Despite currently prepping for The Meg 2, Ben Wheatley has revealed his short-list for his next film project – and it involves videogames.
British director Ben Wheatley has been chatting a bit about The Meg 2 over the last couple of days, including discussing how he sees his style of filmmaking working within the parameters of a franchise blockbuster sequel. However, the filmmaker has also been casting his eye forwards a little and discussing which projects he’d like to tackle next… and they have a distinct video game flavour to them.
Says Wheatley, chatting to The Playlist (via Movieweb): “video games and films are so intertwined, aren’t they? It’s like because they feed backwards and forwards in terms of their referencing, it’s tricky. And the things that you think are original about the games are from films often, and so when you take away the interactive element of it, there’s not much left to it, you know? I still want to make a Doom film, though. I know it’s been done but come on. Or Counter-Strike, that would be the one I’d like to make”.
We know Wheatley is a fan of video games and is keen to adapt one for cinema. He was, of course, attached for a long time to the upcoming Tomb Raider sequel, before departing the project due to delays. Misha Green, writer of Lovecraft Country has taken over that project whilst Wheatley is now working on the sequel to 2018’s The Meg.
There has of course been an adaptation of Doom attempted before in 2005, starring Karl Urban and Dwayne Johnson. Generally, adapting video games into movies hasn’t worked out so well historically, something that Wheatley acknowledges. We’d certainly be interested to see how he might bring a fresh approach towards adapting the video games medium, especially the FPS genre, given the firefight credentials he showcased in 2016’s Free Fire.
For the moment though, Wheatley has his hands full with The Meg 2. We’ll bring you more updates on that project as we hear them.
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