Gears of War screenwriter wants The Rock for Marcus Fenix

by David Hinkle { May 9th 2009 at 1:00PM }

Chris Morgan recently wrapped up his script for the Gears of War movie, and it's right around now that the folks behind the production of the film need to start thinking about a cast, with Marcus Fenix obviously being the most important character. While you may think thespians such as Sean Penn, Mickey Rourke, and Bruce Willis would do well in the role, Morgan actually likes Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, he told MTV.

Morgan applauds The Rock's depth, saying he can "play the tough guy, but he can also play the nuanced, sensitive funny sad moments as well." He would need that depth, too, because if there's anything that must make it into the film, it's the game's deep, emotional storyline and characters.

[Via DigitalBattle]

Tags: epic, epic-games, film, gears-of-war, gears-of-war-movie, hollywood, movies

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)

stukorn @ May 9th 2009 1:05PM

Fail!

BlackDove @ May 9th 2009 1:29PM

Yeah, Doom worked out so well.

Ace on the mentioning of the deep storyline and characters, and their emotional bonds.

Gears of War is filled with that.

Anyway, John Travolta would technically be the best IMO, he simply has the ability to look like Fenix does ingame.

Comet @ May 9th 2009 2:32PM

You dont want The Rock in the role? THE ROCK DOES NOT CARE WHAT YOU WANT.

HitNRun @ May 9th 2009 3:14PM

Gears of War may not be neo-Shakespearean, but the characters have at least enough personality that one can tell it's a bad idea.

It's sad that Hollywood can't get it right even when the only criteria for the lead role are miserably angry, haunted, and unassuming.

NoughtSoClever @ May 9th 2009 4:35PM

The good thing is that at least (The) Rock recognized that the movie was bad.

http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2009/03/13/dwayne-the-rock-johnson-honestly-discusses-infamous-doom-movie/

pete @ May 9th 2009 6:04PM

god damn it, the rock sucks at acting. I dont care how much emotion the game does or doesn't have, but if you want a movie to be good you need GOOD ACTORS. ugh, what a disappointment....

Danny @ May 9th 2009 6:22PM

@pete
The Rock does not suck at acting. He was perfectly fine in The Rundown. He just makes terrible choices with most scripts or has a very bad agent. He's honestly not that bad.

Linkario @ May 9th 2009 8:43PM

@danny
Did you ever consider that it isn't his agent, the script, full moon, choice of breakfast cereal, etc that makes his movies sub-par. Maybe, JUST maybe... he isn't that great. Even a dipsh!t says something brilliant once in awhile... like wise, even a bad actor has a good movie.

Ellianth @ May 9th 2009 10:32PM

Hopefully they find a way to work in some of the games many glitches into the movie.

Morisato @ May 9th 2009 10:53PM

lol...

"I.. I... I can't stop running at super speed! Well at least I'm hard to shoot at."

Chilly P @ May 10th 2009 12:41AM

Wasn't CliffyB quoted as saying he specifically did NOT want any former wrestlers in the Gears movie?

IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT CLIFFYB WANTS!

OnToGloryReturns @ May 10th 2009 12:11PM

Seems like there are many posts saying how a Gears movie couldn't be any good. Wrong. They should take the backstory elements of the novel "Asphos Fields" and follow a thruline of the two or three games if they are going to wait for the third one.

Asphos Fields was truly excellent - suprisingly so.

And if anyone hasn't figured out that the Locust Queen is Marcus' mother shame on you.

Anticrawl @ May 10th 2009 2:58PM

I still think it'd be cheaper and more fan pleasing to pick up the original voice actor John and put him through one of those 6-8 month crash course get in shape programs. They do it for nearly every actor, and can shape them to fit the part no matter how fat or skinny they were to begin with. Voice actors are cheaper and easier to work with too, you'd get a better performance out of them because they aren't stuck up douchebags.

pete @ May 11th 2009 11:58AM

@anticrawl

im sorry, but voice acting does not translate over to on-screen acting. Voice actors focus solely on their voice talent, and will not stop until they get it right, no matter how many times they try. They also work in a very isolated environment with little to no distractions, whereas a movie set is the complete opposite.

To say that a voice actor could pick up on-screen acting skills easily would be like saying a kid who plays guitar hero could pick up the real guitar and start playing.

There is a reason why acting is one of the hardest career paths to become successful at-- BECAUSE ITS HARD

Pete @ May 13th 2009 3:52PM

Is it just me, or does Marcus Fenix look best played by Batista in the WWE?

InFaMoUs1- @ May 9th 2009 1:06PM

Why get John Travolta?

InFaMoUs1- @ May 9th 2009 1:07PM

http://blog.engeneral.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/marcus-fenix-gears-of-war-john-travolta.jpg

Saint @ May 9th 2009 1:20PM

Woah.

That's... uncanny.

It would need some tweaks though. Travolta's accent wouldn't work, nor would his aging body. But that's why he'd have to be in an armored suit the entire time.

Why not use Travolta's face, CG-ified armor, and dub Wakka's voice over?

That'd be a pretty good Marcus Fenix.

Malkmus @ May 9th 2009 3:12PM

Uncanny? Really? Look at that pic again. If he wasn't wearing that skullcap you wouldn't see any similarity at all. Travolta would be a horrible choice, but not because I don't think he looks like Fenix, he just doesn't fit the character. Now Ron Perlman on the other hand...

