Max Payne, Alice on track

By Ellie Gibson Published 9 February, 2006

To make big screen debuts.

Hollywood producer Scott Faye has confirmed that the big screen adaptations of Max Payne and Alice are still on track and are coming along nicely, thank you.

According to John Baudiosi's Hollywood Bytes column, shooting on Max Payne is likely start either at the end of this year or the start of 2007.

A "well-known screenwriter" has been hired to do the script, and the budget "could be anywhere from $10 million to $100 million, depending on the vision." But since producer Scott Faye doesn't believe in throwing money at special effects just to lure moviegoers, it's likely to be "somewhere in the middle range."

Faye decided to produce the game after stumbling on a cardboard standee of Max Payne at E3 '98, which reminded him of the good old fashioned cop films they used to make in the sixties and seventies. Apparently the Max Payne movie is going to take inspiration from Clint Eastwood classic The Outlaw Josey Wales.

"Put yourself in a mindset where you've built up this life, not a 100 per cent perfect life, but one you enjoy living, and then in one moment everything is snatched away from you," Faye told Baudiosi.

"With Max Payne, we need to mine and transpose the character into the parameters of linear entertainment and find subtle ways to remind the audience throughout the film of the pain that the character is going through."

Faye is also producing Alice, and shooting is likely to start this summer. Marcus Nispel, whose previous credits include the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake and numerous music videos, will direct the film, and Sarah Michelle Buffy will star. The budget will be between $40 million - $50 million and the film is slated for a 2007 release.

"The script that we have now blends the spirit of the original work by Lewis Carroll with American McGee's unique vision of the mythology to create a story that is very compelling," said Faye.

"What makes this different from other situations is that we have our Alice and we have a director that has a very visceral sense of how this game world should look on the big screen."

Faye is also working on a third videogame adaptation that has yet to be announced, and he's working closely with the developers of all three games to ensure that the movies do them justice.

"With any of the games that I'm turning into films, it's important to create a movie that will not offend the core base of gamers who love the property, while adding depth to the story to attract a potentially bigger movie-going audience," Faye said.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (24) Latest comment 6 years ago

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

  • Eldritch #1 6 years ago

    *cough*

    The fact that Shwan Ryan created "The Shield" almost makes up for his involvement in "Angel" and "Nash Bridges".

  • MightyPenguin #2 6 years ago

    "With Max Payne, we need to mine and transpose the character into the parameters of linear entertainment and find subtle ways to remind the audience throughout the film of the pain that the character is going through."

    Aye, because MP isn't linear already.

    Also: American McGee's Alice as a film? Oh my. That could go very badly wrong or very badly right, and without much in between.

  • space_ace #3 6 years ago

    any news on max payn3 dev?

  • Pike #4 6 years ago

    I feel there really is no need for a Max Payne movie. I mean Sin City filled the over-the-top faux-noir quota quite niceley, IMO.

  • Amajiro #5 6 years ago

    Why not just watch somebody else play Max Payne?

    Films of games are the new remakes, which were the new sequels which were introduced when Hollywood ran out of ideas.

  • kangarootoo #6 6 years ago

    I thought the dialogue in the MP games was some of the best in any game of recent times. If they keep the same mood and madness with some decent actors I'll be kept happy.

  • Furbs #7 6 years ago

    Alice would be great as an animation. I'd love to see a remake/sequel tbh. Extremely underated game (probably because of being on the PC) which looked fantastic.

  • reality_cheque #8 6 years ago

    MightyPenguin: Are you saying that choosing the shoot the guy on the right before the guy on the stairs isn't non-linear enough for you? :p

    MP1 was one of my all time favourite games, and I'm looking forward to the film. MP2 I think tried a little too hard to be noir.

  • kangarootoo #9 6 years ago

    "MP2 I think tried a little too hard to be noir."

    I loved all that though.

    When it overplayed it did it really well "Maaax, deeerest of aaall my friends",

    but when it kept it low it did that well too "I had a dream my wife was dead, but it was alright".

    Compared with good films it had some off moments, but in the company of other games I thought it was well above the competition. When you think of some of the voice acting that turns up in games, MP2 was like fresh air.

    To be honest, its been that long since I played MP1 I can't remember that much about the plot of acting.

  • Darkedge #10 6 years ago

    SMG as Alice? I mean she's okay but TOTALLY WRONG.

