Australian-born Hollywood scribe Stuart Beattie (G.I. Joe, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl) loves video games. He even loves writing movie script versions of them.
While the Halo flick seemed dead in the water, Beattie went on about how Halo was "our generation's Star Wars" and even wrote a spec screenplay based on the Eric Nylund's book, Halo: The Fall of Reach.
"I turned in a draft, but there was no one [i.e. a studio] to turn a draft to," the writer says in a recent interview. " Microsoft needs to be a powerful filmmaker to give us those keys. I'm talking to powerful filmmakers to get them interested, because I think that would be a fantastic film." (Steven Spielberg, anyone?)
Beattie has also cut his teeth on the Gears of War script as well as the one for the now-on-ice Spy Hunter flick.
"I think Warner Bros. bought all the Midway games," Beattie says. "I worked a script very hard with Dwayne Johnson. I loved that script. I hope one day they can make it. It's going to take a pretty big filmmaker. It's a big summer movie. It's a car that changes into all sorts of stuff. It has three great car chase in all parts of the world. I would like to see it done one day. Maybe they'll let me do it one day if it's still around, but it's looking for a filmmaker."
Beattie is gearing up for his directorial debut Tomorrow, When The War Began, based on the best-selling series of books by author John Marsden. If that works out, he'll be a bankable filmmaker. He can make it!
Exclusive Interview: SCREENWRITER STUART BEATTIE TOYS WITH 'G.I. JOE' FOR THE BIG SCREEN [iFMagazine.com]