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Open Letter to Doom Fans from Script Writer
HomeLAN has a reprint of a letter written by Doom movie script writer Dave Callaham. In it he (wittily) attempts to explain why the Doom movie is going to be so unlike the game, and what his role in the creation of the film has been. From his letter: "The screenplay I wrote DOES differ in a number of ways from the games. I want to be very honest and forthcoming in saying that, and I know that I won't make any friends amongst the fans of the game in doing so. But it should be mentioned that it was never the goal of anyone involved in this film, from myself and the producers to the studio to the guys at id, to make a direct film adaptation of the game(s)."
Demons... and space marines. Tada! We're all happy.
The key to the enjoyment of pop music is to replace any instance of "love" with "C.H.U.D."
I always thought the plot of the games was supposed to be laughably bad. Shouldn't any real fans not have too much a problem with this?
Photos.
He basically says: "Hollywood wouldn't let me make the good Doom movie you want, and forced me to make a crappy movie that they think will sell well enough to make a profit. I'm trying real hard not to sound bitter."
The movie is called "Doom" solely to raise press awareness of what otherwise would be a non-event. Like "Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest," which had nothing at all to do with "Final Fantasy," but used the name as market leverage.
(Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest was the second worst game ever, aside from ET)
GeekNights!
Late Night Radio for Geeks!
"This movies going to suck and depress the shit out of all Doom fans. Sorry."
I don't think fans of the Doom games (myself included) are looking for a "direct adaptation" of the games. However, when you take out Hell, Demons, Mars, and Space Marines, it isn't even Doom anymore.
"Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bombs. We have a protractor."
As usual, they've commented on it already:
Penny-Arcade on Doom Movie
"Moderate drinking can help prevent amputated limbs" -- Abigail Zuger, NYTimes, 12/31/02
But it should be mentioned that it was never the goal of anyone involved in this film, from myself and the producers to the studio to the guys at id, to make a direct film adaptation of the game(s).
So...basically it was your plan to mooch off the franchise?
Nice going, skippy.
So I no longer hate the writer at least.... now all I need are letters from the other hundred or so people destroying the Doom name.
Without all the things that makes DOOM what it is then all you really have is Resident Evil. Think about it:
- virally-altered humans (i.e. zombies)
- not on Mars or its moons
- no hell demons
- SWAT team
If that's not a Resident Evil flick, I don't know what is.
"Apparently so, but suppose you throw a coin enough times. Suppose one day, it lands on its edge."
...that the themes and elements that you love about Doom are ALL represented strongly in the film...just with some new twists
...uh... I'm drawing a blank for any original or non-overkilled movie themes here. Just in the last year we've had Dawn of the Dead, AvP, Resident Evil 2....
Hmmm what themes are we looking at here:
Monsters
Violence
Weapons
Starship Troopers is one of the worst adaptations of a movie I can think of. They eliminated the powered armor, a centerpiece of the setting for the book. While the movie managed to not be horrible, it certainly is not related to Heinlein's book in any significant way. The Doom movie sounds like it will be worse.
Thank you for letting us know exactly how you plan to bastardize this great game by making it have nothing to do with the game at all. You have told us that we all had expectations of how the film should be made, and even though you've removed them and now it's nothing at all like Doom it will still be a great game. To that, I say thank you. However, do allow me to let you know that I understand your expectations of how I will watch said film by paying 10 dollars at the local theatre. I had orinally planned on doing this, but as my involvement in said movie came along things slowly changed. Allow me to comfort you that even though I shall not be watching this movie the way you planned, you will still love it when I download it for free. Yours truly.
Doom 3 expands a bit on it by adding such nicesties as in game story to the mix. It adds a "bad guy" or something.
Now after years of talk someone is trying to turn the Doom game into a movie. We get a list of staff that belong neither on the A-list or the cult list. It screams direct-to-video.
