Q&A: Patrick Wilson

Patrick Wilson (Credit: Jo Hale/Paramount)

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The anticipation for "300" director Zack Snyder's big-screen version of "Watchmen" has been bubbling over for months. But what will audiences make of a psychologically complex tale of self-made, masked superheroes coming out of retirement to find out who's hunting them and why?

If the flashy, violent and epically long flick lives up to its blockbuster potential it just might make a genuine star out of accomplished actor Patrick Wilson. After roles in "Little Children" and "Lakeview Terrace," Wilson is right at the center of "Watchmen" as Dan, a buttoned-up gadget guy who doesn't feel like a man until he dons the sleek superhero suit that turns him into strapping crime-fighter Nite Owl II.

Dan is also part of the film's superhero love triangle, along with the beautiful Laurie, aka Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman), and Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup), a big blue mutated physicist who doesn’t wear clothes and has a tendency toward speechifying.

We asked Wilson for his thoughts on the everyday lives of superheroes, late night shenanigans and what it's like to have an enormous blue mutant for a romantic rival.

Before Dan, the last guy Laurie is with is Dr. Manhattan, who can enlarge parts of his body at will. How intimidating is that for Dan?
[Laughs] Well, I mean, Dan's got his own problems. I feel like once he understands his role to [Laurie], which is sort of the emotional support that she does not get from Doc ... certainly once he figures that out I think he feels a little confident. But he's got his own issues of not feeling manly enough, whether Manhattan is around or not.

That still can't be helpful, knowing his competition is a giant, confident naked blue man.
Whether [Dr. Manhattan] was around or not, I don't think [Dan] would feel very virile. Luckily it works out for him.

When you see members of the Blue Man Group now, do you feel a weird threat to your sexuality?
Are you kidding, man? I get the girl. Come on. They don't scare me.

Dan looks like an accountant in his normal life yet still dominates when it's fighting time. How does he do that?
[When] you create a superhero or your costumed avenger, you sort of create to your strengths. He obviously had a lot of power-based fighting ability. He's a big guy so he knew that his punches carried a lot of weight. So I think you master that. He actually says in the comic [that] he grew up and was fascinated by birds and by flying, so having that obsession with the amount of money he had gotten he was able to make his own gadgets. So it's Batman-esque. He doesn't need the superpower.

Based on Dan's uptight appearance, it would be interesting to see him fight Clark Kent.
Yeah. That's very true. Actually Dan and Clark Kent hanging out would be a pretty sweet conversation. That would be pretty funny.

They can be each other's wingmen.
[Laughs] I think they'd need Bruce Wayne to help 'em out. I think they'd be sort of socially inept in the social scene.

Why are people so fascinated with the real lives of superheroes?
Because if you think about it in the most basic sense, it's an ordinary man doing extraordinary things. A heroic nature is very Greek. What lengths will you go to, to be the best you can be? What is that? What is your perception of a hero? Look at a firefighter putting on a suit and storming into a building and saving a child. That's pretty heroic, right out of a graphic novel. Change the costume and that's a superhero. There's just a natural instinct to want to be great, I think.

How much of a night owl are you in real life?
I have a two-and-a-half year-old, so I'm not a night owl at all. I'm an early-morning owl. The days of being night owls are over.

In the film, Laurie says she's used to going out at 3 a.m. and doing something stupid, and everyone can probably relate. What goes through your mind when you hear that?
[Laughs] Oh, now. I've lived in New York for 15 years. I think of many years post-college of being very stupid at three in the morning. But I'll never tell.

And that's also when crime fighters have to do their dirtiest work, early in the morning.
That's right! See, the good and evil. For everybody that does something bad there's gotta be someone that does something good. If someone's going out and doing something stupid, there must be somebody to go out and fix the problem I guess.

That may be the best justification of drunken buffoonery I've ever heard. 

Find showtimes for "Watchmen."