Gans and Yamaoka talk Silent Hill [Archive]

Echani

02-25-2006, 03:03 PM

1up (http://www.1up.com/) has an unedited version of the EGM interview with Christophe Gans and Akira Yamaoka (http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=6605116&publicUserId=1002415) about their upcoming film adaptation of Silent Hill.

One guarantee that fans can have, is that it's much easier to adapt Doom, even if it is a disaster, as we've seen a month before, then adapt Silent Hill. If you want to adapt Silent Hill, and you're not ready to face all of the complexity of the story, it's just too much. For a lazy director, like the one who directed Doom, simply Silent Hill would be too big of a piece to swallow. I dreamed of adapting this game when I first started playing Silent Hill six years ago. I prepared myself for six years to do this job, knowing that every fan in the world would wait for me with an axe. I will be sniped when I go to buy my games at my favorite store if I do a bad job. And I understand that, I'm a fan of the game myself...I admire the work of Akira and his friends, and I feel very much like someone who joined the group and tried to transport that amazing piece of art into a different medium.
The more I hear Gans talk about this film, the more I feel it's in safe hands.

Sloth

02-25-2006, 03:39 PM

I've written about Silent Hill 2 which I consider one of the greatest games ever created. SH2 was such a good game, that its legacy has essentially carried a fairly middling franchise. SH 1 was a good game certainly, but 3 and especially 4 were less than stellar. 3 had some good moments but overall felt like American remakes of Japenese Horror films. 4 was simply a transporter accident.

I have seen the trailer for SH movie and it looks awesome. It might not just be a good video game movie but it might end up being one of the best horror movies ever made.

On a side note, I see Christope Gans called out Ebert too.

gawaintheblind

02-25-2006, 03:52 PM

I agree. 1 was good but limited given the medium, and that was perfectly fine. Two was phenominal in almost every respect, and neither three nor four was anywhere close. Four was godawful, which sucks because im such a giant SH fanboy.

Captain Awesome

02-25-2006, 04:11 PM

Oh yes this is sounding alot more secure in Gans' hands.

I also can't wait to see Pyramidhead slice people up

http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/8626/ph4ec0jb.jpg

:D

Echani

02-25-2006, 04:26 PM

Whoa, that's the first clear still I've seen of Pyramid Head from the movie :eek: I guess it was only a matter of time before he made a reappearance in my nightmares ...

I think the most reassuring thing in the interview are some of Yamaoka's comments. From what I've heard, he's quite protective of the Silent Hill intellectual property, and Gans spent quite a long time convincing him and the other execs for the chance to make the adaptation. If Yamaoka's sounding pleased then .. this is going to be good. I've said it before in other posts about the movie - but having Akira Yamaoka composing the music means more to this film than probably any other single aspect. April will be a good month.

Gans' comments about Roger Ebert were right on the ball, I'm glad someone in the industry has the balls to say it outright.

In other news, wheeee first approved news post :D

Kelegacy

02-25-2006, 04:28 PM

Oh yes this is sounding alot more secure in Gans' hands.

I also can't wait to see Pyramidhead slice people up

http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/8626/ph4ec0jb.jpg

:D
That is freaking NICE! Is that from the movie?

I forgot Pyramid Head was from the second game. The time I walked into the apartment where he was killing those mannequin things was bizarre as hell. It looked like he was having sex with them. Did SH3 have any reappearing monsters?

Was Pyramid Head's origins ever discussed? I think it was, when you see two of them near the end of the game. Very...odd character design.

I liked SH2 but some things were as confusing as always. What was the deal with the fat guy who ends up trying to kill you. Did he have a purpose at all?

Captain Awesome

02-25-2006, 04:30 PM

That is freaking NICE! Is that from the movie?

Yes, it's a production shot from the SH film :)

Draft

02-25-2006, 04:32 PM

Pyramid Head is a projection of executioners from like, colonial times Silent Hill. James saw a picture of them when he first visited Silent Hill, and so Pyramid Head manifests as this judge for James' "crimes."

edit: some things I've heard about this movie sound fucking dumb. Like Pyramid Head ripping someones skin off, then throwing it at someone else. :rolleyes:

Zeal

02-25-2006, 04:33 PM

This movie scur me.

Captain Awesome

02-25-2006, 04:33 PM

More on PH
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_Head

Banacek

02-25-2006, 04:40 PM

God I love SH2. I wish they'd make another like it...

