Gears film "looking incredibly good"

By Robert Purchese Published 6 May, 2009

Writer says budget "has to be huge".

Gears of War screenwriter Chris Morgan reckons the big-screen adaptation is "looking incredibly good".

"A draft went in and we're talking about it now and we're budgeting it out. It's looking incredibly good," he told MTV Movies.

"I think the gamer side is going to be thrilled with it. All the stuff you want to see, we put that in there and then we blow it out a little more, even.

"It's huge," he added. "One of the things they're really talking about now is the budget of the film and how big of a spectacle this is going to be. My argument is, look at the underlying material. Look at the game and the scenario, the fact that the world is being taken over by the Locust - it has to be huge."

Chris Morgan, who wrote the Wanted screenplay, joins Die Hard 4.0 director Len Wiseman on the Gears of War project. Epic Games' Cliff Bleszinski, lead designer of Gears of War, will be a creative go-between to ensure the film remains faithful to the games.

Gears of War will be in cinemas next year. No actors have been named. Mickey Rourke! Mickey Rourke!

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 (40) Latest comment 3 years ago

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  • General_Zod #1 3 years ago

    Lets hope the film isnt as homoerotic as the games, unless your into that kind of thing.

  • gourry #2 3 years ago

    Would like to see this made into a film - big fan of the game and it should work unlike a lot of video game adaptions (slient hill was a reasonable attempt) providing they are not stupid.
    Edited by 1 at 06/05/09 @ 09:56

  • The-Bodybuilder #3 3 years ago

    I have little faith in this.
    /flashback of street fighter: the movie.

  • Ninja_Tino #4 3 years ago

    I like Wanted's script. I loved the look/action scenes of Die Hard 4.0 (even the plane surfing) and Cliffy B is very...creative. Could this work? Only with Mickey, as stated. Mickey playing Randy 'The Ram' Robinson.

  • muscleblade #5 3 years ago

    I really hope they use new characters and dont base the movie on the characters from the games. Its hard to find actors that look like those from the games. Michael Clarke Duncan could be good as Cole but for the others i dont know anyone that are looking close enough.

  • neilka #6 3 years ago

    Rourke would make a good locust, they'd save a lot on effects.

  • 3william56 #7 3 years ago

    Hmmm... videogame movie with hack action director dies because of ridiculous budget (Bioshock).
    Gears movie to be directed by hack action director needs huge budget.

    Anyone want to guess the next headline in the sequence? Clue: the word "cancelled" will appear prominently.

  • Starkillah_79 #8 3 years ago

    Lol nice -Rourke As General Raam?

    Cole has to be the Mighty Rasta , who should play Marcus? I'd say please don't bring in a bunch of (ex) wrestlers...

  • homerramone #9 3 years ago

    Course the budget has to be huge. The plot will be shit. Hence a big budget is required to try and paper over the cracks with FX.

    Tis a common hollywood thing is it not ?

  • Dark_Stranger #10 3 years ago

    although most are old now, in their prime you would want something like the cast of Predator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill Duke, Jesse Ventura, Sonny Landham, etc stero typical meat heads!

  • Darren #11 3 years ago

    The game's didn't have the deepest of plots or the most interesting of characters, they were just an excuse for non-stop action and it worked like that as interactive entertainment. Whether that will translate into a good movie remains to be seen but given that 99.99% of game-to-movie adapations aren't very good, I'm not holding my breath that this one will be either. Still you have to hope that it will be, right? I mean someone, one day, is going to make the perfect game-to-movie adaption that others will aspire to and it could be this one?

    The only game-to-movie adaption I've ever enjoyed was Silent Hill because it captured the creepy, eerie feel of the games perfectly but even that got a bit silly toward the end. Still it stands out by virtue of the fact that every other game-to-movie adapation I've seen has sucked. Bad. Doom, Wing Commander, Max Payne, Hitman, Tomb Raider, Super Mario Bros., Resident Evil, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Dead Or Alive... none of those were any good really (although some were at least OK, e.g. Tomb Raider and Resident Evil) because the producers/writers failed to translate what made the games good into a watchable movie. It's the old conundrum though of games not being very deep plot or character wise and so when stripped of the fun part, the interaction, it's difficult to make a good movie from that without turning it into something that is nothing like the games in the first place.

  • asphaltcowboy #12 3 years ago

    Surely it's got to be Dominic Purcell for Fenix?

  • The-Bodybuilder #13 3 years ago

    Hulk Hogan for Fenix....
    He's got the bandana for it.

