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Mortal Kombat

#39 – “I Still Don’t Feel the Code Has Been Cracked on How to Adapt These Things”: Screenwriter Dave Callaham on DOOM

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Today’s guest is screenwriter Dave Callaham, and our conversation revolves around one of his early screenwriting assignments: the adaptation of the influential video game DOOM by id Software, turned into an action movie starring The Rock in 2005. Dave quickly became an in-demand writer in Hollywood, and his credits include a ton of high-profile action movies and blockbusters – he wrote the initial script of what would then became Sylvester Stallone’s THE EXPENDABLES, he worked on films like GODZILLA and ZOMBIELAND: DOUBLE TAP, he was a screenwriter on big comic book movies like WONDER WOMAN 1984, SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS and SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE, and apart from that, he was the creator of the Amazon series JEAN-CLAUDE VAN JOHNSON and the writer and producer of a satirical animation film, AMERICA: THE MOVIE.

Our interview, however, focuses on DOOM. Dave talks about the aspects of the game which he wanted to bring to the screen and about some of the changes that were made, He also discusses the film’s legacy and his collaboration with original director Enda McCallion – who was replaced by Andrzej Bartkowiak during pre-production – and he talks about his work on another video game adaptation, the 2021 action film MORTAL KOMBAT. Please note that the connection during our interview was a bit shaky, so the sound quality may be a bit wobbly at some points during the interview – but you won’t have any problems following our conversation.

My interview with Dave Callaham was conducted in connection with our German-language podcast Lichtspielplatz, so if you speak German, please visit lichtspielplatz.at and check out episode #71, which features an in-depth discussion of the two DOOM movies. Also, make sure to listen to my conversation with original DOOM director Enda McCallion and my interview with Tony Giglio, the writer/director of the second DOOM movie DOOM: ANNIHILATION.

If you enjoy my interviews, please consider heading over to Patreon and supporting the production of new episodes.

So without any further ado, here’s screenwriter Dave Callaham!

 

The mp3 file can be downloaded HERE.

Photo courtesy of Dave Callaham
Editing: Christoph Schwarz
Music: Clark Kent

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Talking Pictures #6: Kevin Droney, Screenwriter of MORTAL KOMBAT and WING COMMANDER

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Today’s guest is screenwriter Kevin Droney – who adapted not one but two computer games for the big screen back in the Nineties: MORTAL KOMBAT and WING COMMANDER. MORTAL KOMBAT, directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and based on the fighting game series that was known for its ultra-violence, was released in 1995 and was a huge success, spending three weeks at the number one spot of the U.S. box office. Unfortunately, WING COMMANDER, released in 1999, was not as successful – in fact, it was a failure both critically and commercially, even though it remains to this day the only game adaptation directed by the creator of the game series himself, Chris Roberts – whose WING COMMANDER sci-fi action series was a gaming phenomenon throughout the Nineties and continuously pushed the technological boundaries of computer gaming.

In our interview, Kevin discusses how he created the story for MORTAL KOMBAT, a game that didn’t really have a plot, and how he focused on the mythological aspects of the game’s background. He talks about how Linden Ashby kept adlibbing lines and confusing his fellow actors, and he also talks about how his love for the Bruce Lee movies influenced the script. Kevin also shares his memories of developing the WING COMMANDER script together with Chris Roberts and exploring his sci-fi universe, and he discusses how the script got rewritten without his involvement and why the finished film doesn’t really represent his original script. We also talked a little bit about another film that Kevin wrote, a drama starring Raul Julia and Laura Dern called DOWN CAME A BLACKBIRD, a captivating, serious story about a clinic for survivors of torture that shows Kevin’s versatility as a screenwriter.

For more on the video game movies of the Nineties, please check out our other interviews here on Talking Pictures, including an interview with Rocky Morton, co-director of SUPER MARIO BROS., an interview with DOUBLE DRAGON director Jim Yukich, and an interview with Steven E. de Souza, writer/director of STREET FIGHTER.

If you speak German, there’s also episode #38 of our Lichtspielplatz podcast with in-depth discussions of all these movies.

So here’s Talking Pictures with screenwriter Kevin Droney!

The mp3 file can be downloaded HERE.
The Talking Pictures podcast can be found on iTunes: HERE.

Photo of Kevin Droney (C) Kevin Droney.
Special thanks to Dr. Wily, my Lichtspielplatz podcasting partner for audio editing. The music was created by Clark Kent.

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