  • Pastici #11 6 years ago

    Yeah...having SMG as Alice may have just killed the hopes of a good film, for some reason it's already screming "wannabe slasher flick" to me. Not sure who woul dbe a good choice but not SMG for sure, I'll still watch it though.

  • Furbs #12 6 years ago

    Faruza Baulk if she was younger would have been perfect. Still scares me in Return To Oz.

  • El_MUERkO #13 6 years ago

    its the anti-boll

    praise be \o/

  • JSX #14 6 years ago

    @ Furbs

    YES!
    Fairuza Baulk would have been absolutely perfect.

    God, I had so many nightmares because of that movie when I was younger. Definitely the darkest movie Disney have ever made. Or at least that I can remember.

  • Hicksy #15 6 years ago

    I REALLY want Alice to be great

    I LOVED THE GAME

    /bounces \o/

  • El_MUERkO #16 6 years ago

    Max Payne 2 was great, it was just to short, had no copy protection of worth, no multiplayer, it cost £34.99 and you could beat the game in 6/7 hours with ease, it got mauled by downloaders, even the most honest among us had to feel the urge, it didnt do itself any favours.

    I remember seeing it on suprnova with 58000 downloads going on 6 or 6 trackers, this was a week before its UK release, the person who thought up the staggered releases lost them tens of millions.

    Marketing probably saw the low sales as meaning people didnt like the game >.

  • reality_cheque #17 6 years ago

    I'm not saying the noir in 2 was bad, merely not quite as good as the first. I can still remember bits of lines from the 1st*, but nothing in 2 stuck in my mind. I guess this would be the reason I played the 1st through on as many difficulties as I could in the time I had it for rent (7 days ish, I think it was late) yet I've bought the second and so far haven't been bothered enough to complete it.

    * Something about "punctuating the silence like a gunshot to the face" :)

  • riz23 #18 6 years ago

    How about Dakota Fanning as Alice? She's got those big enough eyes and I'd rather see a child play the role than an adult. She is also slightly unsettling which suits the role. Apparently Marilyn Manson is going to play Lewis Carroll in a movie as well, can't help feeling he would have made a good cameo somewhere in this movie. American McGee's Alice, not bad for an EA game eh?

  • Furbs #19 6 years ago

    riz - perfect choice.
    I'll get my people to call your people, we'll do lunch.

  • kangarootoo #20 6 years ago

    @reality_cheque

    Like I said I can't really remember much of MP1, so I may well agree with you if I played it again. I certainly think that the MP games had some well done adult dialogue in them. I don't mean adult in the typical games sense (i.e. all "f*ck you c*cksucka" and so on, none of which seems particularly adult to me) but in a genuine "this is the way adults speak" sort of way.

    Vampire Masquerade:Bloodlines is another that springs to mind. The dialogue and voice acting in that was mostly brilliant. They didn't have people speaking like extras on a GTA set, but neither did they avoid dipping into the dark or perverse when required. That goth girl who ran the club in VM:B was one of gamings pinnacle female sex-symbol moments (I know I am treading on dodgy ground here). Not because she was particularly scantily clad, like the hamfisted attempts of so many other games trying to portray women in an adult context, but because her dialogue and voice acting was that of an adult and all the more minxy for it.

    Anyway, I'm off to read my "How to tell the difference between girls in games and girls in real life" pamphlet again as I'm clearly losing my point of reference.

  • dudefella #21 6 years ago

    Max Payne 2 was really incredibly fantastic for me. I must've finished that game at least 6 times. It has so many memorable lines, imo.

    "When you're looking down the barrel of a gun, time slows down. Stick with it, and you can live a lifetime in that split second."

    "The trouble with wanting something the fear of losing it, or never getting it. The thought makes you weak."

    "She was beautiful. I hated her for making me feel this way."

    I could go on, but I'll spare you. I'm praying the movie will be good.

  • kangarootoo #22 6 years ago

    Go on then, just for you.

    http://en.wiki quote.org/wiki/Max_Payne

    I misquoted, but thats still my favourite line (the "had a dream my wife was dead" one).

  • YourMessageHere #23 6 years ago

    Whoever cast Sarah Michelle Gellar in Alice needs to be stabbed in the face. That's just insane; clearly no-one who matters on this film has played the game or has any real affinity for it or for Carroll's books. I vote for Christina Ricci.

    Either that, or Alice as anime, done by Gonzo Animation.

  • bugger #24 6 years ago

    I wonder who is casted as Max Payne? And will Mona Sax be in it?