Magic, not movies, for Moore

HOLLYWOOD -- For the record, Alan Moore has not softened his view on Hollywood or its plan to bring his classic graphic novel "Watchmen" -- a dystopian epic that deconstructs the superhero genre -- to the screen this spring.

"I find film in its modern form to be quite bullying," Moore said during an hourlong call from his home in England. "It spoon-feeds us, which has the effect of watering down our collective cultural imagination. It is as if we are freshly hatched birds looking up with our mouths open waiting for Hollywood to feed us more regurgitated worms. The 'Watchmen' film sounds like more regurgitated worms. I, for one, am sick of worms. Can't we get something else? Perhaps some takeout? Even Chinese worms would be a nice change."

Moore, 54, is often described as a recluse. "Yes, perhaps I should get out more," he said with a chuckle.

But he is everything his longtime readers would expect -- articulate, witty, obstinate and enigmatic. Far from grouchy, he gets an edge in his voice only when he talks about the effect of Hollywood on the comics medium that he so memorably energized in the 1980s with "Saga of the Swamp Thing," "V for Vendetta" and, of course, "Watchmen," his 1986 masterpiece.

The Warner Bros. film version of "Watchmen" is due in March, but it has encountered turbulence with a lawsuit over who has the rights to the property. Moore, who does not control the movie rights, has no intention of seeing the film and has asked that his name be left off it; he also hints that he has put a dark spell over the endeavor.

"Will the film even be coming out? There are these legal problems now, which I find wonderfully ironic," Moore said. "Perhaps it's been cursed from afar, from England. And I can tell you that I will also be spitting venom all over it for months to come."

Moore said all that with more mischievous glee than true malice, but it will probably pain "Watchman" director Zack Snyder. Snyder, the director of "300," absolutely adores the work of Moore and has been laboring intensely to bring "Watchmen" to the screen with faithful sophistication. But Moore said he has never watched any of the adaptations of his comics and that he thinks "Watchmen" is "inherently unfilmable."

He also rues the effect of Hollywood's siren call on contemporary comics. "There are three or four companies now that exist for the sole purpose of creating not comics but storyboards for films," he said.

There is one film that Moore is supporting right now. It's the DVD release "The Mindscape of Alan Moore," out Tuesday, an artfully executed documentary built entirely around Moore sitting in his somewhat spooky living room and ruminating about art, storytelling, magic and culture. The movie was made by Dez Vylenz, who was a student at the London International Film School when he sent Moore a letter expressing interest in creating a documentary on the writer as his senior project.

In the film, Moore makes it clear that he believes magic and storytelling are inherently linked.

"Magic is a state of mind," Moore said. "It is often portrayed as very black and gothic, and that is because certain practitioners played that up for a sense of power and prestige. That is a disservice. Magic is very colorful. Of this, I am sure."