#İŞBİRLİĞİ
– How did you meet the Doom series and have you a favorite moment?
Tony Giglio: I was introduced to the game, Doom 1, shortly after it debuted. A friend of mine had it set up at his work. We’d go to his office after hours and play. I saved enough money to eventually buy my own copy. I loved everything about it. The 1st person perspective was revolutionary. You felt like YOU were in the game. I imagine that’s why
that technology is almost standard now on all games (meaning the First
Person Perspective).
My favorite part? There were many. I loved using the chainsaw. I loved finding hidden weapons and health. But I remember feeling thrilled when I finally defeated the Spider Mastermind. That was awesome.
– What do you think about the first Doom movie?
Tony Giglio: I thought it was a good sci-fi action film. I did not think it was a very faithful DOOM adaptation.
– Doom fans (including me) were expecting to see Doomguy character in the movie. In addition to the character was not included, a female soldier were starring in the movie, and this was surprising. Because there were not many female characters in DOOM video game series. How did this idea come up? How was the feedback?
Tony Giglio: My goal was to make a faithful adaptation of DOOM. We were only allowed to use elements from the first 3 games, the ones Universal 1440 Entertainment owns the rights to. So as I began to develop the story, I pulled out the things I felt were vital & excited me about a DOOM film: 1) Demons, 2) Hell, 3) the Gates.
So I started constructing a story that incorporated these elements. The most dominating idea was making the gates something special. Experimenting with teleportation and accidentally opening a portal to Hell was epic stuff and I felt unexplored in the games. So once I had the idea for that, I concentrated on Hell & Demons. So, this is how MY brain works, I thought… if there were Demons, then by logic, there must be Angels. If Hell, then there must be Heaven. Not that we see these elements in the film, but whether intended or not, I felt there was a strong spirituality in DOOM. So, who better to battle demons than an Angel, right? So I kept thinking of great religious warriors. Joan of Arc was an awesome choice to use as inspiration.
This is where the idea of our lead came from.
“I know that Doom game’s main character is “Doomguy”, but in researching the game’s origins, I came across a few things. First, “Doomguy” is a fan created term. It doesn’t appear in any of the game manuals.”
I know that Doom game’s main character is “Doomguy”, but in researching the game’s origins, I came across a few things. First, “Doomguy” is a fan created term. It doesn’t appear in any of the game manuals. In DOOM 1, your character is only known as “Unnamed Space Marine”. Secondly, the original creators purposely didn’t give this
Marine a name b/c the Marine represented the player. So this gave me the confidence to proceed forward with the story. It wasn’t until later games did the creators give the Marine a backstory. The character’s importance & stature went up even further with the 2016 Bethesda game. There is no Doomslayer in the original games.
There’s been a ton of chatter on the internet about Amy Manson being the lead and how this is somehow disrespectful to the game. I believe it’s very much in the spirit of the original game. “Doomguy” was meant to be anyone playing the game. Everyone playing is Doomguy. So every character in the film is essentially “Doomguy”. This is why I cast the film the way I did. I cast male, female, black, white, Asian, Middle Eastern, etc. Everyone around the world plays this game and I wanted to show that in the film.
Ultimately, you have to be a movie first. You just can’t reproduce the gameplay. What fun would that be? So, I had to go where the best story was going. And it was saying follow Joan’s character. I started my career working as a Production Assistant. I was fortunate enough to work with James Cameron. He was a childhood hero of mine. T2 and Aliens
especially. Sci-Fi Action films have a great tradition of female leads: Sigourney Weaver & Linda Hamilton to name a few. So this gave us confidence making Joan our lead.
The movie is not intended to be a direct recreation of the game. It’s meant to stand on its own. It’s meant to compliment the games. We can’t compete with the game. YOU play the game. YOU control the actions of the lead character. Even though you’re playing the same game as everyone else, everyone’s game is different. In a film, you have to watch what the character does. Its scripted. So it can’t compete. 90 minutes vs 80-100 Hours of gameplay. So I wanted to make a faithful film that was inspired by DOOM that fans of DOOM would appreciate and people unfamiliar with DOOM would also enjoy.
