Call of Duty Movie Director Wants To Make A “Soldier” Film Rather Than A “War” Film
In case you didn’t realize, there’s a Call of Duty movie still in development. It’s been in talks ever since Activision Blizzard Studios launched in 2015, it’s been a priority to bring the popular shooter series to the big screen. The movie was originally supposed to launch in 2018 or 2019, but obviously it hasn’t materialized just yet, and it probably won’t be happening this year, if we’re honest. But there has been a director chosen and assigned to the project, and it’s Italian director Stefano Sollima.
Stefano Sollima just directed his first English film, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, which is nearly the same kind of film you’d expect from the Call of Duty series, or at the very least a good practice run for the series. In fact, that’s the kind of film he makes, so he should be a good fit for the job. Talking to Polygon about his plans for the movie, he revealed that he doesn’t want to make a “war” movie, but a “soldier” movie instead.
“Let’s put it this way,” Sollima began. “Another kind of movie that’s missed … is a movie that talks about soldiers. So not a war movie, but a soldier movie. I think that this is what I will do. I think it’s a missing part. [There have recently been] some movies [about] soldiers, but only some of them are masterpieces. I think I miss modern [soldier movies]. As an audience.”
What Sollima likely means is a movie exploring the personalities and the plights of the soldiers who participate in the actual wars, and not just the overall war as a picture of the event itself. With his ideas for the movie, we could be in for one of the first great video game to film adaptations, which the industry is in dire need of.
“It’s going to be completely different,” said Sollima. “I think the trickiest part in doing a movie from a video game is that you’re doing a movie from a video game. But if you figure out how to respect the soul of the entire franchise, and keeping just this and putting in a movie, it’s a completely different experience.”