Watchmen episode 8 reveal director on the perfect Doctor Manhattan

When the Watchmen series came out of HBO, three names dominated the discussion about the show: Alan Moore, who wrote the original Watchmen comic book series (and wanted to have his name for the continuation of 2019); Damon Lindelof, who created and produced the show; and Regina King, who appears as a masked vigilante policewoman, Angela Abar. But another name should be part of each breakdown of what the show looks and feels like. Nicole Kasell entered Lindelof’s project early on and was one of her main architects, both as an executive producer and director of the series pilot and for two more episodes.

(Ed. Note: This interview contains important spoilers for Watchmen Episodes 7 and 8.)

Especially for now, Kasell was the director of Episode 8, “A God Goes to Abar,” which tells the story of how the almost all-powerful Doctor Manhattan became the seemingly ordinary Calvin Abar, Angela’s husband. Episode 7, “This Extraordinary Being,” revealed that Cal (played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) had been Doctor Manhattan all along. Episode 8 fills in the background story and then transitions to a moment that looks like it might be the end of the character. And then, after the credits, the episode features a long scene in which Adrian Veidt, the former superhero Ozymandias (Jeremy Irons), is punished for his behavior throughout the series.

Polygon talked to Kassell shortly before the broadcast to discuss what the episode’s episode is all about, visual references to Moore’s Watchmen fans, how the post-credits scene relates to the structure of the comic, and why Doctor Manhattan behaves so damn stupid sometimes.

Polygon: The title of Episode 8 is “A God goes to Abar,” which is a pun on Angela’s last name. Did you name her for this pun when you canceled the season? Which came first?

Nicole Kassell: Is not that great? Honestly, the name of the character came first. In the author’s room – we would need Damon to check that out, but they have whiteboards on which to break down the show, and it was written down ” . and he goes to a bar.” When it was written so big, boom, it just shines right in front of her eyes.

The three Guardian The episodes you shoot are the most important episodes of the series. Considering how early you came to, and how much you helped create and design the show, did you choose which ones to showcase?

I was hired to play the pilot, and I wanted to do episode 2 because we took a break after the pilot. We have completed the pilot, cut and presented for pickup. We have not ordered any series before. As executive producer and director, I wanted to do episode 2 because we re-started with a whole new crew and prepared the show for the entire series. I wanted the continuity from 1 to 2. And then, Episode 8, it was just logistical. The schedule turned out to be the best for me and I wanted this deep dive with Regina, Yahya and Jeremy.

One face two face blue face blue face. Photo: Mark Hill / HBO

This seems to be a particularly challenging episode, considering how long you have to hide the face of Doctor Manhattan in the bar. What went into this decision?

That was 100 percent in the script. It was important for Damon and Jeff (Jensen, the co-writer of the episode) to do this. Yes, it was incredibly challenging to create 25 pages with two people in a bar where you can not see a person’s face and make it appealing and dynamic. We considered how to film it for a very limited period of time, and tried very analytically to develop the visual language through these scenes, so it was still cinematic.

How did you bypass this restriction?

With very methodical preparation, I have created a storyboard with the cameraman Greg Middleton. We did it with a photo board and got actors to sit down and take pictures of what we wanted to shoot as we went through the script scene by scene and word by word. Due to filming limitations, I repeated a few settings in several scenes, so we were able to take block shots. However, I was very careful about what settings I would repeat, so we would not see the same setting throughout the episode. And the transitions were written. That was one of the most important things on the show, the transitions between the scenes. They were absolutely calculated. Each in and out point has been designed. Even as the processing evolved, we had the anchor of ins and outs.

Was Yahya playing Doctor Manhattan all the time?

Absolute. And we wanted to challenge that. For this reason, he reaches for his mask with his hand and removes the mask. You might think we could show his face right now, but the camera stays with his hand. For me, this joke is an essential step in storytelling to keep it secret, even though people already know it. If Doctor Manhattan is completely revealed in the morgue, it would be a Wow moment that would have been watered down if we had shown who it was before. We wanted the emphasis on the revelation. And I also think that it is very important that, before he takes on Yahya’s form, he is Doctor Manhattan of Source Comics. And for the fans, there’s no way to do just that. Your inner image is important to them. What we do not show leaves people’s imagination faithful to their own vision. We do not delete the version of the source comic.

People have theorized online that you’ve been testing Cal for a while by getting him dressed in blue or backlit in some way. Did you point out this revelation?

