Bleszinski explains Gears movie hold-up

By Robert Purchese Published 27 July, 2010

It had no love story.

Cliff Bleszinksi has explained that the Gears of War screenplay needed rethinking because it was too expensive, rated R and "contained no love story".

The revised screenplay will aim for something "more like District 9" and less like 2012, Bleszinksi told Cinema Blend at Comic-Con.

Hollywood director Len Wiseman (Die Hard 4.0) bailed from the Gears of War movie in April, leaving a screenplay that would have cost $100 million to realise in his wake.

The project is still looking for a new director and writer.

Meanwhile, in videogame land, Epic Games is busy creating Gears of War 3 for an 8th April 2011 release.

Cliff Bleszinski spoke to Eurogamer recently.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (53) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • vegard #1 2 years ago

    marcus and dom get it on? sweet!

  • Spanky #2 2 years ago

    It does have a love story though, that dude is trying to save his wife innit even though we all know he's wicked gay for marcus.

  • Scimarad #3 2 years ago

    @ Spanky

    That's even better! That's TWO love stories for the price of one and with all the interesting conflicts that creates:)

    Stupid Hollywood!

  • Santino #4 2 years ago

    I still think making a movie of these (or almost any) games and their B-movie storylines is a ridiculous idea. It is no wonder they don't want the film to have a large budget as the only audience that will watch it will be the relatively small gears fanbase.

  • Lebowski #5 2 years ago

    LEAKED DIALOGUE:

    MARCUS: "We fought a lotta god damn, no good aliens today, but y'know what's most alien to me right now? ... My feelings for you, Token Bird."

    TOKEN BIRD: "That's one alien you can't kill with guns, Marcus."

    MARCUS: "... Grenades?"

    TOKEN BIRD: "No, with this..."

    TOKEN BIRD LEANS OVER AND KISSES MARCUS ON THE LIPS. THE AUDIENCE PROJECTILE VOMITS OR .

  • Old_Books #6 2 years ago

    Thoroughly enjoy the Gears of War series; making it into a movie is completely stupid. It contains the absolute worst in macho bullshit stereotypes I have ever seen in a game. But it just about gets away with it because it is a game. Put them in a movie and it's going to suck like one of Arnie's shitty 80's films like Raw Deal.
    Edited by 1 at 27/07/10 @ 10:08

  • RedPanda #7 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 14:31:59 28-01-2012

  • Hypercube #8 2 years ago

    Gears of Brokeback War?

    "Oh Marcus, I wish I knew how to quit you!"

  • LHH #9 2 years ago

    No love story eh?

    Oh well, guess that's one less ticket sale

  • 3william56 #10 2 years ago

    "the Gears of War screenplay needed rethinking because it was sh*t"

    Fixed.

  • JahB #11 2 years ago

    because it was rated R?

    uhm, excuse me, but it seems somewhat impossible to make a T rated gears movie. it's been a while since i played gears, but i'm pretty sure i remember chainsaw guns and copious amounts of blood.

  • The-Bodybuilder #12 2 years ago

    put them in a movie and it's going to suck like one of Arnie's shitty 80's films like Raw Deal.

    Yeah....those crappy macho 80s arnie movies that suck. Like....predator?

    O_o

  • iHAZaCHEEZ3burger #13 2 years ago

    Please don't make it a 12, it shouldn't be anything less than a 15. How else will you be able to see people getting chainsawed.

  • Old_Books #14 2 years ago

    @ The Bodybuilder
    Funny you mention Predator as I always thought thats were Epic got the idea for the bad guy in Gears 2. Cool film, as was The Running Man but Raw Deal sucked balls IMO. As will a Gears movies if they make it.
    Edited by 1 at 27/07/10 @ 10:38

  • GAmbrose #15 2 years ago

    Yeah it definately needs a love story, like all these other huge money spinning movies, many involving Aliens and/or War:

    Aliens
    Terminator 2
    First Blood (Rambo)
    Predator
    Platoon
    Saving Private Ryan
    The Thing

    Feel free to add any others you think of...

  • KDR_11k #16 2 years ago

    I cannot say anything, I can only laugh.

  • geeza2020 #17 2 years ago

    The hold up is nobody in hollywood wants to put their hands on this shit, because as we all know, all movies about games are shallow with no story, no likeable characters, and far too much violence for anyone to take them seriously.

    And the question i have is, who actually wants a Gears movie? The plot in the games is passable as the game itself carries it, but could you really stomach watching Dom/Marcus et al doing their macho, homoerotic bullshit for a whole 90 mins? I think i would rather gouge my own eyes out.

  • JahB #18 2 years ago

    @geeza2020

    while you're totally correct, i tell you this - i'd rather watch 90 minutes of macho bullshit with too much violence than having to see one more of this freaking twilight films.

