Wilson and Crudup to Star in Upcoming 'Watchmen' Film

Variety reports that Tony Award-winner Billy Crudup and Tony Award-nominee Patrick Wilson will be among the stars of Watchmen, based on Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' '80s comic books.

Adapted by Zack Snyder as the follow-up to the smash CGI-enhanced Persian War epic 300, the film will feature Crudup as Dr. Manhattan and Wilson as Night Owl, described as "a rich kid interested in birds." Watchmen will "be set in an alternate 1985 with plenty of Cold War overtones."  It will also feature Matthew Goode as clever vigilante Ozymandias, Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the Comedian, Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach and Malin Akerman as Silk Spectre.

The project, which will next be featured at the high-profile Comic-Con, has long been the subject of big screen speculation, with such directors Paul Greengrass, Darren Aronofsky and Terry Gilliam once interested in directing a Watchmen film.  Larry Gordon, Lloyd Levin and Deborah Snyder will produce.

Crudup won a Tony for his performance as Belinsky in The Coast of Utopia, and was also nominated for his work in The Pillowman and The Elephant Man.  Film work includes The Good Shepherd, Stage Beauty and Big Fish.  Wilson, who last appeared on Broadway in Barefoot in the Park, received Tony nods for his performances in The Full Monty and Oklahoma!. He has been seen on screen in such films as Evening, Running with Scissors and Little Children.  He was Emmy-nominated for his work in "Angels in America."