New Writer Assumes Direct Control of Mass Effect Film

[The Wooster]

New Writer Assumes Direct Control of Mass Effect Film

Morgan Davis Foehl made the Black List back in 2009, but none of his screenplays have been produced.

Last we heard, I Am Legend screenwriter, Mark Protosevich, had been tapped to write the big screen adaptation of BioWare's Mass Effect. Fast forward a year and Protosevich is gone, in his place is Morgan Davis Foehl, known for his editing work on laugh-a-decade Adam Sandler vehicles, Click and I Now Pronounce You chuck & Larry.

Foehl has also edited scripts for TV shows Rescue Me and The loop, and in 2009 he made the Black List with Whatever Gets You Through the Night. The Black List lists the best screenplays which didn't get picked up by a studio. Therein lies the problem, despite his noted talent, none of Foehl's screenplays have ever made it to release.

"Producers sparked to Foehl's take on the project, given that he is a Mass Effect fan, but also has penned action pics with a strong espionage bent, something that factors into the overall plot of the Mass Effect games," according to Variety.

CEO and founder of Legendary Pictures, Thomas Tull, and vice president, Joe Jashni, are set to produce the film, alongside Avi and Ari Arad. The Arads are also trying to get Uncharted, InFAMOUS and Metal Gear Solid movies off the ground. Their most recent venture into game movie territory was 2007's Bratz: The Movie [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bratz_the_movie/].

Bioware co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk were supposed to serve as executive producers alongside Casey Hudson. That seems unlikely now they've said their goodbyes to BioWare and, apparently, the entire games industry.

Personally, I can't say I'm holding out too much hope for a good Mass Effect film. That the producers can't even figure out who's going to write the movie casts some serious doubt on their ability to cast the correct actor as bipolar, omnisexual, space hermaphrodite, Commander Tiddlywink Shepard.

Source: Variety [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118061198.html?cmpid=RSS|News|FilmNews]

Permalink

 

[Marter]

Hey! Click was good.

It might not have been that funny, but it was surprisingly emotional for, y'know, what it was.

So I don't consider it a complete write-off just yet.

 

[StormShaun]

I liked Click and I am Legend.

Also I like the title pun "New Writer Assumes Direct Control of Mass Effect Film"
Haha, very funny indeed. Got a good laugh.

Also I hope the film is good...really I do.

 

[Vladarek]

Maybe at the midnight opening for the movie they will serve festive blue, green, and red popcorn!

 

[BehattedWanderer]

But...I don't want an infamous or a Mass Effect movie. No movie can create the kind of deep personal story and characters that the games can provide. Also, there's the whole moral choice crux. And that Sheperd is both a man dude and a lady dude, depending on which game I'm playing and how much I wanted to mess with the second game's intro. That can't be resolved in a movie.

 

[duchaked]

oh...it's that picture of Shephard again... xD

and as far as the movie news goes...well this all seems...horrible
lol...

 

[Diana Kingston-Gabai]

This just seems like a disaster waiting to happen - a film set in the Mass Effect universe might have worked, but trying to tell Commander Shepard's story in a linear cinematic medium is a fool's errand. Pursuant to the laws of basic characterization, they'd need to establish who Shepard is in a definitive way in order for his choices to make sense (does he save the Rachni and the Council? How does he deal with Wrex on Virmire?). But the moment they do that, they'll alienate every potential viewer who played the game and made different choices.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

*groans*

We know how it ends already;

Spoiler

Glowbrat talks Shepard in to committing suicide.

Movie/game tie-ins suck. The ending for the Mass Effect trilogy sucked. Two wrongs don't make a right.

 

[Bat Vader]

Why not just get Drew Karpyshyn to write the film? Out of all the writers he seems the most knowledgeable about the games/universe they take place in. Hopefully they get Seth Green to play Joker.

 

[Vault101]

Comander shepard..played by Sam Worthington

HAHAHA oh god no

[small/]please noooo[/small]

 

[Drakoorr]

They (EA and, by extension, Bioware) might be getting someone so inexperienced so they have a stronger chance of bullying him into agreeing to any script they demand, thus retaining effective creative control despite any they may have signed away, bypassing any creative control issues they may have with the producers. I think I remember Ubisoft having some creative control disagreements over an Assassins Creed film, so this might be their way of learning from the mistakes of others. Possibly.

