It has been 25 years since Super Mario Bros., and video game movies still have yet to crack the formula for critical and commercial success. But, as with any project, the best thing you can do is bring talented people aboard. In that vein, the Call of Duty movie in development is looking to add a pair of talented actors to the cast. Sicario 2: Soldado director and rumored Call of Duty helmer Stefano Sollima has Tom Hardy and Chris Pine at the top of his wishlist to work with, thus making them possible frontrunners for the video game film.
Stefano Sollima, speaking with Metro, cited an appreciation for Tom Hardy and Chris Pine's work. Now it is important to note that Stefano Sollima is not yet officially signed on as the director of a Call of Duty film. However, the director is reportedly in negotiations to direct the film for Activision Blizzard Studios, which is ramping up development on the adaptation. With Call of Duty as a possible future project, and Tom Hardy and Chris Pine on the director's short list, it seems reasonable to assume that the leading men will at least be considered for roles in the film. They are solid choices to star in a Call of Duty film, too.
Chris Pine and Tom Hardy are no strangers to big-budget action films, with the latter having starred in war films Dunkirk and Black Hawk Down. And judging by the trailer for Sicario 2, Stefano Sollima looks to be picking up right where Denis Villeneuve left off, delivering a tense and action-packed look at the drug war. Should Sollima come aboard to direct the Call of Duty movie, he can bring these same sensibilities to a straight-up war film, and with two leading men as dynamic and compelling as Tom Hardy and Chris Pine, the Call of Duty movie would put itself in the best possible position to succeed. A war film starring Brit Tom Hardy and American Chris Pine as brothers-in-arms is an enticing proposition, even if it is just a big screen Strike Back.
Activision Blizzard Studios is seemingly hoping to be for the video game company what Marvel Studios was for the comic company: an in-house movie studio dedicated to bringing the company's properties to the big screen in a faithful and successful way. But Call of Duty is an interesting video game to adapt for the big screen. The series is an anthology, covering multiple real and fictional wars. It is also primarily famous as a multiplayer online game where you lose to kids half your age who know three times as many curse words. What it is not famous for is having a compelling story or characters. The video game series has all the action one would hope to find in a big-budget war film, but as an anthology, there is no face of the franchise in the way a Halo or Uncharted game has. But this does provide the film an opportunity to craft its own story to service the characters while still staying true to the Call of Duty name.
While we await for the pieces to fall into place for the Call of Duty movie, Hollywood continues to try to jump start another cinematic video game boom with this year's Tomb Raider and Rampage. For all the latest in video game, movie and video game movie news, stay tuned to CinemaBlend.
