Jack Black Is Begging Rockstar for a Red Dead Movie, Which Will Never Happen

Jack Black wants to see a Red Dead Redemption movie happen and star in it. He has said so publicly, repeatedly, and with the kind of enthusiastic sincerity that makes him one of the most likable people in Hollywood.

In a recent interview with Polygon, the actor made a direct appeal to Rockstar Games co-founders Dan and Sam Houser. “Hey Housers? Dan, Sam, I’m waiting for your call,” adding, “Of all the video games out there, theirs are the most cinematic,” he told Polygon. “It would be, like, too easy to make them into great movies.”

Unfortunately, the call is not coming.

For one, Dan Houser is no longer part of Rockstar. Two, Rockstar has never bothered making movies out of its games, nor has it ever expressed any interest in doing so, even if it happens to be an adaptation of one of the best-selling video games of all time and a critically-acclaimed title at that. Why? It’s simple. It just wouldn’t have as much impact.

The reason a Red Dead Redemption movie seems like it would be “too easy” is the same reason it would almost certainly be disappointing. The games are already cinematic. The storytelling is already at a level that competes with the best of film and television. A movie adaptation would not add to the experience. It would subtract from it. You would take a 60-hour story that unfolds at the player’s pace, in a world the player can explore, shaped by choices the player makes, and compress it into two hours of passive viewing. The result, no matter how well-made, is a lesser version of something that already exists in its best form.

This is what Rockstar has understood for over two decades, and it is why the Houser brothers have historically shown zero interest in adaptations. A film adaptation would not just be unnecessary. It would be a concession that someone else can tell the story better in a different format, which is the opposite of what Rockstar believes about its own work.

Black’s specific pitch for Red Dead Redemption 3 is genuinely clever, though. He wants to play a real historical figure named Jack Black, a burglar-turned-author who lived during the same time period as the Red Dead games and wrote an autobiography called You Can’t Win that later influenced writers like William S. Burroughs. It’s just, well, not Rockstar’s MO to cast Hollywood celebrities in its games. The studio uses unknown or lesser-known voice actors for its leads precisely because it wants players to see the character, not the actor.

Arthur Morgan is Arthur Morgan. He is not a famous person performing as Arthur Morgan. The same goes for John Marston, the protagonist of the Grand Theft Auto series, and every other lead Rockstar has created.

With that said, as fun as it would be to imagine Rockstar participating in the current gold rush of video game adaptations in Hollywood, it’s for the best. This isn’t a problem that Hollywood needs to solve (or create). Rockstar’s refusal to participate is part of a creative philosophy that turned them into the most respected studio in the video game industry.

The post Jack Black Is Begging Rockstar for a Red Dead Movie, Which Will Never Happen appeared first on RDR2.org.