Well, whoever writes the thing, let me be the first (on this forum at least) to say:

NATHAN FILLION FOR SHEPARD

 

[sammysoso]

Making a movie of a game in which player choice is a major element seems pretty dumb.

Who are they making this for? Not the fans, because you're just going to piss off the majority of them. (Except for the specific set whose choices are mirrored in the film)

The Mass Effect IP has taken quite the shellacking lately, I don't see the upside here.

 

[TheBelgianGuy]

Making a movie of a game in which player choice is a major element seems pretty dumb.

Who are they making this for? Not the fans, because you're just going to piss off the majority of them. (Except for the specific set whose choices are mirrored in the film)

The Mass Effect IP has taken quite the shellacking lately, I don't see the upside here.

Who ever said they would make the movie about the game?

It could be about the First Contact war with the Turians, the Rachni wars, the Krogan Rebellion,...

 

[WabbitTwacks]

Judging by some of the comments about moral choice and depicting choice in the movie, I'm not sure some of you understand what a movie is. Maybe you should watch some first. They are making a movie using the Mass Effect theme and some of the characters. It is not supposed to be a reconstruction of the game or a Let's Play: Timmy Plays Mass Effect the Movie. A movie is a movie and a game is a game.
The problem I see is that everybody will want to identify the movie Sheppard with their own game Shepard and as a result most of ME fans will be probably disappointed. So maybe it would be a better idea to ditch Shepard entirely and create a different character for the movie.

 

[Seventh Actuality]

This is a fucking terrible idea.

Who ever said they would make the movie about the game?

It could be about the First Contact war with the Turians, the Rachni wars, the Krogan Rebellion,...

It could be, but it won't. It'll be a retread of the games with a generic action dude playing Shepard, because that's how these things work.

 

[crazyrabbits]

Someone on the BSN said it best - the ironic part is that the only people this will appeal to is the average sci-fi moviegoer, because the fanbase is still in tatters.

It sounds like Protosevich was the ace-in-the-hole for the film, and with his departure, Legendary has no one to turn to except an unproven scriptwriter who's never had an actual feature. I give it a year tops before he bails.

This is going to go the same way as all of Legendary's other game tie-in projects (World of Warcraft, anyone?)

They are making a movie using the Mass Effect theme and some of the characters. It is not supposed to be a reconstruction of the game or a Let's Play: Timmy Plays Mass Effect the Movie. A movie is a movie and a game is a game.

Therein lies the problem - video game movies are generally terrible, especially when you remove all the elements that made it unique in the first place. This won't work, for several reasons:

(a) Shepard is (or was) the face of the franchise, and now s/he's dead. With his/her death, a fair part of the franchise has either left Bioware entirely or won't buy anything else associated with the franchise. That in turn creates a problem - do you go with a main character who fans know will probably die anyway, or create a new character that has a homogenized personality? If they create a new character wholesale, it won't be Mass Effect anymore - the series was Shepard's story, for better or worse.

(b) No player choice. Is Shepard a Spacer, Colonist or Earthborn? Male or female? Does Shepard save Ashley or Kaidan on Virmire? Kill Wrex? Choose Udina or Anderson? If the narrative is standardized, people will stay away because the game offers more choice (at least in the first two installments, anyway).

(c) Shepard is intended to be a blank slate, molded by the actions of the player. Any potential characterization is going to be seen as a letdown by at least some part of the fanbase, if not most audiences.

(d) The budget/scope. Unless Legendary is willing to pony up $100-150 mil for top-tier talent and CGI, this is going to flop. You have various alien races (possibly with complex facial animations), CGI-heavy settings (planets, Normandy flying through space, Reapers/Collectors) and a lot of narrative that would have to either be crammed into one film or spread out over multiple installments (risking the failure of the franchise).

The recent Green Lantern film showed that, even with the best CG and story beats you can pack into a single film, it means nothing if the narrative isn't up to snuff. The ME trilogy is a 60-100 hour experience. Just trying to pack the first film into a two-hour movie isn't going to work.

Bottom line - I don't see this ever getting made, especially not by Legendary Pictures.

 

[JediMB]

If they're going with male Shepard, they should just cast Mark Meer.

He has the voice, and he's got better looks than Vanderloo. Plus, he's already done Shepard cosplay.