I am still embargoed from my set visit to Watchmen earlier this year, so I can’t spill all the beans I’d like to spill about the film’s amazing sets that recreate New York City in 1985. What I can do is link you to ComicRelated, where they have spy photos of those same sets, taken by someone who worked as an extra on the film, which means she knows what she’s photographing. Now, the pics aren’t great – she didn’t take them while on set but rather from a mall across a busy street, using the zoom on her camera – but I think they begin to give you some ideas. What’s interesting is that she included a map of the set, which gives you an idea of how important framing of shots and set dressing was when they shot the movie – for instance, Nite Owl’s brownstone is right across the street from… downtown Saigon. There are a couple of buildings on the map that she doesn’t have names for; I know some of them, but I’m probably already going to get yelled at for writing this. Suffice it to say that Zack Snyder and his team didn’t waste an inch of space, and there’s so much going on from building to building (with some standing in for more than one location), you’d be amazed.
Check out ComicRelated for the two part picture essay, as well as some reports from the set when the photog was an extra. And by the way, in case you didn’t have enough reasons to see The Dark Knight… well, my excellent sources tell me you’ll get to see your first glimpse of Watchmen in action in front of that film.