Taking video games to the big screen has been a major challenge in the past, but acclaimed director Zack Snyder hopes to change that with his upcoming movie based on the Xbox One exclusive Ryse: Son of Rome.
Snyder himself has never hid the fact that he is a huge history buff, so the third person action game set in historic Rome was a natural fit. “I’m really excited to bring this game and story into a new medium,” Snyder said in a recent magazine interview about the upcoming movie. “We’ve got a real solid cast that I’ve worked with previously and feel comfortable around. That goes a long way in making something great and original.”
The star studded casts is headlined by Gerard Butler who will be playing the lead character, Marius Titus. Alongside him will be Lena Headey, Dominic West and Michael Fassbender; among other high caliber actors.
According to the director, some changes are being made to the original story to make it better fit the big screen.
“For starters, we’ll be slightly altering the backstory and name of the main character. Not to give too much away, but we’d like it better if Marius (or as we’re calling him, Leonidus) started as a king instead of just another soldier in the Roman army. We believe this will translate better to film as it is easier to focus on an exciting king, y’know? Also, the movie no longer takes place in Rome. Instead we are slightly altering the location and it will take place in ancient Sparta.”
Changes to video game stories like this aren’t uncommon, but they rarely deviate too much from the main story of the game themselves, something Snyder hopes to maintain.
“We really don’t want to damage what the great storytellers at Crytek did with Ryse. We want to keep the main flavor of their tale and make it more approachable for movie audiences. Because of this, we are also changing the number of soldiers that Leorius will be commanding. Instead of the small battalion of Roman soldiers that Marius (or as he’s now known Leonidus) had in Ryse, we will be increasing the number to roughly 300 of the Spartan soldiers.”
Among the changes were other small things such as the main antagonist of the movie will the be a flamboyant Persian King instead of the barbarians from Ryse and none of the Roman (or Spartan as it were) soldiers will wear armor or even shirts. The time period will also be slightly altered, being moved to 480 BC. “But we really want to maintain that Roman warrior feel of the game” he reassured us, “Ryse fans are our main audience here. We're not changing the name or anything, so hopefully fans of the game still come out and buy tickets. Lots and lots of tickets.”
Filming should be started around January 10th.
UPDATE: As of several minutes after this article was published, filming has been completed.
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