It’s not always an indication of looming greatness, but the enthusiasm flowing forth from the cast and crew of Watchmen is beginning to sweep me up.  And I haven’t been properly swept up since this.

Today, it’s Carla Gugino doing the gushing (on the red carpet of last Sunday’s SAG Awards), and MTV Movies‘ Larry Carroll, um, relaying the gush for our edification.  And while red carpet interviews aren’t typically revelatory, he got some good stuff out of the talented and delectable actress (I compliment and objectify!).  Once Gugino gets past explaining her part (and how she’ll play the sixty-seven-year-old incarnation of Sally Jupiter in “full prosthetics”), she briefly touches on the Edward Blake rape scene (“pretty crazy”) before discussing what sounds like an extremely ambitious title sequence.  Per Gugino:

“The title sequence of this movie is going to be extraordinary. We spent many weeks over the time of the shoot shooting it. That’s going to be a very, very special thing that wasn’t scripted, that will be really empowering…

It incorporates real history and the fictitious world of Watchmen, and so it’s very cool. We meet Nixon and all sorts of people.”

Sounds like a very clever way of telescoping the narrative, while also immersing the viewer in Moore’s world without resorting to clunky old exposition (perhaps they were inspired by last year’s The Kingdom – though that was mostly historical context).  Carroll mentions that the sequence will live-action and CG footage to establish a reality that “mirrors our own”.  I’m guessing that means the alternate history of Moore’s graphic novel, but I also wonder if this will also serve to heighten the reality of the film.  Though we’ve seen and read a good deal on the making of Watchmen, I still don’t have a fix on how its going to look once it’s all cut together.  That’s kind of exciting.

It would also be a little terrifying if every actor who’s talked to the press weren’t so giddy about what director Zack Snyder is piecing together for March 2009.  There’s a too-good-to-be-true reflex when it comes to a filmed version of Watchmen, but, damn it, I’m beginning to believe (let’s just hope Snyder doesn’t start referring to it as “my Dick Tracy“).