  • captainrentboy #14 3 years ago

    Asphaltcowboy, he had my vote too. But after recently watching both seasons of Rome back to back, and the incredibly stupid but strangely entertaining Punisher:Warzone, my vote for Marcus is swaying in favour of Ray Stevenson :)

  • speedjack #15 3 years ago

    In cinemas NEXT YEAR ?!

    Aren't they cutting it a bit fine if they haven't even finalised a budget ?

  • BobsUncle #16 3 years ago

    @General_Zod

    I still don't get the homoerotic complaints about this game, I never saw it myself, perhaps you have to be a bit bent yourself to see it?

    I don't see how a game where you chainsaw people into little bits which splatter the screen is gay, but premiership football with all the kissing and hugging is macho.

    Perhaps it's just another case of "I want to bash a big popular title because I think it make me different and cool".

  • Darren #17 3 years ago

    Gears of War and its sequel are supremely homoerotic and no doubt very appealing to gay men for their sheer unabashed macho-ness, huge, huge muscles, big guns (ahem) and the fact that these guys likely live as well as fight together. You can tell they're close... very, very, very close. And, yes, I'm gay myself so I'm speaking as someone who knows. :p

    Seriously though, BobsUncle, the franchise's homoerotic undertones have been mentioned on numerous sites, it's nothing new. EG even jokingly mention it from time to time.

  • schnide #18 3 years ago

    Mickey Rourke is FAR too good for a Gears of War movie!

  • muscleblade #19 3 years ago

    "Surely it's got to be Dominic Purcell for Fenix? "

    He well be needing massive amounts of steroids, IGF and HGH too even come close too Fenixs physic.
    There goes the budget.

  • Lukus #20 3 years ago

    I hope by "next year" they mean Christmas next year, otherwise it would seem a little rushed to me.

  • El-Dev #21 3 years ago

    I hope they get John Cena to play the lead role. He was awesome in The Marine...

  • skillian #22 3 years ago

    BobsUncle, CountFapula - do you see the homeroticism in 300? If not, perhaps you're just not very good at picking up on it.

    edit: and regarding this movie, what I think people are forgetting is that the makers of this movie (and the other 'failed' game-movie adaptations listed above) don't really care about it being 'good', they just want it to be profitable. If they wanted to make a good movie they wouldn't base it on a game in the first place. Games are chosen because they have an established fanbase and therefore a decent chance of making money.
    Edited by 1 at 06/05/09 @ 11:39

  • paulf #23 3 years ago

    can anyone name me one half decent videogame to film adaptation?

  • General_Zod #24 3 years ago

    @BobsUncle, CountFapula

    I am sorry I upset you about your Gears Of War game on a point that has been mentioned numerous times. I think there is a series of webcomics lying around somewhere with Marcus's alternative "adventures" with the other members of the team. Anyways like I said feel free to enjoy it if thats your thing, I bet you guys watched 300 and absolutely loved it.

  • zuljin #25 3 years ago

    @BobsUncle + CountFapula
    Little references throughout the games such as:
    - "Dom-curious"
    - "I Can't Quit You Dom"
    etc, etc

    "I still don't get the homoerotic complaints about this game" - I'm not complaining, I think its funny. But it does make me look at any storyline as slightly less serious. Which again isn't a complaint, I just categorise it as a slightly different game in my mind.

  • Darren #26 3 years ago

    @CountFapula - You don't get it do you... it's not that fact that two close male friends *are* gay, it's the implication that they *might* be given that, say, people in the military might spend a lot of time together, sleep together, depend on each other for their very lives, etc. It's this very close male bonding thing which is as far as straight male-to-male relationship can go without actually having sex which makes it homoerotic, it's something you don't really get in most other occupations except sports and the armed services.

  • Notez #27 3 years ago

    So over the top macho == homoerotic? I suppose then if you like looking at men. Now Army of Two was awkward at points and I can see someone saying that about it, but Gears? Some weird associations people have.

  • Wastelander #28 3 years ago

    Heh, talking about bringing in wrestlers for it, anyone see the ads for TNA's sacrifice :)

  • Bagpuss #29 3 years ago

    This has EPIC fail written all over it.....lol, get it?...EPIC fail....never mind.

  • Darren #30 3 years ago

    @Notez - Is it some kind of straight male pride thing that they can't bear to consider that a game they love playing could be deemed homoerotic? Does it somehow threaten their masculinity or something? Do they think it makes them appear gay if they acknowledge it? Is this why there's as much apathy toward wrestling games or any game that features half-naked muscular men as there is like for them? I mean anyone who admits to liking those games has to be gay, right? ;)

    If Gears of War had featured female soldiers with huge breasts fighting alongside each other while being obviously good friends, I've absolutely no doubt that a lot of heterosexual male posters on here would be excitedly discussing the lesbian possibilities and not being in the slightest bit offended by it!

