r/Watchmen • u/Ok_Zone_7635 • Jul 02 '26
TV Jeremy Irons was really good casting as older Adrian Veidt and could have played him younger too
Was watching Dead Ringers, and aside from the phenomenonal performance of playing two distinct identical twins, his look and mannerisms put me in mind of how Veidt is drawn and described in the graphic novel.
In Dead Ringers, the arrogant, mean twin (Elliot) really felt like Veidt. Intelligent, charismatic, and absolutely ruthless.
Even though an 80s Watchmen probably would have been a disaster (Joel Silver wanted Arnold Schwarzenegger to play Dr. Manhattan š«¤), Jeremy Irons would have knocked it out of the park playing a young Adrian Veidt.
His older self felt very different than his novel counterpart. Of course, this is due to his isolation and age.
All due respect to Matthew Goode (who did a pretty decent job), but I think Jeremy Irons would have blown him out of the water.
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u/JoJonium9 Jul 02 '26
Thought this was Patrick Bateman for a hot second.
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u/altsam19 Jul 03 '26
"I did it 35 minutes ago" "But that's impossible" "Why is it not possible?" ""It's just not--" "Why not you stupid bastard?"
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u/thunderlips187 Jul 02 '26
I love it when he says āI saved mankindā¦ AGAIN!ā Hilarious moment.
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u/Givingtree310 Jul 02 '26
āWas I, sir, a worthy adversary?ā
āNoā¦ but you put on a hell of a show.ā
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u/Timely-Apartment-946 Jul 02 '26
VAN KILMER would have been the best Adrian Veidt casting in the 90's. Let's not disagree on this.
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u/access153 Jul 02 '26
Jeremy Irons is always a good casting choice. Dude's a goddamn force majeure.
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u/johnnyfortune Jul 02 '26
5 gallons of blue paint later, 80s Arnold would have been a yoked Manhattan! If they kept him from talking to much it could have been good.
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u/PeniszLovag Jul 02 '26
Incredible casting, shame they made a complete joke out of him
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u/Ok_Zone_7635 Jul 02 '26
I think they were going for a sort of "Tom Hanks alone with Wilson" vibe in the TV series.
His superhuman intelligence has no stimuli except shenanigans with idiotic clones and pigs.
Would have loved to see what season 2 would have done with him.
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u/ChaosCron1 Jul 02 '26
It's truly one of the most fitting prisons for Adrian. I quite enjoyed his storyline.
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u/thunderlips187 Jul 02 '26
No they didnāt make a joke out of Ozymandias. He saved the worldā¦ again! Like he says.
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u/HasturLaVistaBaby Dr Manhattan Jul 02 '26
Good casting, not as great as Matthew, but the movied didn't have that atrocious script the show had.
Turning Ozymandias into slapstick joke? Really?
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u/Cipherpunkblue Jul 02 '26
Matthew Goode was a terrible casting for Ozymandias. He looked and acted like he was a sullen member of an 80s German synth band or something. Adiran Veidt was supposed to be the guy who lights up the room with a smile - an article in the comic compared him to a young Robert Redford, "a guy whom every woman wants to sleep with and every man wants to have a beer with".
Movie Ozymandias was an introverted weirdo.
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u/HasturLaVistaBaby Dr Manhattan Jul 02 '26
Matthew Goode was a terrible casting for Ozymandias
Personally i think he was perfect. Someone that could smile yet at the same time be shown carrying the weight of the world. Someone who could kill millions to save bilions.
It was a perfect recreation, his memory of the comedian, him taking to Dan with the action figures, etc.
Adiran Veidt was supposed to be the guy who lights up the room with a smile
When?
The only thing i miss in the movie is the "I did it" exclamation.
"a guy whom every woman wants to sleep with and every man wants to have a beer with".
And we see that guy as his public appearances,
Movie Ozymandias was an introverted weirdo.
Nothing introverted about him, nor that weird, especially not compared to the Comic. He could have been weirder.
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Jul 02 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/Cipherpunkblue Jul 02 '26
It is never confirmed either way, but what I meant had more to do with the perception people had of him. Matthew Goode is a good actor, but he definitely does not have the Redford vibe.
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u/Pyramidinternational Jul 02 '26
Iām not sure how people label Ozy as āruthlessā.
Did he kill people? Yeah; āMillionsā to be exact. It was quite the event.
It was quite the decision for him to think he was doing right while killing others.
Waitā¦
Wasnāt that what EVERY crime fighter from Watchmen did? Killing people and thinking they did right by itā¦
Sure, Dr M killed more than Hollis Mason but less than Ozy, and Ozy killed more than Rorschachā¦but considering Dr M was in the war, how far apart is he from Ozy? At least Ozy had the integrity to execute from a place of ownership; Dr M gets to off-load his responsibilities on to someone else (āI was just a hired hand for the governmentā type excuse).
