The masked heroes look from Watchmen

It was the graphic novel they said could never be filmed. Its film rights were sold over 20 years ago and yet it was mired in development hell, abandoned by various industry heavy-hitters and discarded as an impossible dream. Welcome to the world of Watchmen, the seminal graphic novel written by Alan Moore (V for Vendetta) and illustrated by Dave Gibbons.

However the ambitious leap from page to screen wasn’t entirely out of the question and the saga of Watchmen entered a new phase in 2006 when director Zack Snyder, flush with the critical and commercial success of fellow graphic novel 300 signed on to helm the big screen version of Watchmen. It was to prove a mammoth task, one dogged by everything from legal battles between Hollywood studios for the right to distribute it to public condemnation by the novel’s writer Alan Moore, and yet here it is – the movie version of Watchmen.

During every detailed stage of production Snyder sought to maintain loyalty to the source material, aware that it was the familiar and beloved universe of Watchmen that fans wanted to see rather than a new spin on an old favourite. Yet this would have to be tempered by the practicalities and demands of modern filmmaking, creating a balance that all involved would have to master – and none more so than costume designer Michael Wilkinson.

Prior to Watchmen, Wilkinson had already worked with Snyder on Spartan epic 300 and his CV boasts a number of superhero flicks such as family comedy Sky High and indie drama American Splendor, but how would he find life on the set of the big budget Watchmen? Not so bad, apparently. “A script like the Watchmen is pretty much a dream for a costume designer,” he explains enthusiastically. A dream perhaps, but there’s no denying the massive scale and many various concerns involved in kitting out the large cast of characters.