Driver free-wheels towards cin3mas: movi3 details unleashed

Another game-to-movie tie-in from Constantin Films.

Posted by Staff
In conjunction with Impact Pictures, Constantin is currently working hard on a Driver movie. Following the cash-for-review scandal that has plagued the stilted reviews of current chart-topper Driv3r, Constantin Films will be hoping the franchise’s reputation has not been tarnished too severely.

The script is currently being conjured up by James DeMonaco, James Roday and Todd Harthan, although the Driver movie’s storyline is still an unknown entity at this stage. Constantin is no stranger to game-to-film adaptations, having already produced the rather average, but profitable, Resident Evil film starring Milla Jovovich.

Constantin is also working on another Resident Evil movie - Resident Evil Apocalypse - as well as a Dead or Alive movie, which hopefully will continue the mammary-focused entertainment of Tecmo’s popular fighting series.
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Comments

Joji 2 Jul 2004 11:28
1/4
Well wasn't an original Driver film made back in the 70s/80s?
Starred Ryan O'Neal I think. Anyway this film will be another gangster like crime ridden film, I'll try to keep an open mind but it's hard when there's also supposed to be a Getaway or GTA film on the way too. How different will they be from this one? Hollywood has plenty of films like this already.

It has potential but whether it will be realised is another thing. I think people are cherry picking big name games to make films out of, for the pay day and not the story of the film. They will do what is easiest to do, fair enough make some money but don't insult us with crap films. This is why we are yet to see a Zelda live action film, it has potential and a good story but would cost a fair bit. Post LotR though it might actually work well.

Still don't know why a Mario film was chosen to be worked on over a Zelda film that would have been much better and true to it's game roots. As for Van Damme's Street Fighter The Movie, the less said about that dire effort the better, though it's a good exmple of how lack of thought can result in celluloid disaster.

Film wise we need more than beat em up and shoot em ups. It seems some of the lamest stuff is being chosen which is beyond me why exactly. Perhaps this is why the Doom film has been in limbo for so many years.

Pandaman 3 Jul 2004 21:27
2/4
>It has potential but whether it will be realised
>is another thing.

Potential? It has about as much potential as a beaver in a war against China. Hollywood is known for their...well...crap. And this is going to likely be a textbook definiton of it.

>Still don't know why a Mario film was chosen to
>be worked on over a Zelda film that would have
>been much better and true to it's game roots.

There will not be a Zelda movie ever made. At least not in the near future. Nintendo refuses to ever allow Link to even talk. Much less star in a Hollywood movie. As far as why Mario was chosen, it was probably because he's more popular.
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DoctorDee 5 Jul 2004 09:40
3/4
I think there is much potential in a Driver film. I do not, however, think that this potential will be realised by Hollywood, which has not made a decent film in recent years, and has sunken to re-hashing movies originating in other markets (Taxi, Ring, Dark Water).

But rather than a "film of the game", if they were to set a film in the driver universe, and people it with the same sparse characters that populated the 1978 Ryan O'Neal movie, they could be onto a winner.

The thing is, the game has no real story, it has a set of poorly linked missions, with a very thin plot to hold them together. A film would require a much more cohesive plot. And that's where they will probably go wrong, as they have done with all the pervious game-to-film efforts.

But if they take their cues from the original Driver film, and the recent "The Transporter" movie (for the driving scenes only - the story sucked), they could produce a movie AT LEAST as entertaining as The Fast and The Furious, and possibly a lot more stylish.

I think, and this is just my personal opinion, that then need to set it in a non-specific anachronistic hinter-time. So that 70's American msucle cars can been seen on the road with modern day supercars - trying to explain this without re-making Gone in 60 Seconds would be difficult (especially since that movie already used the only plausible plot to do that) so I think they should just not try. Instead they should make a moody, stylish noir thriller with archetypal characterisation and killer driving sequences. They should make the driving be the star. They should make the whole movie be like the first 20 minutes of The Transporter.

That'd rock!
DoctorDee 5 Jul 2004 17:53
4/4
Alan Poole wrote:

>It has about as much potential as a
>beaver in a war against China.

You are forgetting, I feel, the time between the 16th and 11th centuries BC, when hordes of deadly beaver wandered across the plains of China, spreading out from the lower Yellow River region, and attacking humans and animals with impunity.

The beaver hordes extended throughout all China, and fought many bloody wars with bordering tribes, before establishing a benevolent rule that lasted for many centuries...

Hold on a second, did you say "Beaver"? Sorry, I thought you said Member of the Shang tribe.

A beaver would have no chance, obviously.
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