Reporting by Jessica Goebel
If you're Roger Avary, you must have one hell of an address book - his lauded screenwriting collaborators include fan favorites Quentin Tarantino ("Pulp Fiction") and Neil Gaiman (November's "Beowulf"). For his next project, however, Avary will act alone as writer and director for the first time since 2002's eyebrow-raising ensemble drama "The Rules of Attraction."
"I'm doing an adaptation of the [video] game 'Return to Castle Wolfenstein,'" Avary enthused, referring to a gaming institution whose sequels evolved from a seminal 1981 Commodore 64 game. "I just love the World War II guys-on-a-mission movies; to me, 'Castle Wolfenstein' is all of that, plus monsters and horror and all that craziness jammed together. It's my dream film."
2001's "Return" was a groundbreaking first-person shooter depicting an American military agent with a mission to infiltrate a Nazi stronghold. Once inside, the character found himself discovering the truths behind rumors of paranormal research on reanimated corpses, biotechnology, and secret weapons. Think "The Dirty Dozen" meets "Resident Evil."
Avary wouldn't disclose which stars will be storming the castle — but not because he's being secretive, just because he doesn't know yet. "I haven't begun the casting process," he teased. "I have people in my head, but I don't want to jinx it." Fair enough.
As Tarantino junkies know all too well, Avary's former writing partner has been trying to complete his own guys-on-a-mission flick, entitled "Inglorious Bastards," for nearly a decade. With that project now taking on the unwanted status of moviedom's "Chinese Democracy," it seems as though Avary will beat Tarantino onto the battlefield.
"Depending on what happens with the strike, I [could] be shooting it next year," Avary revealed, promising that casting announcements should be emerging soon.
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