'CliffyB': 'Gears' movie still on track

The creator of the 2007 video game of the year is spending more time these days shooting down movie gossip than wily opponents on Xbox Live.

Slamming the lid on the rumours to the contrary, Clifford Bleszinski (alias ‘CliffyB’) wants fans to know that the ‘Gears of War’ movie is still alive and well. It is in the development phase and moving ahead on all fronts.

“We are currently at the point where we have had a couple drafts of the script and now we are talking to different directors and trying to feel out who would be the best fit for it,” Bleszinski told Cineplex Entertainment while he was in Toronto promoting the Windows PC release of ‘Gears of War’.

A multi award-winning ‘hide and seek’ first-person shooter, ‘Gears’ tells the story of a disgraced army officer leading a rag-tag brigade of soldiers in a perpetual war against invading aliens. According to Bleszinski, the game’s action film presentation immediately sparked thoughts of a big screen movie adaption.

“When we made the game, it was important to us to keep that breakneck pacing so we had that Jerry Bruckheimer – Michael Bay action movie experience going. That is where ‘Gears’ came from and that is why it resonated very well with people,” said Bleszinski.

While the project has no director attached to it at present, Stuart Beattie, the scribe behind ’30 Days Of Night’, ‘Collateral’ and ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl’, is working on the ‘Gears’ screenplay for New Line Cinema. Beattie, a fan of the game, landed the gig after messaging a New Line executive on Xbox Live one night.

“It has been a fascinating process. It has been one where Stu actually came to us as far as the fact that he loved the game and realized that he didn’t quite know how to put together a huge blockbuster,” recalled Bleszinski.

Donning the movie producer’s hat is a major shift for the video game guru at Epic Games. Thus far, he has been learning on the fly absorbing all that he can about the twists and turns of the movie-making business while at the same time bearing the burden that traditionally, movies based on video games don’t exactly have the best track record. There has been more misses than hits to be sure.

“It has been a really fascinating process to learn how Hollywood works,” said Bleszinski. “I just hope that whatever comes out of this is compelling entertainment and is very representative of the ‘Gears of War’ universe.”