Echani

02-25-2006, 04:43 PM

I liked SH2 but some things were as confusing as always. What was the deal with the fat guy who ends up trying to kill you. Did he have a purpose at all?
Like the rest of the characters in the game, Eddie was tormented by his past - in his case he had been bullied and spat on for his whole life, but couldn't do anything about it. He was too passive to fight back, so he tried to put up with it. So this built up, along with the aggression inside him - violently directed towards the people who looked down on him. In his Silent Hill he's hunted, still oppressed, but seems to be trying to fight back.

He knew the truth about James' crime (and apparently since he sees people in Silent Hill, he sees James killing them, the "monsters"), so he gets offended by James lecturing him. Eventually Eddie conquers his fears, but in doing so loses his goals in life and becomes a mindless killing machine.

This is all crudely chopped together from a plot analysis (http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/file/silent_hill_4_plot_a.txt) on Gamefaqs - pretty interesting read if you've got .. hours!

IndependentGMR

02-25-2006, 04:44 PM

I see I'm not alone. Silent Hill 2 is one of my favorite video games of all time. I loved it from start to finish. Even the soundtrack is awesome. It's the first video game soundtrack I bought, and actually listen to on a regular basis.

The Continental

02-25-2006, 04:47 PM

Yes, it's a production shot from the SH film :)

Is that confirmed? Last time I saw that shot I heard it was from an upcoming statute/figurine the likes of which Sideshow Collectibles (http://www.sideshowtoy.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=0) produces.

Grimmjow

02-25-2006, 05:18 PM

Is that confirmed? Last time I saw that shot I heard it was from an upcoming statute/figurine the likes of which Sideshow Collectibles (http://www.sideshowtoy.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=0) produces.

i woulks love to purchase an statue/figurine of SH

Kefkataran

02-25-2006, 05:19 PM

That was a great interview. Second-best part of this month's EGM next to that kick-ass David Jaffe interview.

Kelegacy

02-25-2006, 05:27 PM

Like the rest of the characters in the game, Eddie was tormented by his past - in his case he had been bullied and spat on for his whole life, but couldn't do anything about it. He was too passive to fight back, so he tried to put up with it. So this built up, along with the aggression inside him - violently directed towards the people who looked down on him. In his Silent Hill he's hunted, still oppressed, but seems to be trying to fight back.

He knew the truth about James' crime (and apparently since he sees people in Silent Hill, he sees James killing them, the "monsters"), so he gets offended by James lecturing him. Eventually Eddie conquers his fears, but in doing so loses his goals in life and becomes a mindless killing machine.

This is all crudely chopped together from a plot analysis (http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/file/silent_hill_4_plot_a.txt) on Gamefaqs - pretty interesting read if you've got .. hours!
That link won't work for me. Could you just remind me what James's crime was? Adultry?

KamaItachi

02-25-2006, 05:34 PM

That link won't work for me. Could you just remind me what James's crime was? Adultry?

He was guilty, or at least punishing himself, over his wife's death.

Echani

02-25-2006, 05:42 PM

It's probably worth pointing out that at this point there'll probably be some major spoilers for SH2 now that we're all salivating over it again :D

He was guilty, or at least punishing himself, over his wife's death.
So he should be - from that link
And one day, James made the final decision: he put a pillow over her face and
held it until she died.

Rafer

02-25-2006, 05:48 PM

Much easier to adapt Doom then adapt Silent Hill? I would think Silent Hill would be a lot easier to adapt, at least you have a plot and characters and a locale to work from. Doom III's plot was basically an unfilmable epistolary of emails and voice mails being read by a mute "Doom guy".

Spigot

02-25-2006, 05:54 PM

I really should play through SH2 again. It's been a few years and I ended up picking up the Xbox version last year which has that whole side story.

I never did finish SH3 (no health + no ammo + end boss = no ending for Spig) and I have no idea what is even going on at the point where I left off SH4, although I still want to finish them.

Now that I've been going through a bit of an RPG glut, I feel in the mood for a survival horror. I tried playing the REmake last night, but just couldn't get into it.

As for the movie, I can't wait. It looks like an awesome horror movie in its own right and the amount of respect that Gans is showing the SH franchise and team looks like it'll pay off.

Hooray for the Anti-Uwi.

Megalith

02-25-2006, 06:06 PM

Gans just comes off as a pompous prick.

I hope the movie bombs, so Pyramid Head can rape him in his sleep.

Kefkataran

02-25-2006, 06:46 PM

Gans just comes off as a pompous prick.

I hope the movie bombs, so Pyramid Head can rape him in his sleep.

I really don't see how you got this at all. Why is he "a pompous prick"? Because he thinks games are art? Because he thinks the Doom movie sucked?

Also: why does his movie need to fail for Pyramid Head to rape him? Your logic is fucking flawed.

