Avary talks Silent Hill movie

By Ellie Gibson Published 27 September, 2005

Plus: Tarantino hates games!

Roger Avary - co-writer of Pulp Fiction, director of Killing Zoe and author of the screenplay for the Silent Hill movie - has revealed a few more details of what we can expect from the film, including news that it'll be "oestrogen-filled."

In an interview with Edge Online, Avary said: "The difficulty with Silent Hill is that it's an abstract experience - you're making something that's dreamlike in many ways, and where someone's in an alternate dimension.

"In the script phase, we had long, long moments where seemingly nothing happens. It's all atmosphere - you're falling slowly into a world and experiencing it much like you would in the game.

"I wanted the movie to have that feeling of a witch movie, because that's essentially what it is at the end of the day. Also, Christophe [Gans, the director] wanted the movie to be oestrogen-filled," Avary explained - which is why almost all the characters are female.

Such as main character Rose, who Avary described as "A composition of multiple characters throughout the Silent Hill games." She does have a husband, Christopher (named after Gans), whose character was developed after the studio complained that there was a lack of men in the script.

Avary was critical of both developers who fill their games with cutscenes, and movie directors who reckon they know what games are all about.

"Often, you have movies that are made by people who have no idea what a control scheme is or what a gaming experience is like," he said, comparing long time gamer Christophe Gans with Quentin Tarantino, who apparently has "An actual disrespect for gaming."

"He's said, "What am I gonna do, stick my dick into a Nintendo hard drive?" He doesn't realise, of course, that a Nintendo machine doesn't have a hard drive." Heh.

Avary went on to say that he was confident in Gans' ability to deliver a great film, but not so confident that his work will change the way big screen game adaptations are perceived: "Maybe the question is, will Silent Hill make game designers more comfortable?

"Guys like Uwe Boll have done a lot of damage, and I don't know that one good game adaptation will undo all of it," he said. Boll, as you probably know, is the man behind the Alone in the Dark, House of the Dead and BloodRayne movies, all of them completely rubbish.

But who knows, if scriptwriters of Avary's caliber continue to get behind game adaptations, maybe things will change - and it seems that Silent Hill won't be his last contribution to the genre.

"I don't mind saying that there is another Konami title - which I can't mention because they haven't closed the deal on it - that Christophe and Sam are in talks about right now.

"We've already gone into discussions about adapting that material and that would, I must say, be a dream come true."

Don't know if you're thinking what we're thinking, but one particular Konami game springs to mind immediately... But not if Uwe Boll gets there first, of course...Ulp.

You can read the full interview with Roger Avary over at Edge online.

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 (34) Latest comment 6 years ago

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

  • dextress #1 6 years ago

    Looking forward to this.

  • space_ace #2 6 years ago

    apparently, being irrelevant only in cinema isn't enough for qt.

  • GuiltySpark #3 6 years ago

    well its either gonna be complete utter shit or mediocre shit

    /continues attacking resident evil apocalyspe dvd with a drill
    Edited by 1 at 27/09/05 @ 12:35

  • Blerk #4 6 years ago

    I don't mind saying that there is another Konami title - which I can't mention because they haven't closed the deal on it - that Christophe and Sam are in talks about right now.

    Pro Evo Soccer! ;-)

    I really hope they can do Silent Hill justice. But somehow... I doubt it. They should just call it quits and rebadge Jacob's Ladder instead. :-)

  • theweaze #5 6 years ago

    lol thats wot i immediately thought of then i clocked on lol

  • KraftWerk #6 6 years ago

    I might be a fool, but I'm getting my hopes up for this one.

  • penhalion #7 6 years ago

    Is it just me or did they NOT understand what the game was about

    "I wanted the movie to have that feeling of a witch movie, because that's essentially what it is at the end of the day. Also, Christophe [Gans, the director] wanted the movie to be oestrogen-filled,"

    Where do Witches come into it? The Silent Hill I played was about a town disconnected from reality, which made your worst nightmares come true. Kind of a place where you had a shot at redemption only if you faced your demons (litterally) first!

  • smelly #8 6 years ago

    speaking of tarintino.. Wasnt there supposed to be a resevoir dogs game?

  • jaspoid #9 6 years ago

    I know SCi got the license years back (2002?), but I haven't heard of it since.

    (Update.) Checked GameSpot, and it's up for a 2006 release on PC, Xbox and PS2.

    --
    "Reservoir Dogs, the Quentin Tarantino classic cult film, is being adapted into an explosive action packed console and PC game. Scheduled for release in 2006, Reservoir Dogs will bring gamers deep into the seedy underground world of crime they fell in love with when it was originally released as a feature film." Yeah, right.
    Edited by 1 at 27/09/05 @ 13:35

  • freedumb #10 6 years ago

    Sean Bean's playing as Christoper and Radha Mitchell (Pitch Black) is Rose.

