The latest God of War game has received universal acclaim from critics as well as reigniting interest in a movie based upon the franchise. Such a project has been in development for some time, but it's been a number of years since we last heard anything substantial. That's something which PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING director Steven S. DeKnight would see change as he told ComicBook.com that he's actually approached Sony PlayStation about the project; in fact, he already has someone in mind to play Kratos: Dave Bautista.
I would love to see it. Somebody had asked me about video games and I've always been a fan of God of War. I think the latest game was just so beautiful and phenomenal. I would love to tackle God of War movie or I would love to see somebody put that up on the big screen. Somebody asked me, 'Well, who would you have to have Kratos?' And immediately for me: Dave Batista would be the man. I think he can do anything. You can do drama, real emotion, humor, action. What would I like to see from a movie like that? A bit of a tricky question because there hasn't really been 100% success of translating a video game to a movie. It's a very, very tricky process.
As mentioned above, Steven S. DeKnight has had some early conversations with the folks at Sony PlayStation about a GOD OF WAR film, and he had a little advice for how to tackle the project. "You have to be able to take the source material and make it work as a movie. And I think that's part of the reason oftentimes video game movies don't work is because you can't translate the video game experience into a movie," DeKnight said. "You gotta take the characters and the situations and the emotions and make it work for a movie." The director cautioned that he's not in talks to take on the project right now, but if such a day ever arrives, he knows that the film would absolutely need an R-rating.
It's funny because when I sat down with the Sony PlayStation people, one of the first things we both said is R-rated because I always use the original Conan the Barbarian as my touchstone, that it needs to be R-rated. I don't think there's a way to tell that story and make it PG, nor should it be. And thankfully because of Deadpool, people are much more willing to try that R-rated there with genre work now, again. So, yeah, without a doubt R-rated. I mean not on as far as Spartacus, that was more NC-17, but definitely R-rated.
What are your thoughts on a GOD OF WAR movie? Would Dave Bautista make a good Kratos? If not, who do you see taking on the role? PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING is set to be released on DVD/Blu-ray/4K Ultra HD on June 19th.