In April we learned that Ubisoft had hired the director of Deadpool 2, John Wick and Atomic Blonde, David Leitch, to direct the film adaptation of The Division. Now, the filmmaker spoke about the challenge of breaking the curse of video game-based movies.
During the promotion of Deadpool 2, Collider spoke with Leitch and pointed out that, although he sees it as a challenge to overcome this curse, he is aware that video games and movies are “different experiences”, and that is where he plans to take advantage.
“Obviously the video game you’re telling your own story and it’s so active, and cinema is all about one person’s point of view guiding a story,” he said. “I think sometimes those things are in conflict, but on a project like The Division again it’s like there’s these bigger themes in there that you can pull one out and attach some great characters to and you can have a compelling story, and also given the trappings of the world that people love, I think you can deliver a good movie.”
Also, Leitch confessed that he accepted to direct this adaptation because the world that Ubisoft created seems attractive to him. “I think it also asks some interesting questions about society and putting people in those interesting positions,” he continued. “For me, I thought that was a cool playground.”
Finally, he commented that the team is working on the development of the script and that the producers are looking for the right writers, but they are moving fast. He also said he is excited to work with the actors Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Chastain, who will star in this film.