Saint @ May 9th 2009 3:21PM

Yeah, uncanny. I've seen a good many Travolta movies, and after looking at that I looked up a bunch of pictures.

See the top of his nose how it creases? Look at Marcus.

See where his jaw meets his face on the left side of his head? Yeah same thing.

His nose is a little thick, but not too bad.

His chin is off, but then again Marcus has an unnatrually high chin.

Peter Moore @ May 9th 2009 3:57PM

@Saint

Fun fact: Wakka, from FFX, and Marus Fenix, from Gears of War, are both voiced by the same voice actor, John Di Maggio.

DiGiTAL SiN254 @ May 9th 2009 4:14PM

DONT FORGET BENDER PETER. HE DID BENDER TOO

ill trooper @ May 9th 2009 4:31PM

Travolta?

Maybe 20 years ago. Not now.

Haohmaru @ May 9th 2009 4:33PM

John DiMaggio has done countless video game and animation voice roles. You've probably heard him in many, many other things without even realizing it.

I'm not sure how I feel about a Gears of War movie, though. I love the game, but there has yet to be a movie to prove that Hollywood can successfully adapt a video game to film. If one has to be made, I think it should be completely CG.

Doombot (zuburi) @ May 9th 2009 10:57PM

Wow, that is uncanny.

They both are wearing a bandanna and... have sideburns.

Uncanny.

Fossii @ May 9th 2009 1:07PM

Sure the Rock for Marcus Fenix, only if Chris Rock plays Dom to totally destroy the movie part of the franchise so we'll never see GoW: The Movie 2

Mr Khan @ May 9th 2009 11:40PM

Even better: Chris Tucker

Chilly P @ May 10th 2009 12:52AM

Why not just go all out and have the Blue Collar Comedy guys play the 4 central roles, and not even try to properly cast those guys by making Ron White play Dom?...and Larry the Cable Guy in blackface for Cole Train. Let's see, then Foxworthy can be Baird and Engvall can be Marcus Fenix. And then for good measure you can have Paul Walker play Tai and Ben Kingsley play Dizzy.

There. That'd be even worse than Max Payne.

Caleb Frost @ May 9th 2009 1:09PM

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO that guarantees the movie will suck!

Guess_Who @ May 9th 2009 1:12PM

It was destined to suck anyway, why not go all the way and shoot for "so bad it's good" status?

Fernando Rocker @ May 9th 2009 1:12PM

Don't get me wrong, I like The Rock... he is a very appealing actor, but only in films like The Rundown, or the new Disney family friendly movies...

I rather see him in family friendly movies than in flicks like The Scorpion King, or in this case, a Gears of War film.

arkweld @ May 9th 2009 1:19PM

yeah The Rock is just too friendly and approachable to play the constantly pissed off Marcus Fenix.

I can see John Cena with a headband and in a bad mood.

BlaqueBeird @ May 9th 2009 11:08PM

I take it neither of you have ever smelled what the Rock was cooking. Let me tell you, there was nothing family friendly about it.

arkweld @ May 10th 2009 2:15AM

the only thing The Rock cooks now is waffles at breakfast for kids. And funny waffles at that. He can't pass for a hardened antihero.

The only qualifications an actor for Fenix requires are muscles, square jaw and to sound annoyed and growl at everything. John Cena's two movie career involving hitting people is all the experience the movie needs.

I'll be surprised f there is anything in this movie that's even vaguely considered "acting" beyond a lot of bullets, huge suits of armor and chainsaws. I'll also be surprised if they actually get the armor correct. It will probably look like the watered-down crap that happened to Starship Troopers.

mike @ May 9th 2009 1:14PM

Doom 2: Gears of War

Frank @ May 9th 2009 1:19PM

is doomed...

Manly Mcbeefington (Mr. ESC) @ May 9th 2009 10:29PM

You got to love how in Doom all sentences pretty much end in f*ck but when they get the Big F*cking Gun they say Big force Gun instead.Epic Fail.

Chuck @ May 9th 2009 1:14PM

"the game's deep, emotional storyline and characters."
I thought when I played it was pretty much kill everything, leave no survivors.

Neuromancer @ May 9th 2009 1:49PM

I believe that was sarcasm.

meist3r @ May 9th 2009 1:14PM

Hell yeah! Remember how much good he did for the DooM movie...

NOT ME @ May 9th 2009 1:46PM

The plot in doom was terrible but how did the rock screw up that movie he played a pissed off typical semper fi quoted marine. Plus screw what anyone says the nailed the FPS angle. no one has ever done that in a game to movie before... that played well then that had that demon/dog thing from the game and he killed him like you would have in the game....

meist3r @ May 9th 2009 2:13PM

Well, to me Dwayne Johnson is just a terrible actor. Doesn't matter if Doom shot a FPS angle during the movie or had one boss monster. The movie was still crap and had nothing to do with the games. You could say "but the Uwe Boll Postal movie had Osama bin Laden and some other weird stuff from the games"/"Far Cry had a guy with a hawaiian shirt and an evil mad scientist" doesn't make them good movies. You could do soooo much with the Doom storyline but the went for generic Space Marine action horror bullcrap. But that's just me. I've got a very strict set of standards when it comes to my entertainment. I'd rather play Doom2 again then watch that atrocity again.