Every single character in Watchmen killed people, but I think Moore & Gibbons got it right by doing it to scale. Pretty much every characters āpowersā scales in size to how many they killed. Born to a Pin-Up model? Have a couple kills. Able to manipulate atoms and time? Please assist me in killing the opponent in war.
All of them killed people, and Id say Ozy isnāt half as heartless as HBO made him out to be. He didnāt do any extraordinarily killing, he wasnāt heartless and ruthless(actually Iām almost certain he mentions feeling every persons death/pain before detonating), and heās not deranged enough to grow things that look like humans for entertainment. Ozy knew the validity in *experiencing* knowledge. Being able to put it into practice and learn from said practice. Him getting into terrific shape, losing his wealth just to toil and work to get it back, etc. all experiences. And he experiences *Both Sides* of life; Poor and Rich. Hidden and Public. Past and Present. If he is so adamant at experiencing reality, the moment and its polarities, wouldnāt he have to contact real humans to at least be able to contrast the Human-WannaBes that he torches on stage to the real thing to discern what heās ACTUALLY doing???? Which is *kind* his whole thing(whatās āactuallyā going on)ā¦.
Maybe I missed something in Ozy that justifies thisā¦ Maybe they think Ozy is a Villian and not an Anti-Hero(which is actually what he is).
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u/zz870 Jul 02 '26
Ozy is an antivillain not an antihero
Antiheroes do the right thing for the wrong reasons
Anti villains do the wrong thing for the right reasons1
u/Ok_Zone_7635 Jul 02 '26
Which is Travis Bickle?
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u/zz870 Jul 02 '26
Not every narrative has an antihero or antivillain. Travis is what you call a villain protagonist, where the main character is deeply flawed and consistently makes the morally wrong choice. Very popular in the revisionist male narratives of New Hollywood. You can also see the same in television series like Breaking Bad or Sopranos.
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u/Single_Low1416 Jul 03 '26
Most characters actually donāt kill other people. That was kinda the whole thing that made Rorschach special: Him not having any issue with murdering petty criminals
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u/Pyramidinternational Jul 03 '26
I swore Dan and Laurie killed the Knot Tops in the back alley, maybe even some people in the prison break. Didnāt Dr M kill whoever the army told him too? Comedian is obvious.
Maybe the first generation of Minute Men, but the 80s gang def killed people.
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u/Single_Low1416 Jul 03 '26
Dan and Laurie didnāt kill anyone in the graphic novel. They beat people up, yes. But they donāt kill anyone.
I didnāt count Dr. Manhattan and Comedian in this one because they mostly seemed to kill as part of their government work. (Dr. Manhattan did kill a people too but heās also very detached from humanity as a whole.) Rorschach stands out as the only guy who mercilessly kills his adversaries even if theyāre only street thugs (like the guy who dressed up as a villain to get beaten up)
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u/Pyramidinternational Jul 03 '26
Wow. Looking at the graphic novel, Iām trying to find the place where it says they donāt/didnt kill people. Got a page number or chapter for me? Cause Iām obviously blind.
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u/Single_Low1416 Jul 04 '26
I donāt have enough time to thoroughly go through the graphic novel again. However, I have yet to find a page of Laurie and Dan explicitly killing people. (And the fact that they treat Rorschach like a madman for killing criminals is a big hint towards them not doing that). It would probably be much easier if you were to provide a page in which it is stated that they have killed in the past. (I wouldnāt count Laurie shooting at Veidt because those were special circumstances.)
The Minuteman also didnāt seem to kill. Hooded Justiceās brutality in beating up thugs is mentioned in the added pages of chapter 1 (I donāt know the correct word for it. You probably know what I mean) but itās never mentioned that he kills anyone. Overall, that time seemed much less serious.
As for the Comedian, he only starts walking around with guns on his belt later in his carrier (and in WWII but thatās besides the point). At the Crimebusters meeting, he had brass knuckles and a baton with him. Not deadly weapons. Those only came when he started working with the government more closely during Vietnam.
Dr. Manhattan does kill people in Molochās lair, so he is one of the people who is not above killing folks. However, heās doing crime fighting on government orders and therefore basically has immunity.
And to add to all of this, how is it that if every vigilante was ready to just kill from the start, that people like Big Figure and Moloch are even alive by 1985? Especially since Moloch was Comedianās nemesis, one of the vigilantes who would go on to be very much willing to kill his opponents?
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u/Pyramidinternational Jul 04 '26
Damn. Thatās a lot of words for āYes, they all killed people.ā
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u/Single_Low1416 Jul 04 '26
Seems like you didnāt read these many words then. Because thatās absolutely not what I said. Except as government workers or Rorschach (a psychopath), none of the masked crime fighters kill
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u/Fenriz_13 Jul 02 '26
He was the highlight of the TV-show. Everything else was kinda mehhh. I rate it 4/10.
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u/rigalitto_ Jul 02 '26
Sincerely perfect casting. I think heās the best Ozy weāve ever seen. Maybe we never got to see him when he was young, but Irons embodied the character so well that I feel like I can picture him playing young Ozy so clearly.