Tuesday, June 17, 2008

"Gear"-ing Up Is A "Given"

A 2-fer post from the director's chair...

Len Wiseman (pictured) is set to call the shots on "Gears of War" based on the Xbox video game says Variety.

Chris Morgan has been hired to write a new draft based on a story treatment he will develop with Wiseman. It's not certain how much of Stuart Beattie's original version of the script will survive.

Set on the planet Sera, the game puts players right in the thick of a battle for survival between humans and a race of creatures that surface from the bowels of the planet known as the Locust Horde. Players assume identities of soldiers on Delta Squad as they fight to save the population of Sera.

The award-winning game sold more than three million units worldwide in its first ten weeks of release. A sequel game hits stores this Thanksgiving.

This is a good fit for Wiseman who has experience staging epic battles in Underworld and its sequel Underworld: Evolution...

Meanwhile, Sam Raimi is directing a film adaptation of Dennis Lehane's upcoming book "The Given Day" says Variety.

Set in 1919 Boston, as soldiers come home from World War I bring back an epidemic of Spanish influenza.

The key action deals with attempts to unionize the police department- set the stage for a historic strike and two cops take center stage.

Lehane's novel is released late September.

The story seems out of phase for Raimi's career and his other films...It's obvious he's thinking outside the box.

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