For sure. I absolutely did not want people to know in advance, but at the same time I wanted them to have the pleasure of seeing the clues in retrospect. It’s fine if people find out. But yes, the reason why he is dressed in blue and the house painted in cooler gray and blue is that this is his home and his taste. I wanted circles to be a very strong motif in their home as a tribute to the icon of Doctor Manhattan. And because Angela came from Vietnam and they met there, I wanted an Asian influence in their home. I think it’s great that their institution had a double duty to refer to these two things.

How did you design his look as you tried to reconcile the visions of the Manhattan people?

An enormous amount of talks was conducted. We’ve done extensive camera testing with Yahya to find the right color of blue, literally the color of blue. We played with many different options for his eyes – did we want the white discs, did we want his eyes? Damon and Erik Henry, our visual effects officer, were critical in the decision-making process. The camera test provided a tremendous amount of information as we found the right blue make-up for him and figured out how to apply it. We decided very early on that we really just want him glowing and having white eyes when he uses his powers. Otherwise, we really wanted to keep him grounded and real and in our universe.

Why the decision to put the Jeremy Irons sequence after the credits?

That’s a structural thing. It really did not fit organic in the story. This story flows so perfectly as a whole. It was calculated very mathematically and recorded in the script. And the structure of the source comic – it contains the chapters that appear at the end of each chapter, the snapshots under the hood, and other clues. It allowed us to make an episode that was structurally a tribute to this structure in comics.

And you were not worried that impatient people would turn off the show when the credits started, and completely miss the sequence?

I dont know! That’s a good question. We have to find a way to annoy everyone.

The first two episodes were packed with visual references to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons Guardianand they continue in episode 8, with images like Angela and Cal addressing shadow lovers throughout the comic. But it seems that there are fewer visual echoes now than at the beginning. Was there ever a decision to focus less on her?

No, they just had to be organic to the respective scenes. We did not say “Let’s resign”, we just did not want to force them into a scene where they would not fit organically. There are many visual references to the source comic in the bar. I just do not like giving it away. It’s so much fun to see people pick them, and that was a great pleasure for the crowd.

Did these visual references come mainly from Damon, the authors, the directors or the design team?

All of the above. Of course from the authors. From our production designer, the props team, the directors, the set dressers. I asked everyone right from the start to look for opportunities, be it in the frame or in more specific references. It was absolutely a team effort. As for the selection of camera angles, in this episode, when Doctor Manhattan goes to Karnak (the home base of Ozymandias), there are a few shots of the actual source that I specifically created.

And the bar is from Sourcecomic, Eddie’s bar in Vietnam. (Editor’s note: This is the bar in Chapter II of the Watchmen comic, in which a pregnant woman attacks her lover Eddie Blake, also known as The Comedian, and murders him before Doctor Manhattan.) Time has passed, and now is it grew up a city with it. When Doctor Manhattan enters the bar, there is a sign reading “Eddie,” and the set dressing is inspired by panels from this sequence in the comic book.

What are you most proud of in this episode? What was hardest to crack?

I’m just so proud of the whole series. But it was particularly unbelievable to work so closely with Yahya to find out who Dr. Manhattan is to find out the change in his voice. The real challenge was to find Doctor Manhattan for him – he had to play a very different character than Cal and a character that everyone who knows the comic strips likes. To engage with him and find out was a truly exciting conversation and collaboration. Together, we asked, “What qualities does Cal have compared to Doctor Manhattan?” I had meetings with Damon to discuss who these characters were. What are your background stories? What are your main character traits? When we arrived on set, I had a very short list of words that I could say to Yahya for instruction because we had completely synchronized with the character.

In the bar, the voice he took was very hard. It’s outside his normal vocal range, which was exhausting. There were moments when I had to say, “I just hear Yahya too much.” It’s like any character discovery you make with an actor, but it was really fun to find it with him.

As you worked to understand the character, you’ve come up with a theory why Doctor Manhattan is so upset telling people around him what will happen next, when he knows from experience that everyone hates it and always does comes out bad?

Oh, that’s funny. I think he is just incredibly honest. For him, it’s literally just the facts, with no emotional attachment. Until he actually experiences these struggles, it has no emotional resonance. So he says something in the present and does not feel the emotional context of the actual moment. It is the key to its being that everything is simple without the emotional weight we or the civilian population bring with it. I think it’s a big deal to deal with this character, that he is not perfect, even though he is the most powerful being in the world. He is not perfect and that is very important for us to think about it.

That might also answer the biggest question people will have in this episode, which is why he did not just go somewhere else instead of standing still to get shot.

Exactly I am with you – I am mad at him! (Laughs) But let me just say that’s one of the most important things that catapults us in episode 9.

Damon has repeatedly said he has no plans for another season. But does HBO urge you to continue in the face of the positive response to the show?

I leave the conversation to Damon and HBO. You have to speak for it. I will not look behind the curtain there.