Director James Mangold Credits Watchmen as Influence for Logan

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James Mangold, the directer of the upcoming FOX Marvel film Logan, spoke with Fandango on the film and mentioned how the DC Comics book Watchmen influenced him with his film.

Fandango: Seems very Watchmen-esque…

Mangold: Yes, it’s got that to it.

Fandango: Was Watchmen an influence for you on Logan?

Mangold: The comic book, yes. I don’t think the movie got to come quite full circle on it, but I think that’s a great concept in Watchmen, yes.

Mangold also commented on how great the Christopher Nolan’s Batman films are and if the comic book genre should even be considered a genre onto itself. Showing that not only does he have an understanding of the comic book universes but has respect for them as a whole.

Fandango: You’re absolutely right. In order for the genre to evolve you need to change the ingredients in these films.

Mangold: But the other question I ask is whether this is a genre. Are comic book movies a genre? Because as many wonderful films as I can think of – like Christopher Nolan’s Batman films are like noir pictures, and you can call [Logan] and other movies Westerns. You can say Guardians of the Galaxy is like a romp or an adventure in the vein of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Each one of these movies exist within another genre, and it’s almost like the key to success with these movies is to figure out what kind of genre you’re making. Comic book movies only describes its origin.

It’d be like saying “novel movie” because it came from a novel. That doesn’t tell you much because there are as many comic books as there are novels. It’s not specific. It only really says that the characters probably have some kind of superpowers, but it doesn’t tell you what kind of story you’re telling. You could make a horror film about superheroes. To me, that’s where the originality happens. And where the originality fails is when people go, oh, it’s based on a comic book, so that’s the only genre I need. For the most part the movies that live in that form tend to be the weakest.

You can read the full interview at Fandango.com.

Eric Curto
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