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Who dresses the ‘Watchmen’? (part II)
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...continued from yesterday's post.
For Patrick Wilson, he worked with Wilkinson put a lot of thought into his role as the middle-aged and schlubby Dan Dreiberg as well as his alter ego Nite Owl, who wears a cowl and cape like Batman, but has the sensibility and smartness of – well – an owl.
Patrick Wilson kicks some major bootay in an owl costume - and makes it look kinda cool. Photo credit: Clay Enos
“Wilkinson showed us all these different images of what he wanted,” says Wilson. “We went through different types of gloves I wanted - they were actually sooped up BMX gloves. They added stuff on to it for grip and armor. The leaps and changes they made from the graphic novel left room for a minor bit of input from our side. For Dan, it was a similar thing of getting me in the right color palette in what Dave (Gibbons) had drawn. And the way things fit so that we can keep it schlubbier and heavier. We also had to find the right glasses; what would look right on my face and would go with the theme of the book. It looked like he picked them up in the drugstore.”
A frame from the original 'Watchmen' graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons.
Patrick Wilson as Nite Owl recreates the frame in the movie. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.
The character of Dan is kind of a geek. Case in point, he has a superhero vehicle named after Merlin’s owl. He is the epitome of the endearing middle-aged man: receding hairline, shattered dreams and he has added a spare tire to his once lean body. In essence, Dan Dreiberg is the high school quarterback who let himself go after he graduated - but that doesn't mean he has some fight left in him.
Wilson knew that he had to gain weight for his role as Dan, but he did it on his own accord.
“I gained about 20 pounds,” says Wilson. “Keeping it on was more of a problem. I usually don’t live north of 200 pounds so to be well over that was sort of strange. Matching that with the fight training was difficult because I had to not burn it all off. It’s sort of a weird thing.”
Crudup also gets curious about and asks, “Did you eat different types of food or just eat more food?”
“I got those really huge tubs of super high calorie stuff at GNC,” says Wilson. “It wasn’t about eating the fat. It was about calorie content and then mixing that with ice cream.”
“How is that not about the fat?” quips Crudup.
“I just wanted to triple my calorie content. It was like eating a whole day of calories in 8 ounces. It was very strange,” laughs Wilson. “I don’t think gaining weight and learning to fight is big in this genre. It’s usually quite the opposite.”
Jackie Earle Haley looks good in a blotted mask. (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)
Like his fellow Watchmen (and Watchwoman), Oscar nominated actor, Jackie Earle Haley jumped into his costume of Rorschach (yes, like the psychological inkblot) and felt transformed. As one of the most popular characters in the graphic novel, Haley found out about this movie via the Internet where people said that he would be the perfect actor for the role. He auditioned (via a DIY amateur video audition tape) and snagged the role of the masked vigilante with a short temper.
“You throw on that outfit and walk onto that set and it turns on all that emotional work that you’ve been working on so hard,” says Haley. “Suddenly, you are inside the comic book. It flips on that light switch and makes you go into that little world.”
From Matthew Goode’s sleek and hyper-muscular (with faux nipples) Ozymandias costume to the retro Alberto Vargas beauty outfit of the original Silk Spectre (played by Carla Gugino), the wardrobe of the movie is more than just a cape and bulletproof armor. It’s smart, ironic and, like the movie, has underlying complexities.
Matthew Goode as Ozymandias (left) and Carla Gugino as the Silk Spectre the original Silk Spectre. (Photo credit: Clay Enos)
The actors were very receptive and excited about their superhero garb – but there is one question that Jackie Earle Haley is tired of hearing.
“How’s it working with that mask?” says Haley with a joking sigh. “I have been asked that about 8000 times.”
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