Robert Rodat To Write Sam Raimi's 'Warcraft'
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Warner Brothers, Scripts, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Games and Game Movies, War
The news that Sam Raimi would be helming the game movie of all game movies, Warcraft was met with both squeals of joy, and stunned silence by the movie blogosphere. But now that it's had a little time to sink in, people seem to be really looking forward to it. Some might even wish he'd do a last minute duck out of Spider-Man 4. But at least the wait is broken up by a bit of news, and that's Raimi announcing his screenwriter. MTV and Variety both report that Robert Rodat is set to pen Warcraft for Raimi and Warner Bros."We want to be really faithful to the game," Raimi told MTV. "We would have our writer, Robert Rodat, really craft an original story within that world that feels like a World of WarCraft adventure. Only obviously it's very different 'cause it's expanded and translated into the world of a motion picture. [We hope to capture] the Horde and the Alliance and the mythology that takes place in the game, and the archetypes that the game presents. I think we would try and find touchstones within the game to make it accurate and true and choose one or some of the lands that are portrayed in the game with as much accuracy and authenticity as possible."
Rodat might strike some as an odd choice as he's best known for the screenplay to the relentless Saving Private Ryan and the fanciful The Patriot. But both scripts prove he knows his way around a sweeping action scene, and revels in heroes with puffy shirts and villains with cold sneers. So this could turn out quite well indeed.
Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
Shelf Life: Fight Club_thumbnail.jpg)
Watch: Famous 'Matrix' Scene Re-Created with LEGOs
Peter Jackson Says Spielberg's 'Tintin' is Done Filming, but...
Interracial Harmony: 'Ninja Assassin' vs. 'Blind Side'
_thumbnail.jpg)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-14-2009 @ 3:56PM
Tucker said...
I've never played World of Warcraft, but I've been a Blizzard fan for a long time. Blizzard has spent a lot of time over the past 15 years creating the Warcraft universe... does anyone remember the lengthy narratives that came in the manuals for the original two Warcraft games? I thought even back then they had a lot of great material for film.
My point is, it looks like Hollywood is being very, very typical here in talking about being faithful to the 'video game'. Who gives a rat's ass about the video game itself? I find MMOs to be extremely, extremely boring, so being faithful to that would result in a boring film - unless it was about the nerds behind the PCs, but that's already been done well in Felicia Day's The Guild.
Why can't they be faithful to the narrative that Blizzard has paid a number of decent writers to craft over a decade and a half?
Hollywood makes it way too easy to be skeptical when on one hand they churn out abysmal crap, and on the other hand turn around and happily reiterate that they can't wait to repeat all the same mistakes.
Reply
10-14-2009 @ 4:57PM
madgamer said...
I have a hard time seeing what this would work like or even look like. Is it going to be live action? I mean, a movie that was entirely CG like Blizzard's intro cinematics for WoW would be simply amazing. I'm having flashbacks to the horrible D&D movie as i type this..
Reply
10-15-2009 @ 6:28PM
Jonathan said...
Rodat is a right wing nutcase.
Reply