Peter Jackson Talks About the Halo Movie

In an interview over at aintitcool Director Peter Jackson – yep, the Lord of the Rings dude – talks about being the producer for the upcoming Halo movie. The interview itself gets pretty lengthy; things like script issues, looking for the right director, R-ratings and mainstream acceptance of video game movies were all discussed.

As far as looking for the right director for the film (Neill BlomKamp), Peter Jackson had three things in mind. First, the director had to really want to do it, and would really want to do it for the fans. Second, they wanted somebody to bring a unique vision to the movie. They looked for somebody who could come up with a vision that would emphasize all the right points of the game. The third criterion and the most important of all, Pete wanted a director who was a fan of Halo.

Almost as if in answer to critics saying that making good movies out of video games is impossible, and that mulling over picking a director isn’t that important, Peter Jackson had this to say:

“Good films just need good characters, good storyline and a great director to bring it to life and make a film that you’ve never seen before. That’s what it needs. It doesn’t matter a damn whether it’s based on a game, a book or a piece of chewing gum, you know? That’s irrelevant. It’s what actually ends up on the screen that’s important.”

Take that Uwe Boll.

As for the unfinished script, Peter said they’re working on it. They’re trying to give as much constructive criticism to the writers as they can. Cutting down a long video game into a 2 to 3 hour movie is a lot of work after all. Here’s where the ratings problem comes in too. According to Pete, the studio will be really happy with with a PG-13 rating, but they’re considering coming out with a hard R-Rated version of the film in order to please the fans.

Well, I for one will certainly want to wait a bit for the R-Rated version. Microsoft‘s Halo just isn’t Halo without all the graphic violence that adds spice to the story.

In an interview over at aintitcool Director Peter Jackson – yep, the Lord of the Rings dude – talks about being the producer for the upcoming Halo movie. The interview itself gets pretty lengthy; things like script issues, looking for the right director, R-ratings and mainstream acceptance of video game movies were all discussed.

As far as looking for the right director for the film (Neill BlomKamp), Peter Jackson had three things in mind. First, the director had to really want to do it, and would really want to do it for the fans. Second, they wanted somebody to bring a unique vision to the movie. They looked for somebody who could come up with a vision that would emphasize all the right points of the game. The third criterion and the most important of all, Pete wanted a director who was a fan of Halo.

Almost as if in answer to critics saying that making good movies out of video games is impossible, and that mulling over picking a director isn’t that important, Peter Jackson had this to say:

“Good films just need good characters, good storyline and a great director to bring it to life and make a film that you’ve never seen before. That’s what it needs. It doesn’t matter a damn whether it’s based on a game, a book or a piece of chewing gum, you know? That’s irrelevant. It’s what actually ends up on the screen that’s important.”

Take that Uwe Boll.

As for the unfinished script, Peter said they’re working on it. They’re trying to give as much constructive criticism to the writers as they can. Cutting down a long video game into a 2 to 3 hour movie is a lot of work after all. Here’s where the ratings problem comes in too. According to Pete, the studio will be really happy with with a PG-13 rating, but they’re considering coming out with a hard R-Rated version of the film in order to please the fans.

Well, I for one will certainly want to wait a bit for the R-Rated version. Microsoft‘s Halo just isn’t Halo without all the graphic violence that adds spice to the story.