We've had a lot of Hitlers in movies. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that there's been a Hitler for just about everyone's taste over the years. Angry Hitler, brooding Hitler, romantic Hitler, wacky Hitler, Hitler's ghost...yeah, we've pretty much covered the spectrum there. But what about those of us pining for a gigantic, mechanized Hitler with giant machine guns for arms? Where is our movie?
Apparently, it's coming. Specifically, it's coming in the form of a film based on the Castle Wolfenstein video game franchise, courtesy of production Panorama Media, who have signed screenwriter Roger Avary to pen the script and direct.
If Avary's name sounds familiar, it's because he's dabbled in the world of video game adaptation before. Though he's likely most well-known in Hollywood for co-writing Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, and writing/directing the Bret Easton Ellis adaptation The Rules of Attraction, Avary also wrote the script for Christophe Gans' film version of Silent Hill. Most recently, he's been writing the TV series based on the comic book franchise XIII, which had its own game adaptation some years back.
Producer Samuel Hadida, who is credited with producing four of the five Resident Evil movies, as well as both Silent Hill films, is heading up the project on the production side.
The screenplay, per The Hollywood Reporter, "centers on a young U.S. Army captain and a British special agent on a top-secret mission to Castle Wolfenstein, where Hitler will be for the unveiling of a new secret weapon. After reaching the Castle, the heroes are confronted with Himmler's SS Paranormal Division and must fight, not only for their survival, but for a mission that could alter the course of the war."
My guess would be that the movie won't worry too much about trying to adhere to the game franchise's specifics, and more just use the idea of "creepy occult Nazis turning Hitler into a giant mech of doom" as an overall framework for an action movie. Which would be just fine by me, really. After all, who really cares about slavish attention to detail in the Castle Wolfenstein universe? Only two questions need be answered, really. Is Hitler in it? And is Hitler a mech? If the answer to both is yes, then things are officially on the right track.
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