Then all we hear is about things they are going to change. I could understand if this guy was a Steven Spielberg but surely he can't be that deluded? You are a nothing given a ready made universe. USE IT. MILK IT. We hear things like cost being bandied about but how expensive is a mars base anyway? Geez this is the age of CGI. Hell you got the sets in Doom3. Rerender and keep the shots very short. This guy is only showing how crap he is by complaing about budget. Exactly how much did the shot in Star Wars cost that firmly set luke on an alien planet? I am not a photographer but what is the cost of a double exposure nowadays? All you need for a mars exterior is a sand desert with a red filter. The BBC can do it for a docu/drama.
Now he is complaining that the fans are upset because he is taking all the doom out of doom. Note that he doesn't actually refute any of the changes that are rumored.
Learn something from better movie makers. learn something from every goddamn suckass bad game license movie that came before. You got a very simple frame work in wich you can make one hell of an action movie. All you need to do is have the hero be a marine, set it on mars and the bad guys are demons or possesed humans. The rest of the story is up to you. You can make it an alien or an aliens. You can make it pure horror or comedy. You can add a love interest JUST AS LONG AS IT IS ON MARS, HAS MARINES AND DEMONS.
What the fuck is this guy problem. I would very much like to know what the people at ID are thinking. Are they paid a huge amount for the license or have they never watched any of the other game license movies. I don't think a new Doom is planned so are they planning to really sink the license once and for all?
The guy seems to have a George Lucas attitude that the fans will just have to swallow what ever he makes. One problem George Lucas got big before his ego swelled. The current George Lucas has with the new star wars movies not repeated the success. The first three movies are a part of culture. The new ones are not. Just make a proper Doom movie then use your fame to make your virus swat team movie.
Oh well maybe Half-life will get a proper movie. Oh, they wanted a love interest for Freeman? Never mind.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
so why make a movie with this name then? Why not some generic name. Doom and Movie constitutes a specific expectation attitude. It builds upon the knowledge of what the game is like. No more words. My left shoe is similar to my right shoe, but its not the same, doesnt matter how many letters I write to my feet, it will not change. Everything else is just a means of trying to "sell" it now the way it is or put on the perceived audience a manipulative view of the subject matter. have a nice day
The "I, Robot" movie had very little to do with the book either. Yet more proof that Hollywood is creatively stagnant. Blade Trinity is a stinker as is Oceans 12. Bleh.
Then why the heck did you name it Doom ??? Or Holiwood ran out names for the movies ?
Ehm? Wha?
So what is so "risky" about mars or marines? I can see demons upsetting some right wingers but they would be upset by anything. Hasn't stopped hollywood dealing with demons before.
So who exactly is stopping him. Who is funding the movie and why? I don't believe the hollywood wouldn't accept it. It has accepted riskier stuff and what is stopping them from making it outside of hollywood? They are hardly trying to court A-list crew members.
No I see this as a badly writter rant by a crap writer who thinks he has some skills and trying to defend his ego trip in changing every single story element. As has been pointed out time and time again Doom is very simple.
As for the violence. I see more death in an epside of CSi and more graphic. Hell they have insde shots of exploding skulls. AND THAT IS ON TV.
Awh shit. We all knew this was gonna suck. They managed to ruin tomb raider. Even simpler story. Big tits, jiggle.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
If you don't know the doom setting I must express my sympaties with your relatives for you are braindead. Just in case you are one of the living dead however it is this. Marines on a mars research base overrun by demons from hell and humans possesed.
So there is indeed no plot to ruin. Doom3 has a plot but not the original 2 games. Basically it is shooting and at the end you shoot an awfull lot and close the gate.
So plenty of freedom to make almost any movie you want. Just as long as you set it on mars, add some marines and some tasty demons.
It is like making a movie called titanic and setting it in tibet. A movie called D-day and setting in an office in houston.
People have made plenty of movies around d-day from action to war drama to love story. None of them replaced the allies with aliens battling herds of albino cows.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I look forward to when the game based on Doom: The Movie comes out. It should be fun to play a generic fps where you run around shooting zombies.
Then again, an fps wouldn't show off the lead actor, so it will probably be a straight platformer.
The only thing I hate more than hypocrites are people who hate hypocrites.
