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Rumor: Gears of War film troubled, scaled back
If you've been impatiently waiting for the complex narrative and endearing characters of Gears of War to be captured in a Hollywood blockbuster, a report by the LA Times is set to disappoint you. Citing "sources" familiar with the matter, it claims director Len Wiseman (Live Free or Die Hard and the Underworld movies) may be abandoning the director's chair in favor of thriller "Nocturne." The production studio is also allegedly looking to make significant cuts to the project. What was planned to be an epic, $100 million endeavor is now said to be shrinking, calling for a rewrite of Chris Morgan's initial work on a Stuart Beattie script. Wiseman hasn't officially bailed yet, though the LA Times posits that it's likely to happen in the future. On the plus side, if Wiseman ditches the project, that could put The Rock back in the running to play Marcus Fenix. Surely we've all forgotten about Doom by now ...
Gears of War director passing on The Rock due to 'Doom connection'
As you may have heard, yesterday's Gearsiverse panel at San Diego Comic Con was light on news regarding the film adaptation of Epic's Gears of War franchise, save for one small detail -- it wouldn't feature Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in any capacity. Director Len Wiseman forthrightly explained why, and in the process, likely hurt the wrestler-turned-actor's (so, basically actor-turned-actor's) feelings -- he told the crowd that "a Doom connection would not be smart for us."We highly doubt that most people immediately associate Mr. Johnson's body of work with that first-person romp/cinematic nightmare -- regardless, Wiseman said he's "looking for an actor for the role and then [I'll] put him into shape." Why waste all that time and effort? Dwayne Johnson is already the only human being on Earth that actually looks like one of the space marines featured in Epic's blockbuster franchise. Scar his face up a bit and you're good to go, man.
Die Hard 4.0 director wants a Gears film trilogy, 'a harder edged Lord of the Rings'
Live Free or Die Hard and Underworld director, Len Wiseman, told Bloody-Disgusting.com that he'd like to turn the Gears of War franchise into a film trilogy to flesh out the world and cover all the bases of its story. "Basically a harder edged Lord Of The Rings," he told the horror focused website.Wiseman said he hopes to focus the film on science fiction elements and not on the creatures themselves, opting to take the sci-fi action route rather than the horror film route with the series. While not much of a gamer himself, Wiseman said Gears of War first caught his eye when filming the fourth Die Hard film, where a video game was required to play in the background of a key scene. Wiseman said after looking at dozens of games he stopped on Gears of War, which appears in the film on more than one occasion. "I just really connected with it; the design of it the world, the whole thing. So I actually bought an Xbox 360 to start researching what it was," Wiseman said.The Gears of War movie is still in the early stages of development. Len Wiseman is set to direct and is currently co-writing the script with Chris Morgan (Wanted.)[via Joystiq]
Wiseman: Gears of War movie like harder-edged Lord of the Rings
In all fairness to director Len Wiseman, that comparison, gathered recently by Bloody-Disgusting, is in reference to his desire to make a trilogy of Gears of War films. It's in much the same way that one might refer to a box of Cheez-Its as "like a cheesier, more cracker-like Beatles box set" because they both happen to come in a box.In other news that has us overflowing with confidence, Wiseman told B-D, "I suck at video games, it just takes me too long and I can't get the coordination of 'em. When I was on [Live Free Or] Die Hard, I had to choose some video game for the background in a scene with Kevin Smith. I was shown about a dozen games and told to 'Choose one to be in the background' and I said 'this one looks really, really cool whatever it is,' and it was Gears Of War."Is that what passes for a "meet-cute" these days? [Via Videogamer.com]
