Watchmen - Rorschach's Transforming Mask

Source: Warner Bros

In contrast to the characteristically extreme costumes of the majority of the characters in "Watchmen" is the almost non-descript costume of Rorschach: a simple trench coat. "When you read about the character in the graphic novel, he has a very bleak outlook on life," costume designer Michael Wilkinson observes. "He's very misanthropic. He just wants to bring a little bit of justice in the world. In terms of his costume, there is the sense that he gave up caring about his appearance a long time ago. He just wears this outfit, not to make a particular impression, just because it's what he wears. He keeps it in a dumpster. It has years of layers of grime and other encrusted crud on it. The whole litany of his past can be read through his trench coat."

Nevertheless, Rorschach has one of the most striking attributes of all the costumed superheroes: his mask of shifting inkblots. "The evolution of Rorschach's mask was a long and complex one," remarks Wilkinson. "We developed a printing process onto a fantastic four-way Lycra that enabled us to create a rough, canvas-like texture but also had a stretchy quality, so we could achieve that smooth, egg-like silhouette. And then the digital effects team created these beautiful moving inkblots on top of the fabric. It was a great collaboration between costumes and visual effects."

In order to complete the effect of the perpetually morphing inkblot mask, which Rorschach calls his "face", the lycra was embedded with motion capture markers. "It was covered in tracking dots, except for my eyes," describes Haley, who dubbed his mask "the sock." "Even though Rorschach's eyes aren't visible under the mask, I was able to see what I was doing. So, the material and the blots move; it's just absolutely awesome."


"It was fascinating how Jackie (Haley) was able to communicate so much emotion through this medium," comments producer Deborah Snyder. "The patterns were designed as a reflection of his performance, and it was amazing how much complexity Jackie brought to Rorschach through his voice and body...how the mask became part of him."

The visual effects team, under the supervision of John "DJ" DesJardin, animated the transitions between the inkblot patterns at different speeds, according to what directer Zack Snyder wanted for the given scene. "We tried to model his expressions after the ones Dave Gibbons drew for the graphic novel," DesJardin reveals. "The inkblots are not just black and white; the edges are grey and animated in a way that makes it look like the ink is coming out of the cloth and sinking back in again."

Snyder and DesJardin engendered a natural collaboration in ensuring the tone of the visual effects would align with the vision the director was creating on the live sets. "The visual effects are a partner in the movie," says Snyder. "Whether it was extending practical sets or inserting floating blimps in the skyline, or rendering Rorschach's mask or Dr. Manhattan's body, those are all things that have to go into the pipeline. And DJ did an amazing job of keeping this massive endeavor down to a very personal, shot-by-shot approach to the movie."

For Rorschach, whose stature belies his strength, stunt coordinator Damon Caro offers, "Going in we figured that since Rorschach wears a mask, it would be easiest just to double him. But it turned out that Jackie was so psyched to do it. I looked at his movement and martial arts ability, and it was awesome. We ended up using him a lot."

Jackie Earle Haley, who plays Rorschach in the film adds, "I've been working out for a long time, doing different things to stay in shape. When I got this part, I started a new regimen to increase muscle mass and I also started to look at the proper way to eat. It was all about core training, and I started getting results that were off the hook."

Haley has the rare distinction of being a successful child actor who, after virtually disappearing from Hollywood for 15 years, made an almost unprecedented comeback in back-to-back feature films: Steven Zaillian's "All the King's Men" and Todd Field's controversial drama "Little Children." Haley's courageous performance in the latter brought him numerous accolades, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He was also honored with a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination and won Best Supporting Actor awards from several critics groups, including the New York Film Critics Circle and the Chicago Film Critics Association.

He more recently appeared in the Will Ferrell basketball comedy "Semi-Pro." This fall, Haley will be seen in the thriller "Shutter Island," in which he co-stars with Leonardo DiCaprio and Ben Kingsley under the direction of Martin Scorsese.

Haley first came to fame in the mid-1970s with his scene-stealing performance as Kelly Leak, the cigarette-smoking, motorcycle-riding hellion, in Michael Ritchie's comedy hit "The Bad News Bears," reprising his role in two sequels. Haley again won praise from critics and audiences for his role as the romantic but short-tempered Moocher in Peter Yates' Oscar-winning 1979 sleeper hit "Breaking Away." In 1983, Haley played the sex-obsessed Dave in Curtis Hanson's "Losin' It," with Tom Cruise. That same year, he made his Broadway debut, starring in John Byrne's play "Slab Boys," with Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, and Val Kilmer.

Despite his early prominence, however, Haley found it difficult to successfully transition to more adult roles and turned his focus to directing. After years of struggling to make ends meet, he began directing industrial videos, which eventually led to commercial directing.

He had been off the screen for more than a decade when, in October of 2004, Steven Zaillian tracked Haley down--on his honeymoon in France--and asked him to audition for the role of Sugar Boy in "All the King's Men." Haley sent in a tape and won the part. Following that film, he landed the role of Ronnie McGorvey in Todd Field's "Little Children," resulting in his first Oscar nomination and what has been the resurgence of his acting career.

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