“Clearly there have been people on Twitter who have expressed displeasure that there’s no “Doomguy”. But they haven’t seen the film yet. Also, we were not allowed to use any elements from the new game. Only the original games.”
Clearly there have been people on Twitter who have expressed displeasure that there’s no “Doomguy”. But they haven’t seen the film yet. Also, we were not allowed to use any elements from the new game. Only the original games. And in the very original game, “DoomGuy” isn’t this heroic “Slayer” figure. He’s a grunt. 1 of a crew of Marines.
He’s only given a pistol and left to guard the door while the other marines go inside the base and fight. That’s directly from the DOOM game. I even use this backstory of this Marine into Joan’s background. A soldier that was being punished and sent to one of the worst assignments in the universe. This was the path we chose for this film. That doesn’t mean a male lead who fits the description closer to the Doomguy in the games can’t be in future sequels. This was just the path we chose for this film.
– While the production of the movie, id Software made an announcement and said “We have nothing to do with the production of this movie.”. Why did they make such announcement? You could collaborate with them when you decide shooting. Was that their decision not to collaborate and why?
Tony Giglio: Their exact answer was, “We are not involved in the film”. And this was/is 100% factually correct. Universal 1440 Entertainment and I went to painstaking lengths to make certain we were a faithful adaptation. I consulted with an original creator of the game. Universal 1440 Entertainment employed a focus group of gamers and asked them specifically what they wanted in a DOOM film, and we did almost all their suggestions.
Yes, Universal 1440 Entertainment & I approached id Software & Bethesda to partner with us. We wanted them to be involved as much or as little as they wanted to be. This was BEFORE even a script was completed. They thanked us for thinking about them, but they were not interested at the time.
The tweet which many took as a slight or shade by id Software was simply them stating a fact and nothing more. I have the utmost respect for them. But Bethesda told me directly, “Our business is video games not movies.”
1440 has a great reputation for reaching out to original creators. The Death race series I have been writing, brought in Pauls WS Anderson. We used actors from his original film as well, even several key crew members. Universal’s Chucky films hired original Child’s Play creator Don Mancini to write and direct their Chucky films. So we would’ve LOVED to collaborate with id Software and Bethesda, but we respect their decision.
– Especially after the new DOOM game launched, DOOM is popular again. Why did you create such a movie aimed at home release, not a theatrical release?
Tony Giglio: That’s probably a question above my pay grade. Ha! It’s all based on economics. The previous DOOM film wasn’t a financial hit. A majority of films based on video games have disappointed at the box office as well. I’m sure these are factors. A successful game doesn’t mean a successful film. But the idea of a film being made directly for Home Entertainment is changing. Netflix produces feature films directly for Home
Entertainment. As does Hulu and Amazon. NBC Universal will soon have their own streaming service too.
– The First-Person scene in the previous DOOM movie was what stood out. Is there any aspect of your movie that you trust the most?
Tony Giglio: I’m most proud of our Hell climax sequence. I think our VFX team, headed by Victor Trichkov, made a visual masterpiece. It’s stunning and epic. Everything except for the main character was created by them. The world, the demons, everything.
– Some people say that the creature in the DVD cover is not in the movie. What is that creature? There is no creature like that in the games too. It looks like “Arc-Vile” a little bit.
Tony Giglio: Again, a question above my pay grade. Marketing is an entirely different talent. We have 4 different types of demons featured in the film. I love the looks of all of them. I also love the creation marketing did for the artwork.
– How many DOOM movies are you planning? I think you are already thinking about the second one, possible with a Earth-based script, just like DOOM II.
Tony Giglio: I would love to make three. I pitched this as a trilogy. Clearly a lot will depend on the response to the film. Annihilation definitely leaves itself open to a sequel.
Thank you for your questions. I hope you and your readers enjoy the
film!
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