Billy Crudup Blog and Journals

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The filmed-in-Vancouver movie Watchmen broke the 2009 box-office record with a $55.2 million take on opening weekend. This Warner Brothers film, however, cost $100 million to make, so it's got a way to go before any profit is to be had. But, all in all, not bad for a movie that was said to be impossible to film by many.

Based on the award winning cult graphic novel of the same name written by Alan Moore, Watchmen chronicles the lives of a group of free land vigilante super heroes. Set in an alternate 1986, where Richard Nixon is in his fifth term in office and the Coldwar Doomsday Clock is set at five to midnight, the movie shows us, through a series of flashbacks, who the Watchmen were and how they came to be where they are now - outlawed.

The film opens with the death of the nihilistic, misogynistic character, The Comedian (brilliantly played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan). We are then introduced the rest of the cast, including Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup), and Adrian Veidt/Ozymandium (Matthew Goode). Unfolding like a murder mystery, the film goes on to examine power and its use in our society. It shows us what type of people choose to hide behind a mask to fight crime, and shows us how far they will go to protect humanity.

Clocking in at 2 3/4 hours, the film is riveting. We made the mistake of going to the midnight show the first night it opened, however - not always a great idea with a film as long as this.

Overall, I give it two thumbs up.

Following up on the news PanasonicYouth reported here last week showing photos of Johnny Depp on the set of "Public Enemies," the Michael Mann-directed drama for Universal, Variety reports this morning that Billy Crudup has been set to play FBI director J. Edgar Hoover.
Who else is starring in this Michael Mann drama?