Of all the days I could land an interview with Matthew Goodeâ¦the day it happened couldnât have been more perfect. The reason wasâ¦the day I interviewed him was the first time I could
However, with Matthew playing Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias in Zack Snyderâs upcoming âWatchmenâ movie, I also managed to land a separate one on one interview and since we had already talked so much about âBrideshead,â I asked him if he wouldnât mind talking âWatchmenâ and he couldnât have been more excited to oblige my request.
Finally, Iâm not going to give any intro on what âWatchmenâ is aboutâ¦this interview is for people who know the graphic novel and cannot wait for the movies release.
As always, you can either read the transcript below or listen/download the MP3 by
Collider: I was going to say Iâd like to actually focus a little bit on what we call the Zack Snyder onslaught of March 2009.
Matthew Goode: Letâs do it.
Collider: So hereâs whatâs funny. Of all the days to interview you, today we were allowed to write our preview pieces of the Watchmen set visit today.
Matthew Goode: Oh wow.
Collider: As in I posted it last night at midnight, which was the first time I could write a word telling my audience that Iâd been to the set.
Matthew Goode: Oh fuck, thatâs bizarre.
Collider: Because they donât want to build up too much buzz.
Matthew Goode: Oh okay. Fair enough.
Collider: So today is the day weâre allowed to write about it.
Matthew: I thought you posted it a midnightâ¦the moment you could.
Every online site that was there. So letâs talkâ¦I canât run what I interviewed you until later and youâll be at Comic-Conâ¦so looking back now, itâs been a number of months, what was the experience like making this movie and what was it compared to what you went in? Can you talk just a little bit about it?
Matthew: Of course. For me, actually, it came at a really tough time as in fact Iâd been away from home for almost 3 months filming âBridesheadâ and I found that an exhausting process. Not oh poor me, but as in 6 day weeks, 17 hours a day. Just really tough mentally to go from doing that and being really in it and then suddenly 2 days later after finishing in
Let me interrupt you for one second. When you went into the audition, had you read the comic?
Matthew: No, all I knew about it was the fact that the other actors were involved and that was a pressure, but I had one scene at the end where it was like saying I killed millions of people and then one tiny scene at the beginning where Iâve got a big cat. So Iâm like this is such an odd character and it was only when I got to
Oh I believe.
Matthew: Youâve been to the set.
Yeah, letâs talk about Dr. Manhattanâs lab or the shit that was built. Itâs insane.
Matthew: It is absolutely off the charts. Did you get to see the stuff at the ice palace as well?
I did not see the ice palace butâ¦we saw the storyboards of the ice palace. So what was it like in person?
Matthew: Oh my God itâs just the biggest set youâve ever seen and again the joy of doing it was likeâ¦there was also a slight worry about how much green screen and what that can do to your acting and having not been doing a lot of green screen before, so I was like fuck, itâs so nice to have everything that was required. Apart from a 100 foot
We were on set the day the costumes arrived.
Matthew: Oh, brilliant.
And the next day was that group photo shoot with everyone in costume. So could you talk a little bit aboutâ¦we didnât get to ask you thisâ¦but what was it like for the first time you put on that costume and what was it like being in that scene and just all that?
Matthew: Itâs extraordinary. And also because I didnât have a rough deal. I think the person who had the roughest deal was Jeffrey Dean Morgan, he literally had to be put into a completely different skin. Heâd have 7 hours in makeup before we even started shooting and he has a hairy chest so these glued on things were ripping at his chest. He was uncomfortable the whole time. But yeah, amazing and it was kind of nice when we had that group shot because I have very little interaction until right at the end with anybody else. Iâm sort of notâ¦I donât really have much with the other actors or the other main characters until the Ice Palace at the end, so or Carnac I should really call it, but so yeah, it was a particularly nice day for me because I just got to see just how awkward everyone else was putting their costumes onâwell not everyone obviously because I wasnât there when Malin was putting on her stuff.
We saw her fighting in the jail sequence.
