The world of gaming is hugely diverse and immersive from the cute and fun to dark and depressing there is a game out there for everyone. The amount of detailed story that the industry churns out on a yearly basis you’d expect the transition from console to cinema would be a smooth one, well it isn’t.
Huge titles such as Halo and Metal Gear Solid have been expected to make their silver screen debut, but most seem to get stuck in development hell, but are times changing? It seems so as World of Warcraft was billed as a big summer release this year and Assassins Creed is due to be released December this year. It feels like games are now getting the production value they deserve from the film industry. World of Warcraft was probably the first franchise to make a statement in film since Resident Evil did in 2002, sorry Angry Bird fans I’m not counting you in this situation. We’ve seen a smattering of disappointing titles throughout the years such as Hitman, Max Payne, Silent Hill even the star power of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson couldn’t save Doom, but times may be changing.
Now let’s get into the fun part, what game should be made into a film? For my first article covering this I’m going to cast my very own Halo movie.
Halo was and still is in development hell, but I’m going to steal some ideas from the rumoured film, mainly the director as I feel he’d be perfect for this film Neill Blomkamp. If you’re not familiar with his work firstly just go watch District 9 as it’s excellent, but just look at how he creates futuristic worlds and how well they could work in the Halo universe, especially looking at Elysium it’s a marriage made in heaven especially when you integrate the Halo story.
The lead role is a tough one as I imagine any Halo movie would be centred around Master Chief who would need to be the same voice from the video games so Steve Downes would voice the character, all you need then is some giant to carry himself in armour. I feel Cortana would be the same as she could be done using animation, so Jen Taylor is Cortana.
Sgt Johnson is an interesting one as I’ve narrowed it down two people I think would be great for the role, so firstly Idris Elba could do this role as we’ve seen in Pacific Rim he can give orders and be god damn charismatic at the same time, but my choice would be Jamie Foxx simply for his performance in Jarhead as Staff Sgt. Sykes, where he’s loud, commanding, and entertaining which I think is the perfect recipe for casting Sgt Johnson.
Catherine Halsey is a tough one to cast, as she plays a very important character in the Halo story, but she doesn’t see a lot of time on-screen, as I said it’s a tough one to cast but looking at the in-game character my first thought was Helen Mirren, so I will stick with my first instinct. With regards to her resume she’s obviously well-respected as she’s starred in films for years from The Queen – RED she’s had a very diverse career.
Every film needs an enemy and in Halo games there is obviously a multitude of enemies, and I’ll start with the Spark a little robot who is at first helpful which quickly changes, I feel Simon Pegg would suit this role as he has the calming voice needed to portray the spark. In Halo three prophets command covenant forces and I feel like Andy Serkis could easily portray all 3 if needed, but for film purposes it would probably be wise to focus on one, but regardless I would like the master of voice over to do his magic somewhere in the Halo film and I feel the main prophet would be best for him. If the Arbiter was to be in the film I feel Keith David who voiced him in the game would be best suited, keep what you can original. Brutes are also part of the Halo enemy forces and the main Brute is Tartarus who is voiced by the fantastic Kevin Michael Richardson and it would be silly to change that.
These are my choices for the main parts of an imaginary Halo film, that will hopefully one day be a reality as I feel Halo has the potential to cross from video game and become a force in the film world as Halo has a huge universe that could be used in films, you could easily get a trilogy out of Halo like the original three games, but then you have potential for other sections such as ODST and the hugely emotional story of Reach to crossover too.
Do you have any thoughts on who you would cast in a Halo film? If so use the comments box or my twitter handle below to let me know!