Back at the webmaster's panel at Comic Con last summer I announced that Gerard Butler would be appearing in Watchmen in the Tales of the Black Freighter segment. At the time that segment would be done green screen, but the decision was later made to animate it. Now Gerard Butler has confirmed to Empire that he will be providing the voice for the shipwrecked seaman in the segment.

In Alan Moore's Watchmen Tales of the Black Freighter is a pirate comic that runs throughout the story, paralleling themes and actions of the main characters. It's about a sailor whose ship is destroyed by the demonic Black Freighter and horrifying lengths to which he will go to return home after being stranded as the only survivor on a desert island.

Black Freighter is pretty much the first and most obvious thing you cut from an adaptation of Watchmen, so it's a testament to director Zack Snyder's intense desire to be faithful that he's been fighting to keep this segment in - whether in the movie or as a supplement on the DVD (nobody's quite sure where it will end up). Warner Bros wasn't sold on it, originally, but after seeing the footage coming back from the set in Vancouver, they changed their minds and threw some money at Zack to get it done.

I can't believe Watchmen is still a year away. Every time I get on a plane I pray that I get where I'm going just so I can survive to see this movie.