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GP Exclusive: Hollywood writer talks Gears of War movie
- October 03, 2007 15:41 PM PST
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GamePro get a first update on the upcoming Gears of War movie...and what we learned might surprise you!
by John Gaudiosi
Stuart Beattie is best known as the man who turned Disney's theme park ride, Pirates of the Caribbean, into a script that launched a billion dollar movie franchise--with games to boot. The scribe behind Collateral, Derailed and the upcoming 30 Days of Night is currently working on turning Epic Games' Gears of War into a blockbuster film franchise for New Line Cinema. The busy writer, he's recently been tapped to adapt Spy Hunter for the big screen by director Paul W.S. Anderson, took some time out of his busy schedule to talk about videogames in this exclusive interview.
"The perception of videogames in Hollywood is changing slowly," said Beattie. "Hollywood likes to do what's proven. They've already proved that books work, and plays can work, and recently that comic books can work. But they've yet to have a film be as successful as say Spider-Man, that's based on a videogame. We had the same thing with Pirates of the Caribbean. They didn't want to base a film from a theme park ride. But now that it's done and it's been successful they're looking for what other theme park rides could possibly work as films."
Beattie said in Hollywood, it's all about recouping your investment on the hundreds of millions of dollars that go into making and marketing these films. It's about finding a sure thing, and videogames are the latest trend.
"While there are more and more videogame movies being made because there are more and more videogames being made, there still hasn't been that one that has hit it out of the park yet," said Beattie. "At the moment, I would say the perception of videogame movies in Hollywood is: they are interested, they're intrigued, but they're still not completely sure if it can actually work."
The writer says he's working closely with Epic Games and Cliffy B, the lead designer of Gears of War.
Gamers wondering what a Gears of War movie might look like need only to rent Warner Bros.' Blu-ray Disc or HD-DVD of 300. Many film critics called that international blockbuster a movie that looked like a videogame. Now there might be a game that looks like a game on the big screen.
"To me, that's a good movie because that's a movie that is getting people talking about, reading into it," said Beattie. "It's interesting. Everyone's talking about 300. They use it as an example of where things are headed. That film was shot completely on green screen, which is amazing when you actually see the film. It's probably how we're going to do Gears of War."
"There's no way to build that world any other way, really," continued Beattie. "That's a huge world. It's a planet and it's a bubble and it's a building. It's an epic sci-fi war and an enormous film. To get it made at all, the only way to make it for a price is to be on a soundstage. But the game also has that look, which is really interesting, so I think it will dovetail really nicely."
Beattie said he's working closely with Epic Games and Cliffy B, the lead designer of the game. He will be visiting the studio multiple times as he writes the script, asking for feedback from everyone who works in the building.
"I hope it's extremely collaborative," said Beattie. "From my point of view it's definitely going to be, because I'm going to be riding their asses about it. I mean, they have lived with this game more than I have and they definitely know these characters, this world and all that kind of stuff. I think the things that they need to develop their games are the same things that I need to write my script. That's just a treasure trove waiting to be mined as far as I'm concerned."
Beattie has actually had experience working in the videogame business. Sony hired him to write the story for its new Getaway game after they watched his movie, Collateral, starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx.
"The Getaway was a great experience," said Beattie. "There was a great bunch of people over there in Soho and a wonderfully creative environment. I just went over there and they gave me basically the genre, the underworld crime thing and they said we want to go to these different cities and so we just started coming up with this stuff and we came up with a really cool story. We created a really great bunch of characters doing a lot of crazy, great, fun things. Since then I've been managing a writer now to write the script and all that kind of stuff, so it's been a lot of fun."
Beattie is best known as the writer of the original Pirates film. With his knowledge of games, one area he wishes Disney had tapped him to work on was the original Pirates of the Caribbean game. "I wish they had called because I could've helped them on that," said Beattie, who is a gamer. "That was a crappy game. I could've made a really cool game with Pirates.
They just don't know the potential of that game. They could've made as much money on that game as they did in the movie. A film that successful they could've easily done $300 million in videogame sales if they had made a good game."
Like many influencers in Hollywood, Beattie plays games. In fact, he was playing Gears of War when he got the offer to write the film adaptation. He's a big fan of shooters like Medal of Honor and Call of Duty.
"Films are definitely influencing videogames," said Beattie. "There's that scene in Call of Duty when you lying on the beaches of Normandy and it's straight out Saving Private Ryan. You really feel like you're there as much as you'd want to feel like you're there. I remember being terrified by that in the game. It captured the craziness of that experience and you could clearly see it was inspired by Saving Private Ryan."
Beattie loves the WWII games. He finds it interesting that these games, like Brothers In Arms, really take the war seriously.
"They make the player aware that men died and there are documentaries on some of these games that really kind of immerse you in that world," said Beattie. "That's a great way to see where videogames are going, especially one's based on real events like that. I love what they're doing."