Why call it doom then? From what I've heard about the plot, it just sounds like a sequel to "28 Days Later" maybe they should just call it "Another 28 Days later"??
When is Hollywood going to give us what we want?? Instead, we once again get a resounding "Fuck you".
in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
I wish to thank the writer, director and the studio for being so forthcoming regarding what a load of crap this "Doom" franchise movie will be. They have saved me the price of a movie admission (and of course snack food) and the horror of seeing another poorly done Game to Movie release. Congratulations on destroying your product before it ever got off the ground guys, you could write a good "what not to do with a valuable IP" book. Anyone who might have cared or wanted to see this film have written it off.
Dear euxneks: Fuck you. Love, Hollywood. (sorry I couldnt resist)
Go ahead MOD my day!
More opinions here
Sure, no problem Mr. Callahan just keep up with your plan and do the movie with your little script, and I will keep up with my plan and I wont go to the teather to watch it. I also will warn all my friends and coworkers about your movie being a complete transvesty with no relation but the name to the game and no other intention but to take their money for being gamers. Im pretty sure they will be delighted not to go.
By the way Mr Callahan, obviously you dont care about fan complaints about your RE 28 days cheap clone. So if no fans are going to be interested in your movie, whos going to pay to see it then? for some reason I cant picture my grandpa and my in laws, standing in line for a movie called "doom" I hope your relatives and friends are up to the task.
Go ahead MOD my day!
More opinions here
The problem with making a DooM movie is that a real DooM movie could never be made....
Imagine this: Opening shot, a lone Space Marine steps off his landing craft and makes his way into an abandoned research outpost on Mars.
Suddenly, from around the corner a flaming, screaming skull flies towards him desperately trying to take bites out of his face. He quickly levels his shotgun and shatters the skull in mid-scream. Distracted, he fails to notice the shambling, rotting corpse slowly advancing on him. At the last second he spins around and tears the clearly human corpse apart with a chainsaw...
See what I'm getting at here? A DooM movie would be 90 minutes of:
a) Demons from hell
b) Zombie headshots
c) Ultra-violence
d) Satanism/satanic symbolism
e) Absolutely no redeeming moral value
As much as I would love to see a movie like this, there isn't a major studio in the world that would back a project like this, at this time. Did any of you see what happened on November 2nd? Jesusland would be up in arms over a real DooM movie. What you'd see would be like the opposite of The Passion of the Christ - a grass roots movement to not only ban the movie, but all violent video games.
Personally I want the movie to suck. I hope it tanks, and DooM and the legion of games it has influenced survive this strange fundamentalist movement in America.
Be careful what you wish for. A real DooM movie which stayed true to game, would ultimately create a backlash which would destroy the very thing we are all so passionate about.
No battles to the death are recalled. Mumpsman can hit to attack and cause brainsmashing.
Just watch John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars - it was uncannily like Doom.... from the deserted space bases, to the look of the 'possessed' - hell, it was even on Mars!
Sunday you're Thinking Different, Monday you're a huge tool, paying too much and waiting to think like everyone else.
If this movie comes out rated PG-13 than there is no doubt that it's pure shit! I want massive explsions, massive B00Bies, and massive amounts of bl00d.
A Doom movie?
Bio-Force Deal.
(Hint: this is a reference to the renaming of the BFG...)
Instead of killing myself or seeing the movie, I think I will just play the Doom games instead, and skip the Holloywood Bull.
Is anyone besides Doom fans going to want to see this movie anyway? With all the "Doom Kills Children" stuff from soccer moms and such I don't think it's going to go through to all that wide of an audience, I mean, most of the people I, uh, "knew" in high schools wouldn't want to see a movie based off of a computer game because it was dorky. The only people who are going to want to see this movie, as far as I can tell is Doom fans, Hollywood should know this, why dissapoint?
about the Super Mario Bros Movie, and how it scared me into hating the game.
Why can't all fpga/microcontroller manufacturers just release free optimizing compilers???