  • oupe #19 2 years ago

    Yeah....those crappy macho 80s arnie movies that suck. Like....predator?

    Awww man, the first predator was the shit!

    /painless ftw.

  • MiniAmin #20 2 years ago

    I found an early promotional shot which features Marcus and Dom:

    http://ww w.jaunted.com/files/admin/gay_b... (It's work safe)

  • xTakk #21 2 years ago

    he knows what makes a good game and knows what he's talking about.

  • bodypopper #22 2 years ago

    @Gambrose
    You may have missed these amid all the shooting and stuff but...

    Aliens had Ripley and Hicks
    Terminator had Sarah and Reese
    The Thing had MacReady's love for a good bottle of whiskey

    Blongkamp is the only man for this job and he got burned with Halo. I say leave it.
    Edited by 2 at 27/07/10 @ 10:54

  • The-Bodybuilder #23 2 years ago

    @ Old Books

    The whole game machoness is stolen from Predator. I'm surprised Bird didn't make a comment about being a sexual tyrannosaurus.

  • neems #24 2 years ago

    I'm curious as to how they would make GoW 'more like District 9' - any writer / director who could pull that off would definitely earn his money. I suppose they could have a word with Neill Blomkamp, as he was due to make the HALO movie before everybody realised it was a non-starter.

    Looks like I got ninja-ed while I was answering the door.
    Edited by 1 at 27/07/10 @ 11:04

  • darkmorgado #25 2 years ago

    Either this is a slow news day or all the EG staff are off playing Starcraft 2.

  • adofessex #26 2 years ago

    @GAmbrose, all of those films have love in them, maybe not in the way of sex scenes and kissing. You cant tell me that all those guys in Predator hated each other. They loved each other, not in a homosexual way, but in a way that they would sacrifice each other for one another. Same with the others. Maybe that is what he really means.

  • towser #27 2 years ago

    Hang on, "Rated R"?

    Er didn't the game contain loads of ultra violence (curb stomping, gibing etc) or am I missing something here...

    If they're going for a (american rating) PG-13 that would completely lose what the game is about surely...?

  • Shikasama #28 2 years ago

    Good, one less medium I have to see Cliffy shouting 'LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! IM A GENIUS! IF YOU DONT LIKE IT YOUR AN IDIOT! LOOK AT ME!' in.

  • geeza2020 #29 2 years ago

    Gears of War: The Movie

    Rated R for Retarded.

  • gorf #30 2 years ago

    mmm this sounds like a 'bland it down' approach to get a bigger audience, a bit like the compromises they made with the recent predators movie so it could be viewed by a younger audience. hope bleszinski or the producers dont screw this one up.

  • TeaFiend #31 2 years ago

    I hope there is a Gears of War: The game of : The Movie of : The game.

  • GAmbrose #32 2 years ago

    bodypoper - I'll maybe give you Aliens, but it's all flirty...they don't kiss or anything. It was the same with Alien, no direct love interest but in the Directors Edition there is the inference of a relationship between Dallas and Ripley.

    I said Terminator 2 - Kyle Reese wasn't in that at all (until the Directors cut on Video/DVD - And that was a dream sequence)

    adofessex - No they meant a love story between a man and a woman. Feel free to point out the love interest in The Thing and First Blood....

  • StooMonster #33 2 years ago

    PG-13 because then they can sell toys and lunchboxes too.

  • space_ace #34 2 years ago

    wait, they got rid of Len Wiseman? first good decision...

  • Doctor_What #35 2 years ago

    @ Shikasama : He wouldn't be the first lead designer to do that, and sadly I doubt he will be the last.

  • jefranklin18 #36 2 years ago

    Example why Hollywood and videogames don't mix#33924

    Odd though as he has previously been a producer on some video games (according to IMDB, anyway), so you would have thought he would have had some clue about gamers are interested in.

  • metalangel #37 2 years ago

    First of all, it has a love story! Dom has his wife, remember. And Marcus and Anya can't pursue their relationship because officer (her) shagging enlisted (him) equals court martial.

    Secondly, why are they gay? Because men who hang around to together are gay? Because they're close friends? Because they're muscular? Because they're soldiers? Does that mean all the soldiers in Afghanistan who are physically fit and close to their squadmates are too? Why not go tell some the next time there's a parade, they'll probably have enough energy left after kicking in some protesting islamic radicals to kick you in too.

  • gringohairpiece #38 2 years ago

    @geeza2020

    rofl

    or maybe Rated R for Redundant

  • freedumb #39 2 years ago

    Cliff Bleszinksi has explained that the Gears of War screenplay needed rethinking because it was too expensive, rated R and "contained no story".

    Fixed.

  • paketep #40 2 years ago

    What about the love story between CliffyB and muscular men?

