When I’d heard Zack Snyder was looking to include the “Tales of the Black Freighter” story into the Watchmen movie, I was incredulous. For those not familiar with Watchmen, “Black Freighter” is a pirate comic book within the graphic novel that has metaphorical connotations to the larger story. It isn’t exactly necessary to the film, but it would certainly add to it and make it richer which is part of what makes Allan Moore’s novel so good.
Still, Snyder had maintained early on that he wanted the serialized sequence in the movie. At Comic Con this past summer, Snyder was asked about the “Black Freighter” sequence and he again stated he wanted to do everything possible to keep the story-within-a-story in. I remember turning to Brad and shaking my head. There was no way the studio was going to pay for it. They’d feel it wasn’t necessary to the plot. It’s texture. And the film’s budget was already going to be in the gabillions. Last I heard, sequence was getting nixed and I was quite proud of myself for seeing it coming.
But no, I’m an idiot. According Moviehole.net the studio is so happy with the footage they’ve seen of the movie that they’ve coughed up extra dough to Snyder so he can film “The Tales of the Black Freighter” story. According to this article, the sequence is being shot entirely for Watchmen‘s DVD release which doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Wouldn’t Snyder shoot it with the intention of sticking it in the movie? If the film runs too long or the sequence doesn’t work, it could be jettisoned and left for the DVD release, right?
I guess we’ll know more later but as of now, it seems Mr. Snyder has gotten his wish.
