Universal and Fox, the studios behind the forthcoming Halo movie, have announced that ‘swords and wizards and goblins and great big monkeys’ duo Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh are to executive produce the videogame-based flick.
That’s great, but what does an executive producer actually do? Um…
Most videogame movies are complete failures – cheaply made, badly
written and acted by morons. But Universal and Fox seem determined for Halo (Games) not to fall into any of these traps. They hired Alex Garland –
writer of The Beach and 28 Days Later – to pen the script; and a
budget of over $100 million has been arranged.
And now, just to add another level of big-namery to the pot, Peter
Jackson (DVDs) and Fran Walsh have been brought in to executive produce Halo.
It’s the first film that they have performed this role without Jackson
directing. But, as there is no definitive job description for an
executive producer, what will they actually be doing?
According to Reuters, they will provide characters, mi natures and
visual effects for Halo, as well as having some creative impute and –
probably – post-production. It’s something that Jackson seems pretty
chuffed with:
"As a gaming fan, I’m excited to bring ‘Halo’s’ premise, action and
settings to the screen with all the specificity and reality today’s
technology can provide. Fran and I are intrigued by the
unique challenges this project offers, and we’re delighted to be
working again with our friends at Universal, and with our new ones at
Fox and Microsoft. I’m a huge fan of the game and look forward to
helping it come alive on the cinema screen."
But
with Jackson, Walsh, Garland, Fox, Universal, Microsoft and Halo creators Bungie all
wanting a say in how the film turns out, there’s a risk that Halo will
end up as a directionless mish-mash. Although, the announcement of a
strong, capable director should stop this from happening. Fingers
crossed that the Uwe Boll rumours were nothing more than a pack of lies.
Obviously – now that Jackson is on board – Halo will be shot entirely in New Zealand. It’s expected to be released in 2007.
Click here to see a scene from Napoleon Dynamite recreated by Halo characters.
Read more:
Jackson, Walsh hail ‘Halo’ producing gig – Reuters
[story by Stuart Heritage]