Kotaku
We were sent a portion of the Castlevania movie script a few weeks ago, a bit of which we posted for your enjoyment. If you did, that's fantastic. If not, you missed your chance. However, we've done our best junior script analysis on what we've seen so far, an attempt we hope will help you get up to speed on the direction the Rogue Pictures production is headed.
The script portions we saw introduce the audience to an adult Trevor Belmont who, with his fellow "battle-hardened" brother Christopher, is ordered by his king—through man of god Lucius—to dispatch you-know-who. Only that the Belmonts don't seem to know who they're actually going up against.
Like Warren Ellis' plans for the animated Castlevania: Dracula's Curse, the Castlevania screenplay looks to source heavily from Castlevania III. The attack on Dracula's castle doesn't appear to be a solo effort. Trevor is joined by a group of knights under his command and compatriots, some of whom are taken by the castle's inhabitants.
The bestiary includes some familiar foes, the succubus Elizabeth Bartley, and some seemingly original creations, a spider made of human bones, amid other well-known characters. Alucard, for example, delivers the type of line that might induce either fanboyish chills or cynical snickers with "The whip is the key!" Like any video game to film translation, the script portions we've seen may suffer most in their need to fit two decades of lore into 100 minutes and not come across as cheesy.
In addition to Belmont ally Sypha, Castlevania: Lament of Innocence antagonist Mathias Cronqvuist also makes an appearance, one of the many bad guys who will come between Trevor and Dracula himself.
The script certainly appears to have a more mature tilt, like the Ellis attempt, as the bloodshed one would expect in a place populated by vampires, werewolves and wraiths seems intact. Sex, violence, copious amounts of things being whipped—it's all in the screenplay at this point. Whether nude scenes involving succubi bathing in coagulating blood will make it to the big screen, we don't know.
With the Writers Guild of America strike looking like it's on the verge of resolution, the Castlevania live action film production may go back into production soon. We'll be keeping an eye on development to let you know how things are progressing.
Comments
When you said Castlevania III, I was worried there wouldn't be any of my boy Alucard. But you've set me straight and I remain cautiously optimistic.
@NeverSage: Looks like they're cherry picking some of the better characters from throughout the series.
Sorry, I haven't been following this, but does anyone know if there have been any casting rumors, as yet, or do we only have the screenplay to chew on?
"Sex, violence, copious amounts of things being whipped" At the very least, it's already a cult hit.
@NeverSage:
More then Alucard please, Castelvania III had some of the baddest bosses in the series.
You know, I'm wondering why the writer's guild strike was even such a big deal. Honestly, considering how much crap has been released in movie theaters and on television, I don't know why we would've missed those idiots.
They need to put the Zombie Maids in it at some capacity. Definitely my favorite characters from the entiriety of the Castlevania franchise.
I'm sure Hollywood could end up bastardizing this still and end up with Lifeforce 2 (the 80's movie, not the awesome shmup). Aaaaaluuucaaard iiiiin spaaaaaaace!
@atom88: Vampires in space is an often overlooked genre. All we need is the director with the vision to adequately realize it. Is David Lynch doing anything right now, because he is the one who can fulfill this dream ^__^
@kevinski:
So I guess you are cool with 24 hour reality TV? Please dude dont speak bull, considering the fact that talk shows and good movies and series need writers, what you say is, quite frankly, ignorant.
Yes there is some really, really, REALLY awful s*** on TV and movies, but there are also good written shows and movies.
More on topic, It all seems like a badly made popurri of Castlevania mythos, so Mathias Cronquist now is a sub-boss? and the belmonts, the sworn enemies of Dracula have no clue who dracula is?
I don't really get why do they feel the need to rewrite so much of the general story of Castlevania, there is ample room for character exploration as there is, i.e.:The Belmont is a family of outcast driven by a blood oath of one of their ancestors (Leon) to hunt Dracula, whether they like it or not. Then we have Alucard the son of freaking Dracula who hates his cursed blood but doesn't really fit in with humanity either, and Syphia, a sorceress who has to pose as a man because of the times. And Dracula, a man droven mad by the loss of his original wife and takes on a battle against God and then the world when he losses the second woman he loves.
Hell it has more than enough themes isolation, grief and the like to make a good drama, and besides it has action so the story needs to be concise to give room for the action to shine. It has more then enough reasons to be an awsome movie.
It seems far too convoluted to be an effective movie, but seems I'm actually a optimist and movies tend to change somewhat from the script so Im still hoping for an acceptable movie.
