Hi there.
I'm an Australian writer/director who has just had my first Sci Fi Drama play at Fantasia Fest last year where it was nominated for best first time feature and listed as one of the top ten most anticipated films of the festival. Currently it's with a distributor and has been sold to China amongst other territories.
The reason why I'm opening with this statement is so there is some sense of validity to the rest of my thread.
My first experience with Metroid was back on Christmas Eve 1994 where I played Super Metroid at the Myer Department Store. The next day I found the game under the Christmas Tree. Bizarrely I never told my parents I wanted the game. Needless to say from then on I've considered it the best game ever made on any platform although I am bias towards 2D adventure and fighting games. The reason for this was simple - mood and tone. No game came close. So much so that my email alert tone at one point was the same bit of music that plays when you pick up a missile.
With that said over the past few years myself and a producer friend have been slowly chipping away at our contacts trying to get some traction on the project. Whether it be through friends of those who hold the rights or those who previously were rights holders and were going to make the film. The story always seems to be the same. Nintendo are incredibly protective of this property.
I guess for me it's been so long that I don't see the point not sharing my version with the community. In fact I probably should of done it sooner. Maybe it will spark something. Most likely it won't but I feel as someone who grew up with the game and understands the Metroid Universe as well as anyone and also has the good fortune to be directing commercials and feature films I feel I owe it to the community to at least offer some alternative when talking about the film.
My take is based solely on the Super Metroid installment. To me this game is built upon two basic principles. Exploration and Isolation and they are the two themes I push in my script. Almost a slow descent into madness crossed with Aliens. What's most important to me is that this game does not fall into the shoot em up movie category like Doom. I've (and I hope I have) tried to imbue Samus with a history according to Metroid mythology (although it does get a little contradictory), a personality, faults, a very deep reasoning for her attachment to the Metroid and simply just a sense of empathy both from her and for her as a reader. With this said I've also tried to do the same for the pirates. They may not be relatable but we understand their motives.
If you want an idea of my mindspace when I wrote/ re drafted this film listen to Red Soil and the Opening drone music that accompanies the Super Metroid intro when it clicks into auto play mode. That's what I had playing in my earphones as I wrote this whilst always telling myself "Exploration and Isolation".
Anyway before I paste the link to the hosted Screenplay I just want to thank anyone who actually took the time and had the patience to read this stupidly long thread. Apologies. If you are wondering who I am I'm sure most of you are smart enough to find me. I have a website with my commercial work and an IMDB link plus my feature film website.
I think Metroid as a story has a lot more to offer than someone just running and gunning. I'm going to keep pushing this amongst my other projects because I think this on screen could finally be the first video game film that actually does justice to the game itself.
Here is the link. Forgive any typos in the script.
Spread the word if you think it worthy
Enjoy!
http://www.thepdfportal.com/cb60820f-9d27-4a6f-91a8-a4f702c217a2_297512.pdf
I'm an Australian writer/director who has just had my first Sci Fi Drama play at Fantasia Fest last year where it was nominated for best first time feature and listed as one of the top ten most anticipated films of the festival. Currently it's with a distributor and has been sold to China amongst other territories.
The reason why I'm opening with this statement is so there is some sense of validity to the rest of my thread.
My first experience with Metroid was back on Christmas Eve 1994 where I played Super Metroid at the Myer Department Store. The next day I found the game under the Christmas Tree. Bizarrely I never told my parents I wanted the game. Needless to say from then on I've considered it the best game ever made on any platform although I am bias towards 2D adventure and fighting games. The reason for this was simple - mood and tone. No game came close. So much so that my email alert tone at one point was the same bit of music that plays when you pick up a missile.
With that said over the past few years myself and a producer friend have been slowly chipping away at our contacts trying to get some traction on the project. Whether it be through friends of those who hold the rights or those who previously were rights holders and were going to make the film. The story always seems to be the same. Nintendo are incredibly protective of this property.
I guess for me it's been so long that I don't see the point not sharing my version with the community. In fact I probably should of done it sooner. Maybe it will spark something. Most likely it won't but I feel as someone who grew up with the game and understands the Metroid Universe as well as anyone and also has the good fortune to be directing commercials and feature films I feel I owe it to the community to at least offer some alternative when talking about the film.
My take is based solely on the Super Metroid installment. To me this game is built upon two basic principles. Exploration and Isolation and they are the two themes I push in my script. Almost a slow descent into madness crossed with Aliens. What's most important to me is that this game does not fall into the shoot em up movie category like Doom. I've (and I hope I have) tried to imbue Samus with a history according to Metroid mythology (although it does get a little contradictory), a personality, faults, a very deep reasoning for her attachment to the Metroid and simply just a sense of empathy both from her and for her as a reader. With this said I've also tried to do the same for the pirates. They may not be relatable but we understand their motives.
If you want an idea of my mindspace when I wrote/ re drafted this film listen to Red Soil and the Opening drone music that accompanies the Super Metroid intro when it clicks into auto play mode. That's what I had playing in my earphones as I wrote this whilst always telling myself "Exploration and Isolation".
Anyway before I paste the link to the hosted Screenplay I just want to thank anyone who actually took the time and had the patience to read this stupidly long thread. Apologies. If you are wondering who I am I'm sure most of you are smart enough to find me. I have a website with my commercial work and an IMDB link plus my feature film website.
I think Metroid as a story has a lot more to offer than someone just running and gunning. I'm going to keep pushing this amongst my other projects because I think this on screen could finally be the first video game film that actually does justice to the game itself.
Here is the link. Forgive any typos in the script.
Spread the word if you think it worthy
Enjoy!
http://www.thepdfportal.com/cb60820f-9d27-4a6f-91a8-a4f702c217a2_297512.pdf
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