Watchmen Set Visit: Matthew Goode

ComingSoon.net/Superhero Hype! talked to Matthew Goode on the Vancouver set of Watchmen about playing Ozymandias:

CS/SHH!: In the comic book Ozymandias has one of the more interesting costumes…



Matthew Goode:
I know, slightly worrying. I remember when they told me [I got the role] and remembering, “Excellent!” Then I read the book and went, “Oh my God, I’m in a pair of pants.” Luckily, they’re slightly cooler. When I first went to L.A., I was in after Patrick [Wilson] and felt pretty good because he was like, “Dude, it’s f**kin’ awesome.” He looks sort of Batman-y. I’m in more of a suit than just pants. I wouldn’t have the legs for it. It would ruin the whole effect, my skinny, pasty English legs.

CS/SHH!: Were you familiar with the comic book prior to getting the role?



Goode:
I wasn’t. I met someone who is involved in the cartoon “The Incredibles” and I knew that was loosely based upon the novel here. I wasn’t really into that area of comics and graphic novels, so it was all new to me, but I know it’s apparently the best graphic novel ever written according to Time magazine. So when I did finally get around to reading it, it was so much more complicated and adult and intelligent than I expected. So when it came time to make the decision to do this I was like, “F**k me, I’m in.”

CS/SHH!: What was the most striking thing about the book for you?



Goode:
What was interesting, me and my friends just discussed the politics and apathy, and if we were attacked by another planet or an outside force, then surely everything would have to come together, so I thought that was a really interesting concept. And, obviously, with energy issues we have now… it’s incredibly relevant and I feel very proud it was written by a Brit. [laughs] So, I think all of those things jump out particularly quickly. The idea that you can have a lot of fun.

CS/SHH!: How do you walk that line between the serious moments in this film and the possible camp that could come through?



Goode:
With difficulty. What’s funny on this job, I came right from “Brideshead Revisited” which you can’t really get any more different. It’s the same as anything. You learn your lines, you have a chat with Zack and the movie is bigger than any one particular actor or character. I’m dealing with it as I go along. On the first day I’m standing there in a bright purple jacket and blonde hair. I’ve got women who work for me in my office that are wearing very little. There are 200 people standing around… it’s work, really. God knows what it looks like, but this is Zack. I know when he was making “300” people were watching the rushes wondering, “What the f**k is this guy doing?” He’s a bit of a visionary and he’s got so much energy – in Zack we trust.

CS/SHH!: What’s your take on Adrian’s part in this story? Is he wrong? Right? What’s his angle for you?



Goode:
There is the big question of morality and you’ve seen it before in films like “Saving Private Ryan” where you are saving the one with the possibility of more dying. And here it’s saving the world… as a ratio compared to the rest of the world, to put it in that perspective it does seem like a good equation, obviously it’s a horrific thing to do. The thing is, it’s a line of insanity. Is it crystal clear? I’m doing it this way and I couldn’t give a sh*t what you think. His eating a bowl of hash and being in love with Alexander the Great, is he metrosexual? All of that rubbish – at the end of the day, I don’t want Adrian to be maniacal in the slightest. Then again, we’ve still got a ton to shoot, so Zack might come back to me and say, “He’s crazy!” I think I want him to be as human as possible. As clear cut and a bit remorseful for what he’s done, but we’ll play it a few different ways and see.

CS/SHH!: Adrian is not in the book a whole lot, but he’s always present so is there a bulking up of your character scene-wise in the film?



Goode:
That’s sort of my worry is that you’ll get stuck with a lot of exposition and that’s fine but in the book when he’s talking to his Vietnamese work group, it’s suddenly that four or five pages of [talk]. That’s worrying to do because, how the f**k am I going to do that without boring myself to death and making it interesting? So that’s been broken up, as you obviously have to do with any adaptation to make it interesting. There hasn’t been a “bulking up” but there’s been sequencing changes that have been done well.

CS/SHH!: Do you ever play Adrian at your own age?



Goode:
That’s one of the things, he’s meant to be in his 40s. There’s a bit with the Watchmen in the ’70s – that’s about my age. But he’s meant to be a fine specimen of a man. [laughs] So you have to suspend your disbelief. It’s meant to be he’s a walking advert for Oil of Olay. There hasnt’ been too much prosthetic work. Poor Jeffrey [Dean Morgan], he’s gone through the gamut of sitting through the makeup for several hours. He goes from 20 to 67 and, I’ll tell you, you’re going to love the opening of the movie. Sh*t the bed, he gets the crap beaten out of him. Thrown across the room, busting through tables. The less I’m involved in swinging the punches the better.

CS/SHH!: All of the characters have a past with one another so have you been hanging out with your co-stars?



Goode:
Certainly not before the project and often times, because of the long schedule and the sequence and filming, we’re not all here at the same time. But when we are, beers have to be drunk so we do go out and have fun together. You want to be as friendly with the rest of the cast as you can be. We have a laugh.

CS/SHH!: Do you look forward to being an action figure?



Goode:
It’s slightly embarrassing. There’s an action figure in one of the shots, I’ve been staring at myself. I have to say, it’s incredibly life-like. It’s enjoyable and something I’d probably put in the sh*tter at home. [laughs] Something people can see when they come out to the house and say, “God, you’re an *sshole.”

Watchmen opens in conventional and IMAX theaters on March 6.

Source: Ryan Rotten

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