Turning Shadow of the Colossus into a movie is not an easy task; the original game is a moody isolated affair with very little plot or dialog. However, Misher Films production executive Kevin Ping Chang is aware of the challenges of working on a movie of the game with such an outspoken fanbase.

We have to remember that the film versions of properties that have fervent fan bases, like the Lord of the Rings, are never completely thorough adaptations of the material, said Chang. In the LOTR movies, certain scenes were added or changed to create a movie quality that didn’t exist in the books, but we don t question them because Peter Jackson put them in so seamlessly. To capture that same essence is what we are aiming to do with the properties we’re working on as well.

For Colossus, beyond the cinematic quality of having Wander battling these sixteen colossi, we have to effectively translate that into a narrative that people are going to want to watch for two hours, he continued. Without getting into the specifics of the script, that’s a big challenge, especially for something so stark. I don’t want to say it’s abstract, but players have their own interpretations for what is going on. I have to sometimes dissociate myself from the game as a player, because experiences that might make sense as a player might not translate to a narrative film standpoint. Nailing down the story is going to be the biggest challenge, but so far we are at a point where I feel very good about it.

While there’s been some push-back from Hollywood in the past with game creators being involved with movies, Chang made it clear that he is trying to involve game designer Fumito Ueda and Team ICO as much as possible. We are trying to repeat that transparent process with Sony and Team Ico. Sony Japan is very involved right now, we sit down with them whenever they are in town for things like E3. Sony America, we keep in contact with them once a month. As for Team Ico, we like to keep Ueda-san as best up to date as necessary. When we feel like we re comfortable with the product, we’ll approach him and ask ‘is this something that speaks to your vision and your inspiration ‘ The very first meeting, probably my most nervous meeting, between him and our team, we had to explain to him what we saw for this movie.  I didn’t say a thing in that meeting, it was all my boss and the writer!

Chang also addressed the subject of bringing a Japanese game to American audiences, saying, In our dealings with our Japanese partners there has been a cultural gap, but in a good way. There is a certain art form that comes from the East, different than what we find in the West how do you mix those together and still capture the game’s vision. At the same time, when we were referencing filmmakers and films in our discussions with Ueda-san, he was very well versed in Western cinema. Something like WALL-E breaks down the barriers between cultures.  When you reference a film like that, he gets it, he sees the type of movie you are thinking about.  He understands what we are after if we say we aim to capture the magic from the first hour of WALL-E.  It hasn’t been as difficult as it might have been in the past, but it is an interesting process to deal with culturally. There is a lot of etiquette involved, but a lot of that comes from the fear of them not knowing the filmmaking process and we have to walk them through it. Traditionally, Hollywood has done its own thing in a vacuum outside of the games business, but people are much more open to direct collaboration nowadays. Of course, a lot of film people now are part of a generation that grew up with video games, so there is mutual respect for game creators.

Source: Play Till Doomsday