Watchmen 2009: The Squid Cut

Major notes on the project:

-The edit uses Watchmen - The Director's Cut as a starting point.

-Ending is now true to the graphic novel. Using sequences from the 2019 Watchmen miniseries, I’ve added two scenes surrounding Veidt’s plan. The footage has had film grain overlayed to closer match the rest of the overall look.

-Voice cloned Matthew Goode (Adrian Veidt) and Billy Crudup (Dr. Manhattan) for lines surrounding the end of the film (as well as a single line from Seymour and a couple for Hooded Justice).

-Shortened several action sequences, primarily to cut moments of superhuman strength from any character that isn’t Dr. Manhattan or Adrien Veidt.

-Implemented almost all the Under the Hood featurette as an in-universe 60 minutes type interview show. Kept most segments between 1 and 2 minutes, with only a couple coming in around 3 minutes.

-Added open matte shots to certain scenes. While not shot in IMAX, Watchmen was an early action movie presented in theaters with “IMAX” sequences. Over half the movie seems to have open matte footage available, however the director’s cut was not given the same treatment. Since the Under the Hood footage and Watchmen (2019) miniseries have different aspect ratios (4:3 and 16:9, respectively), I’ve opted to edit in open matte footage to embrace the shifting screen formats. The corners of many of these shots are blurred with neighboring footage, as the wide presentation and open matte footage don’t fully line up. The alternatives (cropping the sides or leaving the corners black) were less appealing.

Finally, some notes on music:

-I really think most choices in the movie are top notch. Many are referenced in the graphic novel or act as short hands for the time period depicted. As a rule, I decided I was only going to use music from pre-November 1985 and preferably that’s referenced in the graphic novel.

-As I’ve created two new scenes for the movie (using voice cloning mentioned above), I needed some additional music. For the first Veidt scene I used the song Sanities by John Cale, which is referenced in the graphic novel.

-For the second scene, I opted for period and thematically appropriate. I used Call of Ktulu by Metallica (without ever quite letting it go full metal). A fun foreshadowing to go along with the big reveal monologue.

-While some of the music from the Watchmen miniseries worked for this edit, some did not. For the squid scene itself, I added A Saucerful of Secrets by Pink Floyd for its spaced-out sense of insanity.

-As for music originally in the movie, I only replaced two tracks. And they probably won’t surprise many. First, I removed Hallelujah from the infamous sex scene. In its place, I found a track that’s indirectly referenced in the graphic novel and uniquely ties together Laurie and Dan while adding a goofy tone to the scene (much needed in my opinion). Satisfaction was covered by Devo on their first album. That album is mentioned by Laurie’s in the comic to demonstrate the age gap between her and Dan. But the song Satisfaction would be well known to Dan as he would have been in his 20s when it was originally released by the Rolling Stones. A band Laurie loves playing a song from Dan’s era.

-The second song I replaced was the My Chemical Romance cover of Desolation Row. The lyrics themselves are referenced in the graphic novel. The band’s singer, Gerard Way, is a huge fan of Watchmen and an accomplished comic writer. But I ultimately wanted something more period appropriate. I replaced it with Neighborhood Threat by Iggy Pop, a different track referenced in the comic.