  • Xerx3s #11 6 years ago

    God help us. They are going to fuck up this franchise too. They be wicked ppl.

    "I wanted the movie to have that feeling of a witch movie, because that's essentially what it is at the end of the day." - Wait, i dont know, but i dont really remember this in any of the SH episodes. /points at his previous statement.

  • BlackSentoki #12 6 years ago

    I think you're being too harsh - all of the Silent Hill games focused, at least to some extent, upon a mysterious female character. I don't think he means witch as in pointy hat and black cat witch.

  • Feanor #13 6 years ago

    I agree with Black Sentoki. Dahlia was a witch. Well, she was a Satanist, but close enough.

  • Shrimp #14 6 years ago

    @freedumb - Is that concrete? Awesome casting if so.

    I suspect by "witch movie" he's talking about a certain sub-genre of horror film, in the sense that "zombie movies" tend to have certain themes and motifs

    /stops talking off top of head

  • PES_Fanboy #15 6 years ago

    There was already a (TV) movie made about a house that distorted reality due to a matriarchal malevolence, it was Stephen King's Rose Red - and I quite liked it.

    Doubt I'll like this though. I love movies over games, if I'm honest, therefore have bitter tastes in my mouth even from Resident Evil movies, which were actually pretty good, but only in comparison to the rest of them (even pre-Boll).

    If even daft comics have managed to get decent films done of them (Sin City was excellent - although I never read comics admittedly), games surely can be done?

  • Blerk #16 6 years ago

    Silent Hill has a better chance than most because for once they've picked a story-heavy game with plenty of back-history to work with. Resi was never going to work as a 'serious' film because it's too B-Movie. Pitch Silent Hill right (i.e. keep the psychological horror stuff and don't do too much 'shooting nurses in the face') and you could potentially be onto a winner.

    Potentially.

    :-/

    Nope, I'm not even buying my own description. It's going to be rubbish, isn't it? :-)

  • geepersd #17 6 years ago

    If he can turn a good, but not very filmable book like Rules of Attraction into a decent film then I reckon there's hope.

  • Mirkan #18 6 years ago

    I really think this could be good. Been following this one for a while and it sounds like they're, contrary to what someone said on here, really are 'getting' SH. Abstract, bizarre and unnerving are words used to describe what it's supposedly turning out to be, and as the complete interview over at Edge says, both Gans and Avary know their Silent Hill games inside out.

    Akira Yamaoka, sound producer and composer on all four Silent Hill games will be overlooking that department in the film aswell as writing the original soundtrack for it. Just based on the competent people behind this film, it could be really good.

  • Kami #19 6 years ago

    Quote by penhalion:
    "Where do Witches come into it? The Silent Hill I played was about a town disconnected from reality, which made your worst nightmares come true. Kind of a place where you had a shot at redemption only if you faced your demons (litterally) first!"

    Umm... Dhalia Gillespie? Nutcase fruitloop witchy-type from the original? Ringing any bells?

  • Mirkan #20 6 years ago

    I think what he means by witch story is the general occult themes of hell and satan and sacrifice, etc, which all games have been about.

  • Blerk #21 6 years ago

    Akira Yamaoka, sound producer and composer on all four Silent Hill games will be overlooking that department in the film aswell as writing the original soundtrack for it.

    \o/

    There is a God!

  • kangarootoo #22 6 years ago

    I think his comment about it being a witch film fits perfectly. And the casting is spot on too IMO. Sounds like they are coming at it from the right angle, so for now I am hopeful.

  • Scimarad #23 6 years ago

    This actually sounds pretty good but I was slightly put off by one section of the full interview :-

    ----
    Also, Christophe wanted the movie to be oestrogen-filled.

    [He breaks into an impression of the Frenchman that is, considering the underlying Californian accent, alarmingly good and somewhat exaggerated.]

    "I like women – I like to f**k the American bimbo. I want to make a movie with no men and have sexy women throughout. Women everywhere. I don’t want to have all these men to deal with or the attitudes of men."
    ----

    Er....oh-kay
    Edited by 1 at 27/09/05 @ 18:07

  • Kami #24 6 years ago

    I think the "witch"-thing is also about right.

    Silent Hill isn't just about a sleepy town which sometimes slips into a hellish parallel - it's about the occult too. Pentagrams, mysterious concoctions, rebirthing of a demon god, and lots of hellish creatures - and often there seems to be a bit of magic thrown in for good measure too.