Matthew: Oh you saw the fighting in that? Yeah, itâs quite a get-up that sheâs got on. Itâs a little revealing.
It is. It was quite nice to watch it being filmed.
Matthew: Iâm not surprised. Completely pert nipples and everything. Exactly.
It was good times.
Matthew: And Carla as well. She looksâ¦great little sex kitten in everything she does really.
Matthew: Yes, she is.
Just a little bit.
Matthew: Just a little bit.
Just a touch.
Matthew: And after this film comes out thereâs going to be an even wider audience of people who feel that way I think.
Yeah, I guess Iâm curious aboutâ¦.well letâs talk a little bit about Comic-Con because thatâs coming up next week. Are youâ¦.theyâre doing a presentation in the room that holds 7,000.
Matthew: Yeah.
So are you prepared to be on stage with Zack and other people talking about this in front of the absolute Fanboys?
Matthew: No, because Iâm really not. I get scared talking about âBridesheadâ in front of 7 people because thematically itâs very complicated. So you take âWatchmen,â which is equally if not more thematically complicated and remember that the audience is far more intergent that you are, so Iâm really worried that at this stage it might compound some peopleâs ideas that Iâve been miscast because Iâm notâ¦
No. Iâll defend you on-record. I see you in the part. I really do. Definitely.
Matthew: I hope so.
No, no Iâm really confident and I really believe in Zack and if Zack believes in you then Iâm sold.
Matthew: Well, Iâm slightly worried about theâ¦because weâd come up with this idea that again, itsâ¦I assume I can talk about itâ¦. itâs the fact that I wanted to do something a little bit different with it and so we decided to sort of embellish upon what given certain circumstances of Adrien Veidtâs past are in the novel. So itâs like well, was he born in
Were you able to work that into the actual film?
Matthew: Yeah, itâs in. Itâs in. It was in pretty early on because after the first scene which is all done American, it was only after we shot that that I thought wouldnât that be interesting and Zack was like, you fucking bet. Go for it. And because itâs not mentioned to anyone then some people might be a bit thrown of likeâ¦I think theyâll get it as in the public/private thing, and I just hope they buy into it and like it rather that it being a hindrance.
I donât see peopleâ¦I think that any movie has to be a movie. And it canât just be a movie of the book. There has a be, you know, the director has to put the â¦.you know what I mean, they have to change things to make it a movie.
Matthew: Yeah, itâs entertainment as well. Thatâs what you can never get away from and I think sometimes things take themselves far too seriously and they forget that and thatâs why I think Zack has brought suchâ¦.because heâs remained so faithful to the book and obviously the Black Freighter was a big option and I donât know what heâs going to do with that and I think that will be something brilliant for the fans to get which I think will come on.
He talked about putting it as an animated thing on the DVD.
Matthew: Yeah, exactly, because otherwise thereâs just no way. The budget would spiral to try to get some of that stuff in there. Itâs frightening.
The rumor is that he has a 3 hour cut of the film right now.
Matthew: Yeah, he does. I spoke to him about that the other day. They wanted to go down a bit lower and heâs like, I just donât think I can.
I heard 2:45 is going to be their goal of release.
Matthew: Yeah? So heâs got to trim another 15 minutes of it.
Thatâs what I heard.
Matthew: Yeah. Thatâs tough.
Itâs a big fucking book.
Matthew: Itâs a huge fucking book. I spoke to him and heâs like everyoneâs going to be expecting this actiony thing and Iâve made a 3 hour art house film. If you can release that statement right now youâve made even more thousands of people happy. I think thatâs people want and I think heâs got the perfect balance of entertainment and integrity for the originalâ¦for the seminal piece of work that it is.
Well, the big question for a lot of fans is the movie going to go follow the structure of the book where you get a little bit of modern stuff, you get past. Is it going to be linearâ¦thereâs so many things that the fans donât know.
