Mass Effect Film To Be Announced, Mark Protosevich To Script

Mark Protosevich‘s debut feature, The Cell, may have been messy and riddled with cliche, but it was oddball enough to highlight him as an unusual young talent, somebody with nesting promise. He then worked on the screenplays for Thor, I Am Legend and Poseidon, though his Thor screenplay was significantly different from what we ended up with on screen. It has been, in many respects, a downward slide.

Lately, his name has been cropping up in head-scratching places. He’s recently been linked to a Jurassic Park IV and a re-adaptation of the original Oldboy manga. I’m not sure anybody really wants him to take either of those much further, though another trip to Jurassic Park would probably make a mint with a big name cast attached.

At Comic-Con, Protosevich will take to the stage with Legendary Pictures and be a part in their announcement of a feature film derived from the epic Mass Effect space opera styled role-playing video games.

From the press release:

For the first time ever, Legendary Entertainment will hold a standalone panel to provide the Comic-Con® International audience with an early look at some of the films from Legendary’s upcoming slate. On Friday, July 22nd, audience participants will have the opportunity to attend an engaging panel consisting of cast and filmmakers from upcoming Legendary films including PACIFIC RIM, SEVENTH SON and PARADISE LOST, all to be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, as well as MASS EFFECT.

There to talk the film up will be “game creator, Casey Hudson and screenwriter adapting the game to film, Mark Protosevich.”

So, it would seem that the development process is in early days. There’s very possibly no director attached, though it would be a lot of fun and a nice publicity trick to pull one up on stage during the panel, especially if it’s one with some credibility and appeal.

In the games, the main player character of Commander Shepherd is customisable to the point that one can even select which gender they would like to play as. The film surely can’t offer any such flexibility, but I’m interested in how they might work around these elements. It would be nice, at least, to see that the egalitarian spirit of this gameplay mechanic is reflected somehow.

I’ll endeavor to report back from the panel. Seventh Son and Paradise Lost sound interesting in particular, so watch this space for more on those.