    Plus Dhalia Gillespie was, in all senses of the word, a witch (you could also substitute the "w" for a "b";). Hoping that it's not a spoiler to reveal that Dhalia was the one trying to bring forth a demonic god... but things didn't go to plan...


    It all sounds about right to me. Unlike the DOOM movie, which seems to be crossing dangerously into Resident Evil territory (For petes sake, DOOM is NOT ABOUT A FREAKIN' MUTAGENIC VIRUS! Whoever wrote the script to the DOOM film needs to be shot. Repeatedly.), hopefully the Silent Hill movie will be much more accurate - it sounds as though they're on the right lines already... which is nice to hear.
    Edited by 1 at 27/09/05 @ 18:41

  • BEAR-ONE #25 6 years ago

    I've worked with the editor who's doing SH right now, and I can say that he's a) a gamer b) quite good. He has a very close relationship with Gans (director) and was over there (Canada) during the shoot. I dont think this will be too shoddy, seeing that the original Silent Hill creator (sorry forgot the name) is coproducing and breathing down their necks.

    BEAR

  • Xerx3s #26 6 years ago

    "I think you're being too harsh - all of the Silent Hill games focused, at least to some extent, upon a mysterious female character. I don't think he means witch as in pointy hat and black cat witch." - I dont know (im just a casual fan of the series, dont know all the plottwists and such), but i thought that the femal characters where some kind of human that went mad by something and turned into some kind of demonic entity (corrupting reality and making it possible to travel to the "world between";). I could of course be completely wrong (hey, the world is flat! :p).
    Edited by 1 at 27/09/05 @ 19:45

  • DocTep #27 6 years ago


    As to whether the witch comment fits, i guess it depends upon which of the Silent Hill games you have in your mind when you read what he said... Silent Hill 1 and 3 definitely had an occult element. But 2 (my personal fave of the series) fitted the description given by Penhalion more.

    Sounds like they're basing the film more on 1 and 3 then. Ironically i think 2 would fit the transition to film much better as a general idea/feel, and personally i'd they rather didn't go so much for an occult angle and instead went for the personal demons angle. But regardless of my personal hopes and wishes it sounds like this could be the first decent game-to-film movie, and i'm relatively optimistic - more so due to it seeming to have more involvement from the original development team.

  • freedumb #28 6 years ago

    Shrimp, yes it is true and confirmed. It was on the news not too long ago and check it up on imdb.com
    Edited by 1 at 27/09/05 @ 21:32

  • Kiigan #29 6 years ago

    Honestly, I'm glad Tarantino isn't into games. At least that implies there won't be any ill-advised Pulp Fiction movies etc.

  • Genji #30 6 years ago

    I am seeing this because a) it's Silent Hill; and b) it has Sean Bean in it.

    Personally, I'm hoping that it's the first movie I've seen to break the "Sean Bean always meets an untimely end" rule. WILL HE SURVIVE THIS MOVIE?

  • Bezzy #31 6 years ago

    "I think what Tarantino is saying that films should be films and games should be games which you know, isn't a totally stupid idea. "

    Well said.

    The odd adaptation between the two can't hurt, but right now there's a real trend for them... a saturation. Games are seen as merchendize to movies. And the movies from games are just... shit.

    Doesn't mean there aren't exceptions to the rule, though...

    Riddick wasn't bad.

    Super Mario Brothers is the best film Robert de Niro was never in.
    Edited by 1 at 28/09/05 @ 10:41

  • kangarootoo #32 6 years ago

    I'd suggest that films made into games and vice versa are often shit because they aren't taken seriously by the investors. I think that whether a film script has some connection with a video game has very little to do with the qiality of the final product.

    Bad news spreads fast and bonkers coincidences stand out of the crowd. Similarly games made into films that suck garner much more attention from us than films which simply suck. I think you'll gind on closer examination that they share a great deal in common.

    EDIT: Also, I don't think Tarantino was saying anything as wise as has been suggested, I think he was being a stroppy cockhead.
    Edited by 1 at 28/09/05 @ 13:34

  • Genji #33 6 years ago

    "And the movies from games are just... shit.

    Doesn't mean there aren't exceptions to the rule, though...

    Riddick wasn't bad."

    PSST... Riddick was a movie first.

  • James_Sunderland #34 6 years ago

    hey guys if u havent seen it already i found a better trailer for this movie if u guys wanna check it out it may change alot of yallz opinions.

    http:/ /www.sonypictures.com/movies/silenthill/

    oh and the site is pretty cool too. go in it and search for a little while stay searching and lookin thru the site till "something happens". its cool.