With Sony's latest Twisted Metal game now firmly shoved onto retail shelves with minimal fanfare and even less marketing, now seems like the perfect time to just go ahead and squeeze a movie out of the franchise, what with awareness of the series currently existing. After all, considering that David Jaffe has moved on to other things while his former studio, Eat Sleep Play, has decided to focus on social games, it doesn't seem altogether likely we'll be getting another game in this series any time soon. This is probably the highest level of "brand awareness" for all things Twisted Metal that we'll see for quite some time.
Just add some clown make-up and give him an ice cream truck, and we're good to go, right?
So, seemingly aware of this relatively narrow window of sudden relevance, Sony Pictures, alongside the Arad brothers (who are the central figures behind all of the Spider-Man movies released over the last several years, including the upcoming reboot), went ahead and made a deal with one of half of the writing/directing duo behind such glorious films as the Jason Statham-fronted Crank movies, as well as the soon-to-be-released Marvel sequel, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, to helm a Twisted Metal film project.
Brian Taylor, the half of the pair not named Mark Neveldine, will reportedly be getting seven figures to write and direct the film, which will follow the plot of the game, such as it is. There will be a vehicular combat-oriented tournament, and it will feature characters like Sweet Tooth, Doll Face, and the enigmatic Calypso. Deadline's report even goes on to describe the concept of Twisted Metal as a "Faustian bargain" in which violent men risk their lives for great reward, which is officially the most philosophical bent anyone has taken in describing something that includes a clown with a flaming skull who drives a weaponized ice cream truck.
Why Mark Neveldine isn't part of this deal--the pair have, thus far, only written and directed films together--no one seems quite certain, except to say that the two do have other projects lined up together. Still, even one half of that pair ought to bring a comfortable level of insanity to such a project, not to mention a decided expertise in the subject matter. After all, Taylor already spent the last several months working with Nicolas Cage's own flaming skull on Spirit of Vengeance, and clearly understands the nature of what it means to be a "gamer," what with having essentially made the film equivalent of Grand Theft Auto on methamphetamines in Crank, and created the teenage-boy-controls-Gerard-Butler-and-makes-him-shoot-dudes-in-the-face thriller Gamer. I mean, it's right there in the title.