    Seems like a case of double-standards to me... or insecure sexuality, one of the two... :?

  • BobsUncle #31 3 years ago

    Skillian, zuljin, Darren

    I loved 300! All that killing and stabbing and blood and guts, awesome. I even have it on HD-DVD (RIP). Yes I see all the oiled up men with bulging muscles and six-packs, but I don't immediately associate that with gaydom.

    You don't see people calling FHM or Maxim homo-erotic for women, so I don't see why people apply the label to anything with muscley blokes in it. Yes, perhaps marmite miners like watching it for other reasons to me, but maybe they also like watching Fight Club for Brad Pitt? Who knows (Well, you might Darren ;-) ) No-one calls that film homo-erotic though.

    Anyway, Darren proved my point, he noticed it and he's gay, I didn't and I'm straight. Skillian and Zuljin get out that closet!!!

  • skillian #32 3 years ago

    @BobsUncle

    I just read an interesting article on this subject: [link url=http://www.slate.com /id/2169061/
    ]http://www.slate.com /id/2169061/
    [/link]

    He's actually making your point rather than mine, but it does show that lots of people think films like 300 and Point Break have a homoerotic side to them.

    I actually had a similar conversation with a friend of mine about Top Gun recently. He was shocked when I said it was "a pretty gay film" and the thought had never even crossed his mind.

  • Branoic #33 3 years ago

    Ron Perlman as Marcus Fenix FTW

  • Valis #34 3 years ago

    Its pretty clear that all of the people oblivious to Gears homo-erotic overtones are also the ones who use gay as a pejorative. Who still uses gay or bent as an insult? How very nineties! This stems from either 1: incredible immaturity or 2: repressed homosexuality.

    Also note that Gears is homo-erotic, not homosexual. The difference is that there are overtones of romance between the male leads (intentional or otherwise) not overt sexual relationships. I think its the saving grace of the story! Its certainly the only original aspect.

    So I say more same-sex relationships in games!

  • BobsUncle #35 3 years ago

    @skillian
    The Beach Volleyball scene in TopGun is a bit gay, tbh. But it has aeroplanes and Micheal Ironside in, so I'll let it off.

    @Valis
    I'm joking when I use all my non-PC Gay terms. It's much more fun to say Uphill gardener than Homosexual. I have plenty of bending unit friends, they all call themselves Gay and they can all take a joke.

    Unlike most PC-Nazis out there.

    I also like calling people a Spastic. How do you like that?

    [edit] And I mean Politically Correct not Personal Computer
    Edited by 1 at 06/05/09 @ 16:43

  • Negotiator #36 3 years ago

    Only one guy as Fenix, Stallone the best action star of all time.

  • man.the.king #37 3 years ago

    @Negotiator

    Stallone is good - one of the best, but "best action star"? Surely Scwharzenegger is better? Anyway, opinions opinions :)

    On-topic: Now that Stallone is a bit beefier a la Rambo 4 (the newest one), he would be a perfect fit, him or (maybe?) Mickey Rourke as Fenix.
    Edited by 1 at 07/05/09 @ 05:24

  • YourMessageHere #38 3 years ago

    "I think the gamer side is going to be thrilled with it. All the stuff you want to see, we put that in there and then we blow it out a little more, even."

    In which case you'll presumably be putting stuff we don't want to see in! I suppose that's an established method of making films of games. What I want to see is a sci-fi film with many good gunfights choreographed around novel use of cover and belief-stretching violence, strung together by a solid but completely unoriginal plotline - sort of Hard Boiled In Space With Chainsaw Bayonets. That's not too demanding, really, Hollywood makes variations on that fairly often (usually replacing good gunfights with bad ones), what will they do to cock it up? Because you know they will.

    With that in mind, how about Gears of War as anime instead? Cheaper, casting problems disappear instantly, and Japan has a good long history of portraying mindbending violence and male bonding in animation.

    Surely one person's macho is another man's homo-erotic by definition? If a gay man goes for particularly masculine men, doesn't it follow that anyone behaving in a macho way is arguably homoerotic to them, intentionally or otherwise? Therefore, that someone finds something homoerotic doesn't mean it inherently is, it only means they see perceive that side of it; like beauty, homoeroticism is in the eye of the beholder. Is it possible to imagine that someone who isn't gay might be able to guess what someone who is might find (homo)erotic?

  • Bulbatron #39 3 years ago

    In what way is the game homoerotic - just out of curiosity?

    (reads previous posts)

    Oh. I see.
    Edited by 1 at 07/05/09 @ 16:25

  • COUNTERpyro #40 3 years ago

    Cant wait for this film, haters go fcuk urselves!!!!!!