Matthew: Youâve got to set up this sort of parallel 1980âs universe as well with Nixon still President, so I donât think thatâs speaking out of turn by just saying that in the initial credit sequenceâthe opening credit sequenceâthereâs the stuff that isnât in the book. For example, myself shaking hands with David Bowie and Mick Jagger, you know. So setting up these ideas of celebrity and also stuff to do with the
Whatâs funny is I wrote that last night.
Matthew: Thatâs why I felt like such an outsider until I got there and read the book and I was like oh my God, Iâm on-board.
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I want to know your reaction when youâre sitting there in Vancouver and you finally read the book and youâre likeâ¦are you like holy shit, Iâm involved with this fucking movie orâ¦?
Matthew: Abso-fucking-loutly. I mean itâs just like holy shit. Iâve always wanted to work with Billy Crudup and now I get to see him in pajamas with dots all over his face and Patrickâs brilliant and I think he cast it really interestingly and obviouslyâ¦.back in the day it was meant to be Jude Law and whoever. That would have been a brilliant fucking movie but a very expensive one because there are expensive people youâre utilizing in that thing and I think itâs kind of brave of him and I think it also fits the bill a little easier for us to be more interesting as well if it isnât Tom Hanks and Kevin Costner. I think that might haveâ¦where theyâd be brilliant acting it might have put off from the believability factor of it. It might have taken us away from the story and thatâs what happens when you get big movie stars in there.
I actually completely agree and thatâs one of the reasons I think thatâ¦
Matthew: Well, Tom Cruise as Ozymandias might have worked, you donât know. You donât know. Youâll never know.
I donât think it would have worked now. Tom is a whole thing right now with a lot of people, you know? I think the casting is really good. I really do. But I was curious what was it like working with Billy as Dr. Manhattan and that stuff at the end?
Matthew: It takes a while to get used to looking at him without laughing because obviously he is covered in dots, but by the time that I say this that was the last stuff I filmed so by the time we got there we wereâ¦.it was crucial to get the stuff at Carnac and to find the right levels of performance. There was one stunt scene where I told my meniscus so my knee was fucking agony and doing these long sorts of stunts and blah, blah, blah, it was hard but so rewarding, ultimately. And hopefully the stuff in the film will look good and we had a lot of amazing stuntmen so maybe theyâll just use their stuff instead of mine because Iâm sure it looks better.
I remember when we were talking on-set, you mentioned that there were many days that you werenât filming and there were days you were filming a lot. Can you talk a little bit about what you do in
Matthew: Yeah, the down time. I played a lot of golf on my own. A lot of the American actors, you know, they got to come for 2 weeks and go away and I was in weather cover quite a bit and also it gets very expensive to fly back to England a lot so I had someâ¦I think I filmed for like 40 days or something and the whole shoot was 6 months so thatâs lot of hanging around to do. But the power of the DVDâI watched a lot of stuff on the box and it rains a huge amount in Vancouver but I go out and play some golf in the rain and itâs a question of how many units of the day can you just find something to do because Iâm not great at spending time on my own, but they had cinemas there so I watched everything that was out.
So what do you thinkâjumping back to Comic-Con for a secondâyou were there last year. Where you there on the stage?
Matthew: No it was just Malin, Zack and Jackie.
Oh thatâs right.
Matthew: They are used to it.
So this is your first time going?
Matthew: Iâve never been. First time going so I really donât know what to expect yet. Iâve had people sort of jokingly say itâs 80,000 people wandering around in Batman costumes, but it sounds like itâll be fun.
Itâs 130,000 people and itâs basically all sold-out now and not everyone is in costume.
Matthew: Okay.
So you donât have to stress about that, but I will say that a lot of people are talking⦠âWatchmenâ is the big gun of Comic-Con. Itâs like justâ¦FYI.
Matthew: Thatâs fucking amazing, because also the repercussions of making even as I say just half of that crowd, if you can feed some of the anticipation and also not upset them with anything they do see, then weâre winning a battle because they talk and they want to promote something that they like.
Exactly. Zack told me that heâs showing 3 to 4 minutes of footage from the movie, maybe 5, I donât know what the number is.