I would rather have some sort of tongue-in-cheek movie. Put Bruce Campbell's Elvis from Bubba Ho-Tep in it or something. ("Come and get it, you undead sack of shit.")
Call me a strange Doom fan, but my taste for giblets and hellspawn does not translate to the silver screen for me.
Jesus saves....And takes 1/2 damage.
Without all that Doom 2 makes almost no sense. A movie goer with no Doom 1 info would end up asking himself this :
1. Who is this guy? (Hes a marine who got shipped to Mars for striking his superior officer.)
2. Where/how did demons get to Earth? (see Doom 1.)
3. Why is he so badass and everyone else fell to the demons? (Because he's been through hell and back, hes prepared, he has the element of surprise, hes skilled and hes nothing less of a 'veteran' against demons at this point.)
4. If hes so good, why aren't the other Marines so good (see Doom 1, originally he got left behind so he was more 'shoot now, figure out when they're all dead' and not 'lets figure this thing out peacefully before filling it full of holes.'
Thats all I hear when I read this.
itadakimasu
They try to make a movie about Doom, and they completely miss the point. They look at a game for inspiration and there's a perfectly good book. A TRILOGY. Forgotten. Prize-winning literature, forgotten.
And don't get me started on the comic.
Remember, Giaman and Pratchett's Good Omens screenplay was sunk by insane story notes from an executive producer that essentially changed everything from the book except the title. It happens every time with these adaptation films unless you have someone who gives a shit in a position of power to protect the property, for example Peter Jackson. (LOTR purists take note, I know he changed some things but at least he didn't set the story on a different bloody planet.
Trust me. Blame the producers/the studio meatwhistles/hell, maybe the director as well - but for this guy to state publicly that he's "disappointed" that his true-to-the-game screenplay has been drastically altered, then behind the scenes he's almost certainly so monstrously fucked off at these pricks he's having trouble seeing straight.
[I guess there's little chance of an answer, but I thought I'd throw it out there]
The movie is supposed to be Doom, right? Well, shouldn't it be spelling Doom then? I can't see it being any more Doomed than this.
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Mystic Quest was a very important game, and was not THAT bad. Even more important, it was the first game on a very popular series, Sword of mana.
Open letter from DoomedWhisky Product Manager Glenholwood distillery:
Sometime in the last week or so there was quite an uproar over the announcement of our latest DoomedWhisky product.
The DoomedWhisky produced does differ in a number of ways from our other very popular whiskies. I want to be very honest and forthcoming in saying that, and I know I won't make any friends amongst the fans of whisky in doing so.
But it should be mentioned that it was never the goal of anyone involved in DoomedWhisky to make it exactly like whisky. Because let's be honest, we were never going to top the other whiskies anyway. Instead we have toyed with some ingredients of the product and yes, I am pretty much solely responsible for that, since it was my idea and my whisky that got made. Let me assure you, though, that the themes and elements that you love about Whisky are ALL represented strongly in DooomedWhisky...just with some new twists - like _real_ lemon juice (twist of lemon included!), and lots of pure spring water (so that we can meet regulations and sell it to kids ). We did away with the casks/barrels and we are using rice instead of barley.
I don't enjoy watching a bunch of strangers bastardize my whisky any more than you do, but really none of us can do anything about it at this point, so I hope that at least some of you will fret, with me, in the direction of optimism. We all have high expectations, and a lot of them won't be met, but the bottom line is the Whisky is going to be pretty cool.
"Hey guys, you know this weird guy we thought was some telemarketer? Well, he actually called to license Doom 3. But he wasn't calling for the engine. No, this idiot is offering us heaps of money for- get this- the story of Doom 3!"
"Let's agree, I want something to laugh about!"
And it's called "Ghosts of Mars". A group of Martian archaeologists dig up some alien ruins and set free evil Martian "ghosts" which take over the bodies of humans, even when dead. A group of military commandos/criminals face a enormous numbers of possessed zombie-like creatures and attempt to escape. The only thing lacking is some green armor and big over-the-top plasma based weapons. Oh and demons.