Zack Snyder responds to producer Joel Silver's 'Watchmen' criticism

HOLLYWOOD, March 3 (UPI) -- Zack Snyder responded to producer Joel Silver's recent criticism in an interview with the Huffington Post on Monday.

Silver, who has produced such films as Die Hard, Predator, and The Matrix, criticized Snyder's adaptation of Watchmen in an interview last Wednesday with movie website Coming Soon. The legendary producer openly said that director Terry Gilliam's conception for the film "was a MUCH much better movie," and that Snyder ended up being "too much of a slave to the material." He went on to say that the Snyder's ending was "too hard and too silly," although he later admitted that he did enjoy the film.

Snyder responded to the criticisms today, saying "it's funny" that Silver called him a "slave to the material" because "the biggest knock against [Watchmen] is that we finally changed the ending." As for Terry Gilliam's concept, Snyder says that "if you read the Gilliam ending, it's completely insane." Snyder's wife Deborah, who joined him for the interview, added, "The fans would have been thinking that they were smoking crack."

The director went on to say that Watchmen is his favorite movie that he has made, and that he made the film "for myself...to save it from the Terry Gilliams of this world."

Snyder agrees with his wife that "the problem with comic book movies and genre" is that "you're damned if you do [and] damned if you don't...you can't please everybody." Snyder has directed several films with comic book roots, including Watchmen, 300, and Man of Steel. His efforts have often proved polarizing; many love the imagery that Snyder creates, but disagree with the director's adaptations of the story lines.

Snyder took a turn as producer for the upcoming 300: Rise of an Empire, set to debut in theaters this Friday, March 7. He is currently working on an untitled film that will feature of a face-off between Superman and Batman, to be released in 2016.

[Huffington Post]