Matthew: Isnât that great. I havenât seen any.
So is he going to show it to you before you go or do you have to watch it on the screen with everyone else?
Matthew: Iâm on this press tourâ¦I will be seeing it for the first time with you guys. I mean, I donât even knowâ¦when does âDark Knightâ come out because the trailer goes out with that.
Someone just reviewed the trailer. I just got sent an email. The trailerâs on Thursday night. Itâs in theatres.
Matthew: Oh wow, and what did they say about the trailer?
I literally just clicked on the article. We canâ¦hold onâ¦you readyâ¦
Matthew: Yeah.
Hold on.
Matthew: Are you kidding me? Yes.
I just saw the trailer for âWatchmenâ in 15 secondsâ¦.I can tell you right now I enjoyed it a lot. You get to see plenty of Dr. Manhattan. Rorschach looks fantastic as does Night Owlâs ship as it emerges from the waterâblah, blah, blah. Iâm wondering if weâll see the full-frontal Doctorâ¦the final shot of the trailerâ¦well, letâs just say crystal palace on Mars is do-able.
Matthew: Fucking great. Oh my God.
So there you go.
Matthew: So that sounds good. Thatâs just a little teaser trailer, isnât it?
Itâs Zackâs special trailer for âDark Knightâ, so whatever it is. So jumping off âWatchmenâ for a second because Iâm sure theyâre going to be real pissy if I spend 20 minutes doing this. What was itâ¦as an actor you went fromâ¦you got a lot of good mentions in âThe Lookoutâ and now youâve done âBridesheadâ which youâre obviously youâre really good in it and âWatchmenâ. As for your career, are you sort of amazed at the way itâs been twisting and turning?
Matthew: Oh, constantly because as you know, weâve talked about it before, everyoneâs under the assumption that you get to choose and itâs like as a person I choose what Iâm interested in or it chooses me, you read it and you go thatâs good. Iâd like to be involved in it and then you go through the audition process and Iâve been fucking lucky. And letâs be honest. Iâve been so fucking lucky and in a way I donât knowâ¦I donât know what the hellâs next. I have no idea whatâs going to be next, but itâs not from me going okay, now I need to do something completely different again. You know, sort of I think Iâve got good taste and itâs taste and luck really and I think Iâm probably going to get back on the stage next. To take away from having to worry about getting something and new again now but as an actor you want to continually doâ¦you want to show a little bit of range, for sure, but mainly itâs just if you read something and if it makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up then you want to do it.
A lot of people talk about how TV right now is so good with the characters that are on the different networks. Right now youâre on this great run with movies, but could you ever see yourself doing a character on TV and playing that for years?
Matthew: In some ways as long itâs sort ofâ¦I donât know...I have a problem with being away from home a lot because of missing friends and family and having a girlfriend who just got back from New York now to be with me, so thatâs not good otherwise being away. But there would be something quite comforting about playing the same role, I think, day in and day out for awhile. I think I would quite like that but at the same time itâs nice to try on other clothes. Do you know what I mean? If you had the keys to the best wardrobe of suits, you donât want to wear just one. So, I donât know. It depends. It could be the worldâs greatest TV series and you wouldnât be able to say no. If something like âWest Wingâ came up.
You mention âWest Wingâ a lot. Are you like an addict of this?
Matthew: Yeah, I am. I love it. I donât know what it is about it. I just think itâs so intelligent and the level of the acting and obviously when the music comes in (music sounds) youâre like pathos crazy. But, at the same time, I just think that Bradley Whitford and Rich Schiff, the whole entire cast are just perfect and happens from day one. The very first opening scene youâre like all the relationships are set and it just sort of pulls you in.
So youâre saying that Aaron Sorkin couldâ¦.
Matthew: Allison fucking Janney is amazing.
So youâre saying Aaron Sorkin could pull you to TV possibly?
Matthew: If there was anyone whoâs going to do it, it would be Aaron Sorkin.
Just thinking.
Matthew: