Die Hard director to do Gears film

By Robert Purchese Published 17 June, 2008

Rein confident in his abilities.

Die Hard 4.0 director Len Wiseman is going to be at the helm of the upcoming Gears of War film.

That's according to Variety, which reports that studio New Line has been in talks with Wiseman for several months.

We're also told that The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift writer Chris Morgan has been added to the roster to help redraft the script Stuart Beattie (of Collateral and Pirates of the Caribbean fame) originally produced.

The report also confirmed that the project had been pushed back and is now expected to hit cinemas in summer 2010.

Epic boss Mark Rein doesn't seem too bothered, though, as long as the right talent is on board.

"It's like with our games, you can have it right or have it right now," Rein told Variety.

"We want to get it right. There's no timetable for us. We just want to make as good a movie as we can, and we think [Wiseman's] the guy who will do it."

We caught up with Mark Rein earlier this year to talk about the film, among other things, and he told us he wouldn't blame people for being extra sceptical about it.

But he was impressed with the early Beattie script - we hope he likes this new draft - and with Cliff Bleszinski on board to ensure nothing is lost in translation, he feels his goal of not harming the franchise will be successful.

"We came very close to saying 'not this time', but the studio gave us some really good assurances in the contractual stage that they've got some really good people together with this," Rein told Eurogamer.

"I mean, this is the studio behind Lord of the Rings - they're not afraid to spend a lot of money, and to do something good and artistic, so we just felt we stacked the deck with the people we're working with and, if there's a chance for this to be a good movie, we're dealing with the guys who can do it."

Meanwhile, Epic will be concentrating all of its efforts on Gears of War 2, which is scheduled to arrive this November.

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 (24) Latest comment 4 years ago

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

  • groovychainsaw #1 4 years ago

    A hack director and hack screenwriters. Sounds like they're spending a fortune, doesn't it? Maybe they should do the FX with plasticine, really blow the budget ;-)

  • DarkColouredCoffee #2 4 years ago

    Great!! Two hours of explosions and the "Cole Train"............wait? Is that a good thing?

    Edited by 1 at 17/06/08 @ 15:55

  • nickthegun #3 4 years ago

    Gah. Misleading headline of the year....

  • Freek #4 4 years ago

    So you have a writer with some good scripts on his name but then you get a writer who's done some shit movie to rewrite it and on top of that have it directed by somebody who's only made decidedly average films.

    Wow, what a recipe for success!
    Edited by 1 at 17/06/08 @ 16:01

  • kangarootoo #5 4 years ago

    "Die Hard 4.0 director Len Wiseman"
    "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift writer Chris Morgan"

    To be honest, I think they probably have the perfect pair. That isn't some sarcy critisism btw. If you are going to turn something like GEoW into a film, those are the sorts of guys you need to do the job right. Yes it will be all explosions and grunting, but that is essentially what the game is so it will probably fit the bill.

    "directed by somebody who's only made decidedly average films."

    DH4 wasn't decidedly average. The script was a but bonkers (and by bonkers, I mean bloody awful a lot of the time) but the action sequences were very well done imo. A film version of GEoW is not going to lice or die by its script. Its the stuff blowing up that will make this film or break it.


  • The_Pope #6 4 years ago

    Shame Die Hard 4 was shit

  • bad09 #7 4 years ago

    could be interesting the underworld movies were good, but yeah Die Hard 4.0 was useless!

  • groovychainsaw #8 4 years ago

    The action sequences in die hard 4 were terrible - whoever came up with the the jet vs tanker scene should be banned from writing films for the rest of their natural life. It was the most implausible, cheaply done and shoddily directed thing I've seen in many summer's worth of blockbusters.

  • Darren #9 4 years ago

    I thought it was cool myself but then I watched movies to be entertained so it doesn't matter how outrageous or unrealistic a setpiece might be. There were some pretty OTT setpieces in the previous movies that were pretty unbelievable so it's not like this one was any different in that respect.

  • groovychainsaw #10 4 years ago

    To be fair, I didn't think the setting or characterisation in gears of war was very good either, so it's probably a perfect match for the film between screenwriter, director and source material. I'm just fed up with hollywood making these decisions where they can predict the outcome - it's not going to be a good film, they're just hoping to fleece an existing consumer base.
    /Embittered mode off

  • coojam #11 4 years ago

    They ruined the Die Hard series with 4.0 and calling things number.number stopped being cool 15 years ago.

  • Buztafen #12 4 years ago

    Christ, theres alot of whinging bitches with their panties all up in a bunch online today!

    Its a film FFS, if you dont wanna pay to see it, download it, buy a crate of wife beater and watch it with a few of mates. Instantly makes any film a classic...

    /happy i got the chance to use the word 'panties' in a comment.

  • captainrentboy #13 4 years ago

    Ideal director for the job methinks.
    Yes Die Hard 4's action scenes were OTT, but I thought they were very well shot, and they didn't suffer from today's director's usual thing of a quick cut every 0.5 seconds. See Transformers action scenes for an example(Or any Michael Bay flick come to think of it), most of the time you couldn't even see what the hell was going on, especially in the Optimus and Bonecrusher fight.
    Yeah Wiseman should do alright, I didn't mind the Underworld flicks either.

  • mossychops001 #14 4 years ago

    Why don't they get Roger Christian to the Gears of War film , he done a great job with Battlefiled Earth.
    Edited by 1 at 17/06/08 @ 17:28

  • Mudo #15 4 years ago

    I can't believe they're making a film of this game. It has such a weak story and 'universe'...

    Woe is me

  • mcwildcard #16 4 years ago

    Just because a game sells well, doesn't mean it's going to make a decent film.
    I wish film companies would get their head around this.

  • Monkey #17 4 years ago

    So long as the film isn't homoerotic I'll be happy!
    And it would be a winner if Mrs Wiseman were to be in it too.

    :)

  • Mashum #18 4 years ago

    They should get the guy who did Brokeback Mountain to do the GoW film. He can really explore the subtext although I expect they'll have to cut the Cole Train bit out if they are hoping for a PG.

  • space_ace #19 4 years ago

    wow for a second i thought it's John McTiernan (Die Hard, Predator) and got excited...
    Wiseman can't direct though -> it'll be crap ;-)

  • tjlazr #20 4 years ago

    McTiernan would have been a real coup but he appears to be tied up doing the excellent sounding "Camel Wars". I can't see how the guys making Gears of War can hope to match the ridiculously massive cast of Predator though. Clearly they will need to bring the Rock onboard ASAP.

  • coojam #21 4 years ago

    I was in Barcelona when Die Hard 4.0 came out. It was called La Jungla 4.0 over there (or something like that).

  • espibara #22 4 years ago

    Len Wiseman is a solid director.

    Lets face it its the script/screenplay that will make or break this film. Given that Wiseman can handle action scenes and set up effects shots hes a good choice. Lets just hope they get teh casting right I for one cant think of a single actor that could play marcus fenix.

    Maybe bruce willis hes bald, big and probably teh right age to play teh grizzled vet.

  • L42yB #23 4 years ago

    Am I the only one here who thought Die Hard 4 was cool? It was fast paced and full of action, bunch of cheesy one liners - it was like I'd gone back in time to the late 80's, but with modern FX :) It was great!

    I think Les is a good chioce for director (I mean, this is GoW...). I am a bit suspect about the script writer tho... time will tell, I guess
    Edited by 1 at 18/06/08 @ 10:41

  • Salt_The_Fries #24 4 years ago

    With that guys at the helm, there is 100% chance of the film being teeny-bubblegum-disposable crap.