Have you heard this one before: Guy Walks Into a Bar acquires Painkiller...? No, it's not a joke. Well, sorta ... it's Hollywood.Production company Guy Walks Into a Bar has purchased the feature film rights to DreamCatcher Interactive's 2004 throwback FPS Painkiller. Most celebrated for its multiplayer (becoming an official CPL tour game in 2005), Painkiller pairs well with Hollwood's penchant for whimsical adaptation -- the game is lite on plot. Guy Walks head Jon Berg was actually inspired to pursue the franchise after catching a 60 Minutes segment about competitive gaming. Does Berg envision a flick based on frag matches?
How the film will ultimately manage Painkiller's disparate environments and thin storyline is up to Ben McCaw, who has been hired by Guy Walks to script the adaptation. McCaw's credits include "Gideon's Vault," a finalist in the Austin Film Festival screenwriting competition, and "Class of the Living Dead." While early news has the film looking like a DOOM'd project, perhaps the forthcoming game sequel Painkiller: Overdose will stir interest.
