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)."

Comments

Be careful what you wish for

[Mumpsman]

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.