Splinter Cell Film Signs X-Men: First Class Writer

[Andy Chalk]

Splinter Cell Film Signs X-Men: First Class Writer

X-Men: First Class writer Sheldon Turner has been tasked with cooking up a new script for the Splinter Cell film.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell has taken another step toward the big screen with the addition of screenwriter Sheldon Turner, who has been hired to come up with a new draft of the script. Turner's previous writing credits include The Longest Yard remake, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, Up in the Air and X-Men: First Class. He also wrote the screenplay to Everest, the tale of George Mallory's attempt to summit Mount Everest, which has since been put on hold by Sony Pictures. In a fun twist, that film is set to be directed by Doug Liman and will star Tom Hardy; Liman is also signed to helm the Splinter Cell film, while Hardy is set to play the role of lead character Sam Fisher.

Movies based on video games have a pretty dodgy history but Splinter Cell would appear to be an ideal candidate for the transition. It has action, adventure, political intrigue, occasional bits of dark humor and a lead character who is actually a character, rather than a mute, faceless gunboat. Of course, you could say much the same about Max Payne and we all know how that turned out, but a little bit of optimism never hurt anyone. On a personal level, I'll be much more interested in the film if it's based on the grizzled, Michael Ironside version of Sam Fisher rather than the young, hot-to-trot whatshisface new guy, but with Hardy in the lead role that doesn't seem likely - and given that I haven't played a Splinter Cell game since Chaos Theory, it's an opinion that probably doesn't count for much anyway.

Shooting on Splinter Cell is expected to begin in August.

Source: Deadline [http://www.deadline.com/2014/03/new-regency-ubisoft-hire-everest-scribe-sheldon-turner-for-splinter-cell/]


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[JonB]

This actualy seems pretty good - First Class was a solid offering with good writing and didn't rely on shitty expository tricks like explaining what was going on on-screen.

And, Andy, I think you should revisit the most recent Splinter Cell - Blacklist. One of my top 10 games for 2013 easily.

 

[frizzlebyte]

For the record, I didn't think Max Payne was terrible as a movie - - as long as you don't expect a beat-for-beat retelling of the game.

Anyway, I really hope to see Splinter Cell on the big screen. I hope it will be a little more old-school SP than the newer, "grittier" action-y stuff, but eh, that would probably be passable too.

 

[frizzlebyte]

While game movies don't seem to do well, movies based on Tom Clancy stories do. Though Splinter Cell is pretty far out there for a Tom Clancy story and probably written by one of Tom Clancy's many ghostwriters in the first place.

The first two games were written by J.T. Petty [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._T._Petty]. They weren't so much ghost-written, as Clancy just put his name on the box for name recognition. Once you got into it, it was obvious from the credits that Clancy had nothing to do with the production. IIRC, JT's name was set off as sole writer credit.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

I don't care how but Michael Ironside should be in it somewhere, anywhere. He's too old for Sam, but he can be "grizzled commander" for sure.

 

[josemlopes]

Just going to post that old ass teaser that was in Chaos Theory

Either way I think it could work as a movie, what I would really like to see was something like Dredd where you just follow Sam (or any other Splinter Cell) around the world uncovering some sort of conflict that has to be stopped to avoid WW3 (kind of Chaos Theory) while being very grounded on what Sam can do as a splinter cell (no Die Hard or Bourne stuff).

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

It doesn't sound bad when you look at the people involved. The writer, the director, the actor. All top notch. I love SC and I really hope it doesn't end up like all the other video game adaptations.

I don't care how but Michael Ironside should be in it somewhere, anywhere. He's too old for Sam, but he can be "grizzled commander" for sure.

I agree. He should at least appear in one scene and it should be a scene where he encounters Sam in his full Splinter Cell gear. That would be a nice little treat for the fans.

 

[senordesol]

First Class made me wince...a lot. Sudden, unexplained reversals in character and motivations; lots of plot contrivances...just...eh.

I gotta say, I'm a tad worried about this. Is there really anything *uniquely Splinter Cell* that separates it from any other run-of-the-mill spy flick? Isn't the best we could hope from this film simply 'competence'?

 

[Arslan Aladeen]

First Class made me wince...a lot. Sudden, unexplained reversals in character and motivations; lots of plot contrivances...just...eh.

I gotta say, I'm a tad worried about this. Is there really anything *uniquely Splinter Cell* that separates it from any other run-of-the-mill spy flick? Isn't the best we could hope from this film simply 'competence'?

I think it could go one way or another. Splinter Cell has been more about the mechanics than the actual plot. Story wise, it's strength would probably be the banter and dark humor of Fisher and his support team. So, while they movie makers might not have as many distinct scenes or anything to pull from, they're more free to try things w/o 'ruining' it. I just hope they don't have Fisher as a killing machine a la Conviction. He always seemed to me like someone who would kill if he had to, but took no joy in it and would prefer just slipping past un-seen.

 

[Andy Chalk]

This actualy seems pretty good - First Class was a solid offering with good writing and didn't rely on shitty expository tricks like explaining what was going on on-screen.

And, Andy, I think you should revisit the most recent Splinter Cell - Blacklist. One of my top 10 games for 2013 easily.

The movie could work. Writer with a decent track record, reputable director, solid lead - even if it's just a souped-up Jack Ryan joint, I can see it being solid. I'm reasonably optimistic, in the sense that I'm not just assuming it will be shit by default.

As for Blacklist, that's a bigger problem. I may well have followed the Splinter Cell series if they'd retired Fisher when they retired Ironside and brought in a new character for the new voice actor. But trying to trade on the name while effectively rebooting the franchise is lazy and cheap, and I don't like it. So I don't play it. Yes, I am one of those guys.

 

[iseko]

Most game-to-movie adaptations suck (silent hill, max payne, hitman,...) but you have a few gems in there. I liked the tomb raider movies. First (and argueably second) resident evil was good. So.... Who knows. I'm not sure how I feel about Sheldon Turner. I am not a big fan of his previous work. But I think he could be the type of writer this movie needs. Hmm...

Basically I'm not sure what to expect of this. I'm not going to burn it on the stake before release but not getting hyped either. Wait and see I suppose (and then burn the fucker down)