@KreacherOfBloodandRank:
I for one am fin with 24 hour reality TV, and heck, reruns too. Hell, they could have the Goatse man on there 24/7 with the louder pieces from the Silent Hill soundtrack looping on and on.
I have books, videogames and the internet. The writers can strike til they die of starvation.
@Koztah: Woo books!
Proof that the REAL writers aren't on strike. Just these union video crap junkies.
On a related tangent, how many really good YouTube videos and how many really good movies/tv shows have you seen in the last 6 months?
Personally, I've watched more TV but laughed at more YouTube stuff. Dramatic Chipmunk FTW (and yes I know he's a prairie dog).
@Koztah: What people don't realize is that the writer's strike affects America more than through shitty reality TV. LA is getting to be a real depressing place. I have many friends and colleagues who have lost their jobs because of the strike. Right now, everyone is fighting for the indy film scraps. This means new blood isn't getting into Hollywood since old union workers are taking the lower positions, just to make some money. People are losing their houses... families are getting destroyed... it's terrible.
@NeverSage: That's the inherent problem with getting a career in what can be referred to as a luxury field. We don't need movies or video games, so it's almost impossible to predict the job market. But on the flipside, you get in there, and it looks like it'd be mad fun.
Insurance on the other hand. Polar opposite. TRUST ME. =_=;;
@Setzer IIDX: I see what you're trying to say, but take some issue with entertainment being a "luxury field" I mean sure it's not absolutely essential to human life, but history has shown that people are loathe to give up their entertainment. During the Great Depression, the music industry (recordings, dance halls, etc) was one of the few sectors to NOT be completely decimated. I mean sure, they took a hit, but people still kept buying into music. If the rest of life is depressing, people naturally want some sort of reprieve from that... and thus, the entertainment industry continues on.
For something more on topic, forget this live action crap, I'm looking forward the Ellis animated movie. He has plans to make it a trilogy (but still stand alone as a movie) thus avoiding the pitfalls of trying to cram every single idea from the game into 100 minutes. Also there is goat sex.
@Setzer IIDX:
Even if authors were on strike, we have a few centuries worth of reading sitting around just on Gutenberg Project.
Also, as for really good movies, I watched Big Trouble In Little China the other day. That count?
@NeverSage:
I don't disagree that people end up screwed because of the strike, I just question how everyone freaks out because there are no new television shows. It sucks that so many people are out of work due to a bunch of egomaniacal hacks. I'm not sure how this screenwriter's association works (whether studios are forced to use them for instance), but this sort of thing has to go - all it does is keep the studios at the mercy of the writers and makes it more difficult for new talent to pop up. Kind of like record labels.
@Defenestrated: That's actually precisely what I meant by impossible to predict. Great Depression's actually a good example, since logic would lead you to believe that an entertainment field would suffer the most, but it wasn't the case.
It's not that it's bad, it's just that you can never really guess when rough patches for your field are coming and how long they'll stay. Did anyone really think the writer's strike would go on this long? That makes it tough to really shore up against hard times, unless you're always prepared.
Okay, cool, so it wasn't the Warren Ellis script. Good deal. Can't wait for the animated one. This here live-action script, I can't say I'm confident in it. I didn't actually read much of it, I'm just saying, video games being made into live-action movies don't have a track record of being very good.
Huh? But Mathias is Dracula in the Castlevania storyline.
Oh lawdy. FTA:
"[...]and some seemingly original creations, a [such as a] spider made of human bones[...]"
It appears as though my anti-BONE-spider activism has fallen upon deaf ears. Let me reiterate. Bone spiders appeal to only:
1) 14-year-old WWE fans
2) People who wear post Black Album Metallica T-Shirts
3) "Spawn" fans.
4) ...terrorists?
Ergo, Bone Spiders==Epic Fail. Quod erat demonstrandum, motherfuckers!
I think movies like this need to be done in an Army of Darkness vein. Over-the-top dialogue, action and plot all make movies that you can't see any other way but corny so very enjoyable when it's pulled off right.
I'm looking forward to the animated version. Warren Ellis promised neked Alucard, goat ******* and people exploding when whipped. XD
The script has taken the Castlevania timeline and shat all over it. As pointed out, Mathias IS Dracula. You're throwing in all sorts of Belmonts from different eras. That, and the Belmonts are literally BORN to fight Dracula... which leads me to wonder how they could not know who it is they're up against. If this movie ever gets made, I'll see it. Just... not in theaters.
On a brighter note, I'm glad to see Alucard, though the script needs more Simon (if they have Mathias, then Simon isn't impossible. ...well, maybe it is, but none of this makes sense anyway. The timeline, for god sakes, the timeline!)
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