Paul W.S. Anderson had serious ambitions when it came to his big screen adaptation of the ‘80s Nintendo game, “Castlevania.” It was going to span hundreds of years, from fifteenth century Transylvania to the European trenches of World War II, yet also would somehow still be an origin story focusing on the genesis of the feud between Dracula and the Belmonts, the family tasked with battling the vampire and his clan.
That was several years ago, before the writers’ strike and then the sale of Rogue Pictures interrupted Anderson’s plan to bring “Castlevania” to theaters. Now, with the script getting the rewrite treatment and a new director set to helm the flick, Anderson is considerably (and understandably) more tight-lipped when it comes to dishing out details, as MTV News discovered during a recent conversation.
“There’ll be the whip and there’ll be creatures,” Anderson said, referring to Simon Belmont’s weapon of choice and the mythical beasts he battles as he makes his way through Dracula’s castle in the original video game.
Okay, sounds good so far. What else ya got? Anderson was reluctant to delve into details. Why? Because he most likely doesn’t know them yet. While he remains a producer on the project, “Saw” co-creator James Wan has stepped in to rewrite and direct.
“James is doing a pass on the script to put himself into it with the tricks and the traps, which he is really good at,” explained Anderson. “One of the things with ‘Castlevania’ is it’s not just about the creatures but the environment trying to get to you as well. I think he is a terrific choice because a key part of ‘Castlevania’ is the intensity of being trapped within the confines of the castle, and he’s shown with ‘Saw’ that he excels with intensity in confined spaces.”
Anderson labeled the project as in “pre-pre-production” and said no one is “exactly sure when it’s going to shoot.” While we’d heard that Wan would be starting the script from scratch, Anderson maintained Wan is merely “tweaking the script.” Bummer of a bottom line: “Castlevania” just doesn’t seem to be happening any time soon.
Accordingly, Anderson wouldn’t delve into casting choices, how heavily the film will rely on CG effects, and how closely the movie will stick to the essence of the games.
“We’re still working on it, so I don’t want to preempt that,” he said. “We’re just not there yet.”
Here it is, the question of the hour: is this really necessary?
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