Say what you will about the upcoming Oldboy remake, but the project isn’t short on talent. And that includes screenwriter Mark Protosevich. In a recent interview, the veteran writer - whose credits include screenplays for I Am Legend, Poseidon, and The Cell, not to mention a story credit on Thor - talked about another project he worked on for awhile, the film adaptation of Mass Effect . And why it was so tough to get that movie made.

Talk of a Mass Effect movie has been kicking around Hollywood since the first game in the megahit series came out in 2007. In 2011, Legendary Pictures appointed Protosevich to bring the sci-fi epic to the big screen. Protosevich says when he came onboard, the concept was a straight adaptation of the first game rather than just a story set in the same universe."It was the first game adaptation I did and it will probably be the only one," he says. "They’re hard. I will freely admit it was hard. Because - especially with Mass Effect - there’s just so much material. Narratively, with the game, you’re talking about nine, ten hours of narrative you’re jamming into two hours."He adds that he made it through a few drafts before the studio honchos called in a reliever. (The film remains in development at Legendary.)In a refreshing twist for tinsel town, Protosevich admits he wasn’t up to the task of cramming so much narrative into a two-hour movie. That’s why, he says, he probably won’t try his hand at adapting video games again. Now if someone could just get this man in a room with Uwe Boll, we’d be getting somewhere.Via Badass Digest

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