Watchmen actor tells of character's conflicted journey from man to god

ACTOR Bill Crudup, who plays superpowered Dr Manhattan in comicbook movie Watchmen, says he has worked hard to show his character's struggles with life, love and everyday earthly concerns as he advances beyond basic humanity.

Crudup, 40, best known for his roles in Almost Famous, Big Fish and Mission Impossible III, says he was guided by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon's seminal graphic novel in trying to play a near-omnipotent being who evolves far beyond everyday human existence.

"I think the graphic novel and the screenplay attempt to ask that question and to answer it at the same time," Crudup said in a group interview at Comic-Con in San Diego over the weekend. "So the experience of doing it was the experience of asking that question every time: Does he have any more humanity left?"

Scientist Dr Jonathan Osterman is turned into Dr Manhattan when he is locked in a nuclear test chamber. His human form disintegrates and he gains massive godlike powers, rebuilding his body and possessing the powers of superstrength, telekinesis, near-total clairvoyance, manipulation of matter at a subatomic level, and the ability to teleport himself or others over planetary, interplanetary and Intergalactic distances.

His military backers market him as a superhero but he becomes increasingly uninterested in human affairs, despite his importance in the Cold War, and is unable to connect with others, especially his love interest Silk Spectre, played by Malin Akerman.

He is one of a group of superhero characters in the movie, which is set in an alternative-universe 1985 New York.

Crudup said: "Mostly [Dr Manhattan] was an entity that was distracted by what for him were a higher order of problems. Which is: How does the universe operate, or how do particles fundamentally [interact]?

"And he was being asked to be a dutiful man at the same time by his government, so he was trying to attend to both of those while trying to carry on a relationship, and I think ultimately he discovered, through his own journey, that he was no longer as interested in people as he was in the ... universe. ... So I think my experience of doing it was the experience of asking that question each and every day."

Fans got a glimpse of Dr Manhattan in footage screened at Comic-Con. To play him, Crudup wore a motion-capture suit covered in lights, with dots on his face as a reference for computer generated effects to be added in post-production.

"It was a burden for about the first day, until I saw what these guys [his fellow actors] were in, and then they also had to go work out and watch what they were eating, blah di blah, blah, blah," Crudup said. "I was as happy as a clam. Basically came in and put on my pyjamas, stood on my apple box and tried to figure out Dr Manhattan. "

Watchmen opens March 6, 2009. For the official trailer, see my earlier report here and for writer Alan Moore's views click here.