 In July 2004, it was announced Paramount Pictures would produce Watchmen, and they hired Darren Aronofsky to direct Hayter's script. Gordon and Levin remained attached, collaborating with Aronofsky's producing partner, Eric Watson. Eventually, Aronofsky left to focus on The Fountain, and Paramount replaced him with Paul Greengrass, with a target release date of summer 2006. At this time, Paddy Considine, was involved in negotiations for Rorschach. Jude Law (a fan of the comic) and Tom Cruise both lobbied for Ozymandias. Greengrass wanted Joaquin Phoenix for Dan Dreiberg and Hilary Swank as Laurie. To publicize the film, Paramount launched a now-defunct Watchmen teaser website that had a message board as well as computer wallpaper available to download. Graphic artist Tristan Schane drew designs of Dr. Manhattan for the film, which depicted him with visible intestines. Gilliam read Greengrass's revision of Hayter's script and liked it, but told the director he did not think the studio would greenlight such a dark film. In March 2005, with rumors that high-profile projects, including Watchmen, were in danger of being cut, Paramount's CEO Donald De Line began urging a reduction in Watchmen's budget so the film could get the greenlight. When Brad Grey took over as Paramount ’ s CEO, Levin feared potential budget cuts, so he made plans to move the project outside the UK in an effort to save money. Before he could, Paramount placed Watchmen in turnaround, again.
