• SotC Writer Justin Marks gets Chatty About Game-to-Movies

    04/09/2009

    Posted in: Gaming, PS2

    From The Hollywood Reporter:

    In an interview with Risky Biz, Justin Marks, who will adapt “Shadow of the Colossus” into a feature film, said that the genre was relatively young, and that he believed well-selected titles could translate if they were handled wisely.

    “I think many of the games haven’t worked as movies because it’s hard to find the right game. There are very few that lend themselves to movies,” Marks said.

    But that doesn’t mean that Hollywood shouldn’t try, he added. “If we started thinking that anything that worked in one medium shouldn’t be adapted for another we wouldn’t have a lot of the great movies we’ve had, because so many of them came from novels.”

    “Colossus,” which Sony and producer Kevin Misher are developing, is unique because a player spends much of his time basically alone in the game’s universe, and Marks said that as he began to write, he hopes to find himself in a better position as a result.

    “With a lot of games there are so many elements in the universe you spend your time tearing down and tearing down,” he said. “What’s nice about this game is that it’s so sparse so you can start building right away.” He added that he understood fan’s concerns that a studio might be tempted to add Hollywood flourishes like a cheesy sidekick but that he would strenuously avoid those cliches.

    Marks also said he felt this would make a perfect adaptation because it already contained not just visual elements but many of the things that work on a movie screen. “This is a game that catches you unaware — it catches you on an emotional and experiential level, not just for the puzzles you solve.”
    [...]
    “With a lot of games you’re caught trying to please the fans and the mainstream audience,” he said. “What’s so nice about this game is that it’s all seen through such an adult lens, so that what pleases the fans also pleases a wider audience.”

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