Making the ‘Watchmen’s’ New York -- New York Magazine

Process

Making the Watchmen’s New York.

By Dan Kois
Published Mar 1, 2009

British Invasion
Watchmen is set in New York, but it’s “two Englishmen’s view of New York,” says production designer Alex McDowell, referring to the graphic novel’s creators, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, so McDonald’s becomes Gunga Diner, an Indian fast-food chain. “When you read Watchmen, there’s something inexplicable and impossible about the design of it,” says director Zack Snyder. “We wanted to capture that feeling.” To McDowell, that meant taking iconic locations from the graphic novel—like the Gunga Diner—and transplanting them to the screen.