  • gringohairpiece #41 2 years ago

    I wonder how they will simulate the sticky cover mechanic from the first version? Will they be randomly sucked against objects against their will? ;o)

  • Acrid #42 2 years ago

    They should get the guys in who did 'Transmorphers: Fall of Man', they can make a movie out of some plastics cups and an old umbrella

  • Nithron #43 2 years ago

    I really hate hollywood.

  • Nephirion #44 2 years ago

    Why would a film about killing locust using guns, bombs, chainsaw bayonets, stomping on locust heads, dismemberment need a love story? Oh wait the female demographic ...

  • davisorle #45 2 years ago

    In all honesty I dont need a lovestory in every movie and specially in this kind of movies. Yeah there is the bit of him saving his wife. They can add some extra bits talking about it and would do the trick. Enough to be on the damn movie.

  • PlugMonkey #46 2 years ago

    I don't think Ripley and Hicks was really a love story. They didn't have something lacking in their lives, fall in love, get torn apart, overcome an obstacle, and become more complete human beings as a result. I would say Ripley and Newt had more of the components to qualify as a 'love story' arc.

    GAmbrose is completely right though. You could name dozens and dozens of action films that have no love story sub plot, and shoe-horning one in here isn't going to help anything.

    Die Hard? Dirty Harry (except maybe the one where he's knobbing his neighbour...)? Did Snake Plissken need a love interest? No, he seemed to cope without one.

  • hahayou #47 2 years ago

    Yeah - a strong theme in Aliens was maternal love: Ripley/Newt and the Queen/Aliens.

  • Ashcroft #48 2 years ago

    2 hours of Marcus and Dom tossing frags into each other's Emergence Holes sounds like love to me.

  • BBIAJ #49 2 years ago

    Rated R for Retarded

    Rockstar called, they want their nine year old joke from GTa III back...
    Edited by 1 at 28/07/10 @ 01:06

  • sjmlondon #50 2 years ago

    If it ever gets released as a Hollywood film the porn industry in their usual fashion (so I've heard) will probably do a spoof along the lines of Gays of War, Giving head in War, Gays of Warsaw, Marcus wears nice gear in War, Dom does Dallas and so on.

  • Martin #51 2 years ago

    I think you are all approaching this the wrong way (seriously).

    A movie based on any of the games (haven't ofc seen GoW 3 yet but still know this) will be stupid and pointless. Just like a movie based on the game AvP would be pointless.

    What you do is you take the universe and the characters and make a movie with that and them.

    The characters are pretty bland and stereotypical in the game but in a movie a good writer would be able to make them interesting. Just because your setting/world includes a gigantic war against bugs with big guns doesn't mean that it can't tell a very interesting story.

    The big risk here though is that Epic doesn't dare wander too far away from the actual GoW games (just like the Doom movie was the game turned into a film).

    Make it a prequel telling us how Dom and Marcus got to know each other (and not just 90 minutes of fighting another sort of bugs in another war, 10 years ago). It would give a good writer and a good director every chance to tell us a very interesting story and in the same time flesh out the characters.

    And as you all know, just because you're telling a story doesn't mean you can't get violent and shoot things in the face. Plenty of room for action as well.

    Or throw away Marcus, Dom and the gang completely. Make them into secondary characters and focus on how a young recruit is forced to take up arms because that's what expected of him/her. She then learns how awful a war can be and despite all her resistance and willpower soon is broken down and succumbs to the fact that there is no other way than the way of the gun.

    Hell, you could even tell it from the viewpoint of the locust (the risk is that it becomes too much of District 9 though) but I fear that the love between a human and a locust does not a good movie make. ;)

    What I'm trying to say is that as long as you care for the "world" the movie is set in you should be able to sculpt a good story. I know not all are fans of the 3rd Terminator movie but at least it stayed true to the previous movies.

    Take a look at what happened with number 4 where they completely disregarded the established Terminator universe and rewrote quite a lot; crapola.

    So, Cliff, if you're reading this: Don't focus on the amount of God rays or what Michael Bay would do. Instead hire a good writer and pen a gripping story first. Then mold your GoW universe around this story. It's not as if you have a lot of canon to take into consideration. ;)

  • BuddyChrist #52 2 years ago

    You guys think the game itself won't make a good film?- imagine the abomination when the director adds a little creative license.
    Maybe they start as office workers, or as archaeologists who inadvertantly strike locust, and "learn to use weapons right away". Or maybe.....
    Marcus was court-marshalled for a crime he didn't commit and imprissoned in a military stockade. He promtly escaped with Dom who then became soliders of fortune. If you can find them, maybe you can hire.... The G team

  • man.the.king #53 2 years ago

    @Simonsays

    "if i wanted a love story with tits and guns i would just watch GAMER"

    GAMER had tits?

    Then again, if I just wanted to watch tits, I could download porn instead :)