More from London ~ Watchmen Premiere

Zack Snyder and John "DJ" Des Jardin at the Santa Monica Apple Store in Santa Monica

I had a great night even though I braved the rain and the long drive across town to Santa Monica. I was amazed when it only took 35 minutes! When I found the Apple store there was a line, but not too long. It was very organized and I ended up near the front.

After Zach and DJ were introduced they showed raw footage of Dr. Manhattan with his funky light bulb outfit that had tracking marks for the computer animation.

Then it went to a Q&A, here are some of the questions summarized.

Q: Someone asked, "How did filming differ from 300?"

A: Zach said, "Quite a bit, with 300 I used 3 cameras most of the time, but with Watchmen I used one camera."

Q: The person went a round about way of asking this question, but in short this is what he asked: "Is there a Squid? If not, why not?"

A: Zack laughed and basically said, "No, because I didn't want to spend 15 minutes on a squid when the rest of the characters where so much more interesting."

Q: "What scene made you loose the most sleep?"

A: "The Kennedy assignation, because the workers who were suppose to mow the lawn at the location went on strike so they had to scramble to find a new location."

There were lots more questions, but too many to remember. Lastly, they showed footage of Dr. Manhattan in various stages of CGI, it was incredible watching from raw to the final cut.

Zack took time to autograph books and posters, as well as posters of Dr. Manhattan which they passed out.
I can't wait to see the movie!

Pictures from the Apple store:

Comic-Con 2008 ~ Day 3

Thursday, July 24, 2008
As we entered hall H, we handed a card for a free Watchman gift. I made sure I put it in a safe spot and got comfortable until the panels began.

Warner Brothers

Watchmen
Panel: Director Zack Snyder, Producer Joel Silverman, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson, Nancy

I had been looking forward to this panel, 2nd only to Rockn'Rolla, I loved Zack Snyder's "300", Jeffrey Dean Morgan in Grey's Anatomy, and Patrick Wilson in the Phantom of the Opera.

After the panel a few of us volunteered to redeem our gifts. We braved the crowds into the exhibition hall. We made it to the Warner Brothers booth where a crowd surround the booth. We found out there would be an autograph signing for the Watchmen panel. So we went back to hall H and met the rest of our group. We told the girls about the autograph signing and three of us decided to brave the lines and we hurried to get in line.

The line for the autograph signing was crazy with people fighting to get into the line, well long story short, we were the the last three in line. While in line we found out we would only get autographs from Zack, Patrick, and Billy. Across the isle at the NECA booth was another line for Jeffrey, Nancy and one other person, but we would have to pay to get the autographs. So after we got through the first line we ran and luckily they hadn't closed the second line!

Jeffrey smiled at us and said, "Nice to see you again when he autographed our posters."

He said it sincerely, so I'm gonna believe he remembered when we met at the P.S. I Love You premiere!

Me and Patrick Wilson!

I told him I loved him in Phantom of the Opera!

When we finished getting our autographs we walked away thrilled with our success. Zack, Patrick, and Jeffrey! What lucky girls we were! We walked through the crowded exhibit hall smiling from ear to ear.

We hadn't made it that far when Maree said, "Should we go back and see if we can get a picture with Jeffrey?"

I didn't think twice and turned and ran back negotiating the people in my way. I was the first to make it back to the autograph signing booth just as Jeffrey was coming down the stairs. His entourage and bodyguards surrounded him.
I yelled, "Jeffrey may I have a picture with you?"
Jeffrey turned. His bodyguard blocked me with his arms and said, "Sorry he has to go."
Jeffrey said, "Yes of course." Next thing I knew he had his arm around me!
I turned to look for Maree and Lois. They had just caught up to me and Maree was already pointing her camera. It was several seconds while we waited until Maree got the shot, but Jeffrey was sweet enough to wait patiently.
After Maree took the picture the bodyguard said, "Sorry he really has to go!"