I think someone woke up this morning and decided they were going to stir some Watchmen stuff up. I don’t know if there is a character I haven’t read a site claiming to have the exclusive casting news on, or at least some sort of insight into where director Zack Snyder wants to take things. Let’s sort what we can out.

Last week it was confirmed that Keanu Reeves is no longer in the running for the role of Dr. Manhattan. Some say he turned it down. Some say he asked for too much money. I still don’t even think he was right for the role, so let’s not shed any tears on that. AICN thinks that Snyder is going to pull a Speed and offer the role to Jason Patric next. I’m still not fanatical about that casting, but I guess we’ll see.

Of course, the huge news spanning the web is that former contender for the key role of Rorschach, Paddy Consadine, has announced on his official website that he’s no longer in the running for the role. Not only that, but he announces that they have offered the role to Jackie Earle Haley. You have to dig to find the news though (look in his forums), because under the “news” section of the site it still lists Consadine as being considered. Haley in the role isn’t official yet, however – this is coming from an actor who basically confirms he’s not involved. Again, we’ll see. There seems to be some contention for who broke the news (other than Consadine who isn’t really getting any credit) but I saw it first at Coming Soon.net.

Coming Soon also suggests that, in a recent interview, Patrick Wilson slips around the question of being offered the role of Nite Owl in such a way that suggests he may already have claimed the role. I can’t tell you more than that because I can’t pull their news story up anymore. Last week we got a hint that John Cusack might be considered for the role, so I don’t know whether to be disappointed at this or not.

Finally, the semi-villain/anti-hero for part of the movie, The Comedian, whose death is kind of the jumping off point for the story. Again looking at AICN, they claim to know where Snyder’s thought process is headed, but give enough hints at the “punishing choice” to lead the reader to believe the role is going to either Thomas Jane or Dolph Lundgren. Please, please, let it be Jane. I’m not certain we could stand a resurgence of Lundgren beyond VH1’s “I Love the ‘80s.”

Looking through all of this, however, there isn’t a single substantiated piece of information out there. It’s all speculation and heresy. For all we know, we could still wind up with Ben Stiller as Rorschach, taking stabs at Ozymandias played by Owen Wilson and a blue Vince Vaughn as Dr. Manhattan (he is eerily tall). And I want to know why no rumors are floating around for the female roles, huh? Let’s go ahead and say that a certain “Elektra” spark is roaming around trying to decide if she wants to play Silk Spectre. Or, let’s all wait for some confirmations before we go hog wild.