Megalith

02-25-2006, 06:53 PM

The man just starts insulting things outta nowhere. Sure, DOOM may have been horrible (haven't seen it), but why stoop to that level.

Kefkataran

02-25-2006, 07:00 PM

The man just starts insulting things outta nowhere. Sure, DOOM may have been horrible (haven't seen it), but why stoop to that level.

I think his point was that these horrible videogame-to-movie translations that come out are giving videogames a bad name. Because the movies are so horrible, a movie-going audience that isn't familiar with videogames (like Ebert, who he also insulted but who I dig anyways) are more willing to write videogames off as "low art" or even unworthy of the title of art. That's my take on it anyways. Either way I'm not going to get too mad at someone insulting Doom the Movie the same way I wouldn't get too mad at someone insulting Uwe Boll's directing skills, even if he is a sad little German man with cute broken English.

Loganrapp

02-25-2006, 07:25 PM

Telling the truth makes you a pompous prick?

Jeez. You really must have few friends.

H.Bogard

02-25-2006, 07:38 PM

I liked SH2 but some things were as confusing as always. What was the deal with the fat guy who ends up trying to kill you. Did he have a purpose at all?

He was guilty .... everyone in the town was supposed to be punished for their sins unless they purified themselves.....the clue most people dont realize in the game (even the plot summaries) was the tag "Tis the doubt in thy heart that shall lead thou to purgatory"
James was confusing Maria for Mary....i think you can figure out the rest...
The fat guy didnt make up for his sins and so he went on to the dark side.

AversionFX

02-25-2006, 07:40 PM

The man just starts insulting things outta nowhere. Sure, DOOM may have been horrible (haven't seen it), but why stoop to that level.

Anyone trying to do a good job of a video game-to-movie transition has to make a damn good movie for anyone to want to see it. Because your average person is going to hear it's based on a video game, and they'll thing of crap like the Doom movie, or Alone in the Dark, or House of the Dead, and they'll think better of spending the 9$ on a movie ticket and skip it. When you try to do a movie on a game like DOOM and manage to fuck it up, that says a whole lot about either the game, or someone's ability to direct it. Maybe both.

I read the article in EGM and I was really excited that this movie might be really good. I especially liked the words he had for Ebert.

Kefkataran

02-25-2006, 08:00 PM

I read the article in EGM and I was really excited that this movie might be really good. I especially liked the words he had for Ebert.

Like I said earlier, I dig Ebert, but I think someone had to say it. The man shouldn't be talking about games like that when he MUST know movies were treated the same way in their inception.

Dirty Harry

02-25-2006, 08:01 PM

warning this movie is a tie in of sh 1 and 3 not 2, they are saving that for the sequel if this movie does well.

Orosco

02-25-2006, 08:45 PM

Nice shot of PH, I gots me a new desktop wallpaper.

Zeal

02-25-2006, 08:55 PM

I expect the same dedication to go into HALO's movie.

WileE.Coyte

02-25-2006, 09:28 PM

Mason

02-25-2006, 10:08 PM

Oh yes this is sounding alot more secure in Gans' hands.

I also can't wait to see Pyramidhead slice people up

http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/8626/ph4ec0jb.jpg

That one's going directly to the Anxiety Closet.

The trailer and everything I've heard makes this seem generally positive. The one drawback is that it's SH1 with some SH2+ elements. I hope that they aren't crowding out the possibility of doing a straight SH2 film.

overdrivechao

02-25-2006, 10:23 PM

Please god, let this movie rock. Gans is the man, and I hope his talk is not all marketing. He's been saying the same kind of stuff for months, though, and pretty much copies gamer's general attitudes towards the recent adaptations perfectly.

Mason

02-25-2006, 10:47 PM

Pyramid Head is a projection of executioners from like, colonial times Silent Hill. James saw a picture of them when he first visited Silent Hill, and so Pyramid Head manifests as this judge for James' "crimes."

Spoilers.

They're executioners, but their role isn't as James's judges, but rather as dark images of him. Remember, he chose to be his wife's executioner after months of personal and sexual frustration with her. The PHs keep raping monsters and killing Maria, in a mockery of James's trauma and crime.

Dirty Harry

02-25-2006, 10:49 PM

I might be in the minority here but I prefered Silent Hill one over two. SH2 was great but I prefered the picking up of objects and encounters with people rather than how much you protected or talked to Maria for the ending outcome. Dahlia was an awesome character. SH4 could have been a lot better, all it did was give you some more info on how messed up the town as a whole is. SH 4 had a great chance with a tie in to SH 2 and progress the story line but blew it (there was a hole here but now it's gone) scribbled in blood on a wall in 2. Some SH 2 cameos would have been nice. I hope this movie does well and maybe we can get a next gen remake of the original.
I dunno ive played all silent hills and while i dont see how the game fits into the silent hill story and ive only really beaten half the game. I kinda really enjoyed the game it was a bit diffrent but i wish it would focus more on scaring me and also they need to go over a final check of the sound effects.

fitbabits

02-26-2006, 05:09 AM

Punish me - I haven't played Silent Hill 2, and I hated Silent Hill.

