchmen” creator Alan Moore is not happy with the film industry’s interpretations of his graphic novel series. He has publicly disowned the recent HBO drama series, again. Despite the show’s critical acclaim, Moore finds the adaptations of his works exceedingly frustrating. In a recent interview, Moore revealed his scathing perspective of how the film industry castrates popular works.
A letter sent to Moore during the series’ development put the graphic novelist off significantly. The letter asked for some assistance with the adaptation. Though if you want to get in someone’s good graces, don’t start it with “Dear Mr. Moore, I am one of the bastards currently destroying ‘Watchmen.’” Not the best way to address the creator of the series you’re adapting.
Every Adaptation a Disappointment
“I got back with a very abrupt and probably hostile reply telling him that I’d thought that Warner Bros. were aware that they…shouldn’t contact me again for any reason,” Moore explained. His ire stems largely from the surface-level messages that film adaptations boil stories down to. They leave more complex concepts at the door for the sake of accessibility. Seeing the HBO series win 11 Emmys blew the prolific comic creator away, but not in the good way.
“I thought…’this is what they think “Watchmen” was?’ They think that it was a dark, gritty, dystopian superhero franchise that was something to do with white supremacism,” Moore said. “Did they not understand ‘Watchmen’?.” He notes the concepts in “Watchmen” are even more simple when compared to his more recent projects.
Moore has completely and utterly disowned these adaptations of his work, stating that viewing them would make him heartsick. Before watching the series, perhaps give the source material a readthrough to better appreciate the creator’s intentions.
Both “Watchmen” the film and series are available to stream on HBO Max.
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