Castlevania: Anderson Out, White In
To cheer or to boo? Video game vampire lovers aren't sure how to feel. That's because long-time video game fave "Castlevania" won't be directed by Paul W.S. Anderson after all, according to Variety. Though Anderson's work on the screenplay will be retained, it's relative newcomer Sylvain White (of "Stomp The Yard") who'll get the directorial nod.
Says Variety, "White grew up playing the game in the early 1990s, and was attracted to the chance to make a vampire film. The script sets up a generational clash between Vlad the Impaler and the Belmont family, a clan that unleashed the original vampire and battles to defeat him.
"'Most of the vampire films have been present or set in the future, from 'Blade' to 'Underworld,' and I was attracted by the chance to make a dark, epic period movie that almost has an anime feel to it,' White said."
What's up here? Why did Anderson bolt? What do gamers think about the change?
Anderson bolted to direct the remake of "Death Race." All this has video game fans bemused, to say the least. At Kotaku, arguably the most major of video game blogs, color Micahel Fahey scared: "So we have a relatively untested director with one major sleeper hit under his belt, but White is also slated to direct Frank Miller's Ronin, and Miller's properties aren't exactly fluff that studios hand out to just anyone. Someone has faith in the guy, so I'll swipe a little of that and see what happens."
I'll go farther. Anderson is a proven talent with horror ("Alien vs. Predator") and he directed the actually-really-good "Mortal Kombat" movie. White may be terrific, but he's not a proven talent in this genre. With something as near and dear to gamer's hearts as Castlevania, I'd have gone with a more seasoned horror director -- just to make sure the blood isn't completely sucked out of Konami's prize franchise.
I'll take a newcomer over Paul W.S. Anderson any day. Heck, I'll even take somebody off the streets over the guy. Even with Anderson out of the director's chair, his script is still place and that alone leaves me fearing that "Castlevania" will blow chunks. "Resident Evil" was awful and he botched a great match-up for the ages in "Alien Vs. Predator".
I say, toss out the script and start from scratch. I don't know of anybody right off hand that might be able to put together a great script for the film, but Clive Barker does come to mind. He has a great taste for things dark, twisted, and I think he would do a great job with a time piece such as "Castlevania".
And while we're at it, I would bring Guillermo del Toro in to direct. But that will never happen seeing as GDT is far too busy these days and if they waited for his schedule to clear up, "Castlevania" wouldn't be released until sometime after 2010.
Nonetheless, I'll give Sylvain White a chance. But if I see Simon Belmont stop taking out baddies to enjoy a good [Stomp in the Courtyard], I'm done. It baffles me why studios keep bringing in non-genre director's to do these films. Horror has a very knowledgeable fanbase and when we see them do this, we always reject the film. Yet, they keep tossing us music video and teen mega-hit (PG-13) film director's.
'A dark, epic period movie that almost has an anime feel to it'
Um, hi, that was "Van Helsing".
And if Universal was smart, they'd realize that there's a big fanbase for that movie, thus they'd forget about this direct-to-DVD with Julian MacMahon nonsense.
I have a petition going to get Universal to change their minds here-
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/fateworsethandeathvanhelsing
If they set it in the universe of the DS games (And get Howie Dorough of Backstreet Boys fame to be Alucard...who may or may not be based off him in the "Backstreet's Back" video), then I'm ok.
If not, I'm going to have to grab a bunch of my other VH fan friends and protest outside of Universal in CA.