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Video game movies are incredibly hard to make well, but studios continue to try to crack that curse. Back in 2012, an intriguing prospect arose when Crank and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance co-director Brian Taylor was tapped by Sony Pictures to write and direct a Twisted Metal movie, based on the PlayStation video game. It was a swell marriage of director and material, but unfortunately the film never came to fruition.

So when Collider’s own Steve Weintraub spoke with Taylor at the Toronto International Film Festival after the premiere of his new film Mom and Dad, he asked Taylor what his take on Twisted Metal was and why it fell apart. The failure of the new Twisted Metal game, unfortunately, led to the film’s demise:

“It became like a ‘tweener. Sony came out with a new version of the game, didn’t really sell that well. So they had this property that was kind of like this ‘tweener. It was a movie that felt like it needed to be $50 million, but they didn’t feel that the fanbase really merited that kind of movie; it really wanted to be more of a $15 million movie, but the nature of it with the set pieces would’ve just made it too big.”

Curiously, Taylor says his intention for Twisted Metal would have been similar to a recent blockbuster smash: Mad Max: Fury Road:

“That was gonna be badass… It’s batshit. It was kind of like Fury Road before Fury Road in a way. The set pieces in Twisted Metal were kind of the same thing. I’m not saying it would’ve been as good, I am definitely not.”

If that doesn’t make you yearn to see Taylor’s version, how about Nicolas Cage as Sweet Tooth? Indeed, Taylor says he had the actor in mind for that role, which again turned out to be similar to Fury Road:

“Even Sweet Tooth is kind of like the Fury Road guy, you know it’s the mask and the clown with the crazy car. It kind of feels the same…”

Unfortunately, Sony couldn’t justify a budget that would do justice to the Twisted Metal property:

“It’s not worth doing it unless you can really push the envelope and do destruction people haven’t seen before. So I don’t know, it’s sort of in movie purgatory, but I tell ya it’s cool.”

Taylor says he’d make the movie in a heartbeat if Sony called, so after the success of Mad Max: Fury Road how about it? I’m definitely game to see insane vehicular destruction via Brian Taylor, especially if Nicolas Cage is involved.