Before he fought Jason Momoa’s Arthur Curry as Orm, a.k.a. Ocean Master, in Aquaman, Patrick Wilson left his stamp on the superhero movie genre through Watchmen, where he played Dan Dreiberg, the second Nite Owl. Although Zack Snyder’s adaptation of the same-named comic book miniseries by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons was met with polarizing critical reception, it’s grown a sizable fanbase over the years, and Wilson looks back on that chapter of his career fondly. This is evidenced by the actor sharing some emotional thoughts he had about Watchmen after recently rewatching it.
While promoting Insidious: The Red Door, which sees him both reprising Josh Lambert and making his directorial debut, Wilson spent some time on the ReelBlend podcast talking about Watchmen with CinemaBlend’s own Sean O’Connell and fellow host Jake Hamilton. After Hamilton gave his opinion that the 2009 movie was “too brilliant for its time” and “came out a couple of years too early,” he asked Wilson if he thought Watchmen might perform or be received differently if it came out today, and here’s what the actor/filmmaker said:
Watchmen might be – I would probably put a large amount of money on this – the only movie of mine that I have watched front to back since a premiere. I watched it last year with my 13-year-old. And I love a lot of the movies that I’ve done. A lot of them, I don’t. But I might watch a few minutes when they’re on. It’s like looking at an old friend. That’s the only movie that I’ve watched front to back and it’s… that movie’s awesome. … I wanted to look at it as an older guy. As a filmmaker, as someone who, I’ve heard this for years, and I don’t disagree. It’s a weird thing to say. It’s before it’s time. But I know what you mean. … Just as we were shooting this, I think Nolan released a shot of The Dark Knight, and it was a very similar shot, and it was really like, ‘Oh, this is where movies are going.’ If that makes sense. So I knew Zack was ahead of the curve. It’s weird to say that audiences weren’t ready for it, but you need a movie like that. You need movies to go so dark that then Avengers can go so light. I do believe in that.
With Patrick Wilson apparently being the kind of actor who doesn’t fully rewatch his own movies after they premiere, for him to dedicate time to going through Watchmen from start to finish is high praise. Part of that might have simply been because his son was interested in checking the movie out, but as Wilson explained, he’s still impressed nearly a decade and a half later by how well Watchmen turned out. Not only that, but following along Jake Hamilton’s train of thought, he does think Zack Snyder was ahead of his time, particularly with the visual side of things. Maybe there will come a day when Wilson decide another round with the movie, which saw him starring alongside people like Malin Åkerman, Billy Crudup, Jackie Earle Haley, Matthew Goode and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
Although the superhero movie genre was certainly pretty popular when Watchmen came out, with movies like Iron Man and The Dark Knight having come out the year prior, the MCU was a ways off from becoming the pop culture mainstay it is today, and Man of Steel, another Zack Snyder feature, was still years off from launching the DCEU. On top of that though, Watchmen was fighting an uphill battle by being rated R rather than the traditional PG-13, and it certainly doesn’t follow the standard formula we’ve come to expect from superhero movies. Along with the mixed critical reception, it only made around $185.4 million worldwide. So while not a box office splash, at least its not lacking for supporters, which includes Patrick Wilson. You can watch his full ReelBlend interview below.
If you’re interested streaming Watchmen after reading this story, it can be easily accessed with a Max subscription, which is also how you can view HBO’s Watchmen series, although that serves as a follow-up to the original comic rather than the movie. Those of you interested in seeing how Patrick Wilson fared as a first-time director can see his work in Insidious: The Red Door on display in theaters now as one of the latest 2023 new movie releases.