Friday 25 July 2008

'Watchmen' Exclusive: My Chemical Romance To Cover Bob Dylan For Film

Now that we’ve all seen the dazzling first trailer for next year’s “Watchmen” flick, it has officially become my most-anticipated movie of 2009. And the news just keeps getting better, as director Zack Snyder has revealed exclusively to MTV News that the only post-1985 song in the film will feature one of today’s hottest bands.

“My Chemical Romance is absolutely awesome,” the “300” director revealed. “And Gerard [Way] is a huge fan of ‘Watchmen’.”

Like the classic graphic novel, Snyder’s “Watchmen” film will span the decades utilizing a “Forrest Gump”-like soundtrack of period-evocative music from the turbulent Sixties, the me-decade Seventies and the awesome Eighties. But since the film ends in 1985, Snyder’s music needs to be capped after his Hendrix, Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel tracks have had their moments. Finding a way around the limitation, Snyder has launched plans to head into the studio with the emo-punk powergroup behind such hits as “Helena” and “Welcome to the Black Parade.”

“[Frontman Way] is a super-great guy, and an awesome musician, and so we’re trying to work with them right now to put together possibly a song for the end titles,” he revealed, adding that he wants MCR to revisit a classic Bob Dylan song. “[They’ll perform] like a cover of “Desolation Row,” or something like that.”

The track will close out the film, and will be the only modern composition making up the movie’s soundtrack. “I’ve talked with him and I’ve heard a little bit of some stuff that’s he’s done,” Snyder said of Way’s early attempts to take on Bob Dylan. “And it’s pretty freaking cool.”

The MCR singer is a lifelong comic book geek who attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City with plans to join the industry. Comic fans know him as the creator of “The Umbrella Academy,” a successful superhero series that he’s poured his spare time into recently, and could possibly be turned into its own movie eventually.

“Honestly, he contacted me, just as a fan,” Snyder remembered of his first contact with Gerard Way. “[He wanted] to say like: “I hope the movie’s cool.” And then we went, “Hey, maybe we can do something.” So it’s worked out pretty cool.”

For now, Snyder and Way will continue working on the Dylan cover for the film’s end titles; in the meantime, however, the director said he’s still being surprised every day as celebrities come out of the woodwork revealing themselves to be fans of the 20-year-old Alan Moore-Dave Gibbons classic. “You find out there’s a Watchmen geek in there somewhere, like in any organization,” he grinned. “It’s like a secret government group. You can sneak in by going, “Come on, I’m a ‘Watchmen’ fan.”

”Watchmen” + My Chemical Romance + a Bob Dylan classic. What do you think?

No comments: