The “Deus Ex” video game series has been a big deal for over a decade. In 2011, Eidos Montreal and Square Enix took a page from the movie playbook and made the third entry in the franchise, “Deus Ex: Human Revolution,” a prequel. The cyberpunk game set in 2027 has all the makings of a great sci-fi thriller: mysterious groups with sinister motivations, a program that augments humans into cyborgs, and a ton of ambient noise. Because of that easy translation and its popularity, it’s unsurprising that CBS Films wants to turn it into a movie.
According to Deadline Hollywood, they’ve hired writer/director Scott Derrickson to take on the project. He’ll direct as well as write the script with Sinister writing partner C. Robert Cargill (who, full disclosure time, I know personally). It’s a move that will take Derrickson out of the horror world after successes with Emily Rose and the recent Ethan Hawke-led release, pushing him in a different direction that might still hold some of the same tonal elements.
It’s inevitable that some fans of the game will want to see Elias Toufexis (the voice of main character Adam Jensen) reprise his role on the big screen, but in a realistic world, the chances of that happening are closer to none than slim. At the very least, it would be a gutsy move from the production, gambling that the franchise itself would pull in broader audiences even without a noteworthy name at the top of the poster. However, with video game movies like Assassin’s Creed and Splinter Cell boasting Michael Fassbender and Tom Hardy respectively, it’s a good bet that they’ll need to find a larger name to ensure a green light.
When buzz began building originally around the property in 2012, Dustin gave a compelling argument for why a movie version might never happen. Now it’s time to see if Cargill and Derrickson can prove him wrong.
Maybe this promotional short film about real cyborgs is a good place to start.
