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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]

Mark Rein has denied claims made by writer Josh Ortega that Epic Games has masterminded a ten-year plan for the Gears of War franchise, according to VG247. While Rein says the studio "appreciates the enthusiasm" Ortega has for the Gears franchise, Epic isn't keen on planning games "very far in advance."

"It's a ten-year plan. Gears is long-term," Ortega told Gear-heads at a panel during the 2009 New York Comic-Con. While, in response, Rein promised Epic's focus is directed toward "supporting the Gears of War 2 game and community," he says the company will ultimately make decisions on a "game-by-game basis" and by gauging fan support.

Rein's hesitation to throw all of Epic's eggs in the Gears basket may have something to do with its previous cash cow, Unreal Tournament. In 1999, Epic Games spun gold with the Unreal Tournament franchise but saw mediocre returns from 2007's Unreal Tournament 3 -- a franchise shelf life of less than a decade. Then again, Gears of War has all but eclipsed the popularity of Unreal Tournament with a movie already on the horizon.

Live Free or Die Hard and Underworld director, Len Wiseman, told Bloody-Disgusting.com that he'd like to turn the Gears of War franchise into a film trilogy to flesh out the world and cover all the bases of its story. "Basically a harder edged Lord Of The Rings," he told the horror focused website.

Wiseman said he hopes to focus the film on science fiction elements and not on the creatures themselves, opting to take the sci-fi action route rather than the horror film route with the series. While not much of a gamer himself, Wiseman said Gears of War first caught his eye when filming the fourth Die Hard film, where a video game was required to play in the background of a key scene. Wiseman said after looking at dozens of games he stopped on Gears of War, which appears in the film on more than one occasion. "I just really connected with it; the design of it the world, the whole thing. So I actually bought an Xbox 360 to start researching what it was," Wiseman said.

The Gears of War movie is still in the early stages of development. Len Wiseman is set to direct and is currently co-writing the script with Chris Morgan (Wanted.)

[via Joystiq]

In all fairness to director Len Wiseman, that comparison, gathered recently by Bloody-Disgusting, is in reference to his desire to make a trilogy of Gears of War films. It's in much the same way that one might refer to a box of Cheez-Its as "like a cheesier, more cracker-like Beatles box set" because they both happen to come in a box.

In other news that has us overflowing with confidence, Wiseman told B-D, "I suck at video games, it just takes me too long and I can't get the coordination of 'em. When I was on [Live Free Or] Die Hard, I had to choose some video game for the background in a scene with Kevin Smith. I was shown about a dozen games and told to 'Choose one to be in the background' and I said 'this one looks really, really cool whatever it is,' and it was Gears Of War."

Is that what passes for a "meet-cute" these days?

[Via Videogamer.com]

Variety reports that Legendary Pictures has signed on to co-finance and co-produce the upcoming Gears of War film adaptation. This comes in the wake of Legendary financing another film based on a little game called World of Warcraft. Legendary also recently had its hand in The Dark Knight, which is currently tearing up the box office. Epic guru Mark Rein said of the deal, "Legendary's appetite for the synthesis of gaming, film and pop culture meshes perfectly with our own." Well, that's good. We all like it when appetites for synthesis mesh.

This morning, we've received more proof that given enough time, Joystiq is always right (except when we're wrong). You may remember back in August of 2007 when we told you that Len Wiseman, director of Underworld and Live Free or Die Hard, was in talks to direct a film flick based on Epic's Gears of War. Now, The Hollywood Reporter says New Line has signed Wiseman for the gig.

We're guessing that original writer Stuart Beattie is out, as THR says the picture will be written by Chris Morgan, who has previously worked on the screenplays for Wanted (encouraging!) and The Fast and the Furious 4: The Furiousening (troubling!). So there's your crew, what kind of Gears movie are you expecting?

[Via Cinematical]