Pacific Rim Uprising Director Approached Sony About an R-Rated God of War Movie
The director of Pacific Rim: Uprising, Steven S. DeKnight, has revealed that not only is he a fan of God of War, but that he actually approached Sony about making an R-rated God of War movie. The director, who also worked on the Starz series Spartacus, revealed as much during a recent interview with ComicBook.com.
DeKnight posted a series of tweets in which he praised the latest God of War. After that, he was interviewed and he revealed that he had had some early conversations with Sony about the idea. In his tweets, he also suggested that the actor Dave Bautista was well-suited for playing the role of Kratos. DeKnight was clearly aware of the problems that face anyone who tries to make a movie adaptation of a video game.
“… my biggest thing is, look, you gotta approach it like a book.” he stated, “Approach it like adapting Jaws. For people who’ve read Jaws, the movie is very different but they’re both fantastic. So you have to be able to take the source material and make it work as a movie. And I think that’s part of the reason oftentimes video game movies don’t work is because you can’t translate the video game experience into a movie.”
A God of War Movie?
DeKnight made it clear that while he’d discussed the idea with Sony, he wasn’t currently involved with any actual project. Rumors of a God of War movie have circulated for years. At one point the screenwriters Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan were brought in to write a script. The director of God of War, David Jaffe, once stated that an offer was made to Daniel Craig. The offer was turned down, however.
“You gotta take the characters and the situations and the emotions and make it work for a movie.” said DeKnight, “Which means a lot of times you’ve got to change things, which is very dicey obviously because you don’t want to alienate video game fans, but you have to make a film that works within the context of a movie by itself. Very difficult.
Given the recent success of the latest God of War, especially with its extremely strong story, writing a God of War movie will be especially challenging. Many fans often feel that video game movies fall short of the original material. The new God of War has certainly set a high bar. As a result, it may not be something that Sony wants to attempt anytime soon. Kratos has certainly had an impact in cinema of late, albeit in an unusual area. One of the actors who will portray a Predator in the upcoming sci-fi sequel actually cited Kratos as an inspiration for his physical, powerful movements.