SH2 is only $10 used so maybe I should buy it just because.

Mason

02-26-2006, 12:36 PM

Punish me - I haven't played Silent Hill 2, and I hated Silent Hill.

SH2 is only $10 used so maybe I should buy it just because.
There isn't much shame in this, I don't think anyone plays them because the actual mechanics of combat or puzzle solving are so amazingly great. Personally, I think it'd be cool if they did a RE4-esque reimagining of the control and perspective. It shouldn't end up like RE4, that'd be a disaster, but rather some growth in gameplay that highlights the strengths of the series.

A Fahrenheit-style system could work pretty well, in my opinion. Purists will cry foul, but I think the move to more forced clunky 3rd-person combat and item management isn't the right direction for the series, and reviewers seem to agree.

Kelegacy

02-26-2006, 01:03 PM

All this talk about Silent Hill made me install Silent Hill 4 on my PC 2 minutes ago, after digging it out from under my bed. I played 1 on the PS, 2 on the PC, 3 on the PS2 and now 4 on the PC. I have never played 4 and you all made me realize that I need to complete the series.

Sl1pstream

02-26-2006, 02:23 PM

Meh..got to love imdb. There's a discussion about which director they should've picked to direct the Silent Hill movie. Looks like some people just can't stop complaining.

Megalith

02-26-2006, 03:15 PM

sTubbs

02-26-2006, 05:23 PM

Nessus

02-26-2006, 07:43 PM

Man. Silent Hill 1 was the best.

The biggest problem I had with Silent Hill 2 was the relative lack of an obvious shift to the Hell dimension.

Like the hotel at the end, the Hell dimension segments just looked like a dirty hotel.

I loved the rusted catwalks of Silent Hill 1. The abundance of huge rusted fans, dangling chains, people flayed alive and tied with barb wire to chain link fences, etc.

Certainly Silent Hill 2 was a good game, and it's still one of the best looking PS2 games. But I just preferred the aesthetic of Silent Hill 1.

*SPOILER*

I guess it's just the difference between a little girl who's been tortured all her life, and a guy who killed his wife and feels a little guilty about it.

buckfutter

02-26-2006, 09:59 PM

There isn't much shame in this, I don't think anyone plays them because the actual mechanics of combat or puzzle solving are so amazingly great. Personally, I think it'd be cool if they did a RE4-esque reimagining of the control and perspective. It shouldn't end up like RE4, that'd be a disaster, but rather some growth in gameplay that highlights the strengths of the series.

A Fahrenheit-style system could work pretty well, in my opinion. Purists will cry foul, but I think the move to more forced clunky 3rd-person combat and item management isn't the right direction for the series, and reviewers seem to agree.

Rumours suggest that future Silent Hill titles would be played exclusively in first person. Which would probably suggest a move away from the more cinematic stylings the games have now.

KamaItachi

02-26-2006, 10:09 PM

There isn't much shame in this, I don't think anyone plays them because the actual mechanics of combat or puzzle solving are so amazingly great. Personally, I think it'd be cool if they did a RE4-esque reimagining of the control and perspective. It shouldn't end up like RE4, that'd be a disaster, but rather some growth in gameplay that highlights the strengths of the series.

Very true. The strength of the series, or at least SH2 lay much more in the narrative. I was pretty glad they allowed you to balance the combat/puzzles in the second one so I could focus much more on what was going on and not have to deal with the fact I'm a huge crying pussy/dumb as a post.

Banacek

02-26-2006, 10:49 PM

Rumours suggest that future Silent Hill titles would be played exclusively in first person. Which would probably suggest a move away from the more cinematic stylings the games have now.

You're a liar, you're a dirty liar and why would you spread such lies?

overdrivechao

02-27-2006, 01:25 AM

Silent Hill 1 was awful. Crap graphics, crap controls, crap framerate, and you had no idea where the hell to even go. Music was also horrible other than the main theme.

Gameplay-wise, I'd say SH3 is the best, with SH2 having the best music.

Bullcrap. Just because a game doesn't measure up to today's graphical standards doesn't make it crap. And Madden 360 actually has more framerate problems.

(logical explaination removed due to the fact that it should have been an...)
<Auto-generated response to Dumbass Megalith Post>