Then Nintendo blew the world open and Sega followed
We’ll be able to see it here in the US, in China, Canada. And then Netflix has the international distribution rights. You’ve said you were disappointed in the deal because you designed this movie for the large screen. I’m curious, though, what you think about streaming services as a way to distribute movies and the potential you see there? Yeah, it’s an entirely ing] is a good thing. If I ask myself what is the best bit of filmed drama I saw last year, it’s “Handmaid’s Tale” and I saw that on a streaming service.
Some of the most sophisticated adult content — adult meaning morally complex rather than pornographic — was on streaming services and on the small screen in general. So, I think it’s good. It disseminates stuff very widely and it is more comfortable with complex matter.
I would say that the big screen has a problem. The films cost a lot of money and if they don’t generate a lot of money on the first weekend, people lose their jobs, people don’t work again. It’s serious and difficult. Streaming is different. It’s a more passive relationship. It’s $10 a month or whatever it is that someone is paying to participate in it and it allows for more creative freedom. So, I think that’s a good thing.
Last year, you signed a deal to develop TV projects for FX. “Dredd” wasn’t that well received — would you consider redoing it for TV? I was really pleased at that film. It bombed in the box office, but the film itself I thought was pretty cool.
So would you consider revisiting “Dredd”? Definitely not, no. But that’s just because I don’t like working in franchises. I don’t want to work in sequels just because life is short and I’d rather try something different.
In 2005 you wrote a script for a film adaptation of the popular video game Halo. It was never made into a film. What was your vision for Halo? I went online and somebody had done a transcript of the entire video game, every bit of dialogue and every cut scene. I followed it very closely. That’s what I did. I actually really dug Halo. Some of my favorite video game experiences were working through Halo. Maybe no one here remembers Halo, but its hardest setting was Legendary. It was a split screen because I’m not sure we had the ability to hook up play online. Me and my brother would get stoned and play Halo and gradually claw our way through the Legendary level and I loved it. So I wanted to try and honor that.
I wanted to do a faithful adaptation of Halo
You’ve also co-written a bunch of other video game stories: Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. You worked as a story supervisor on the game Devil es? I grew up with video games. I’m 47. My best friend lived a couple streets over. His mom and dad went to America and came back with Pong, and I just couldn’t believe it. I thought it was the most amazing thing I’d ever seen. I started playing games and never stopped. Grew up with them: Space Invaders, Pac-Man. And I just kept going and I thought it was fantastic.
It’s been really kind of a beautiful thing to see how video games have exploded and become sophisticated. If there’s any gamers here you will know payday loans in Calhoun TN no bank account probably the Last Of Us, which is the most amazingly sophisticated narrative — the sort I said streaming services are doing so well. There it is happening in a video game, and I enjoyed working on it. It’s probably not something I’m too well suited to in some respects. I’d love to do it again, but really I like playing them. I like experiencing them and playing them. I think they’re amazing. I think their potential is spectacular.
