So you've become understandably wary when it comes to big-screen adaptations of your favorite games. From Super Mario Bros. to
Doom, nearly every motion picture inspired by our industry has royally stunk up the multiplex. (The continually fecal torrent of flicks like House of the Dead and Alone in the Dark by German director Uwe Boll certainly doesn't help matters, either.) But one upcoming game-to-film project actually shows promise-Sony Pictures' Silent Hill (opening April 21). Shortly after an impressive trailer ignited positive buzz among the fan community, EGM sat down with director Christophe Gans (Brotherhood of the Wolf ) and composer Akira Yamaoka (director of the
Silent Hill games) to discuss their fogdrenched horror flick.
EGM: Did the stigma of working on a videogame-based film deter you?
Christophe Gans: Of course it was challenging, but it was impossible for me to do Silent Hill and not be serious about it. It's much easier to adapt Doom, even if it turns out to be a disaster-as we've seen [recently]-than to adapt Silent Hill. If you want to adapt Silent Hill, you must be ready to face all of the complexity of the story. For a lazy director, like the one who directed Doom, Silent Hill would be too big of a piece to swallow. I dreamed of adapting this game when I first started playing the first one six years ago. I prepared for this for years, knowing that every fan in the world would wait for me with an ax. 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 games myself-I admire the work of Akira and his friends, and I feel like someone who joined the group and tried to transport that amazing piece of art into a different medium. I love the fandom, and I understand these people and how tense they get when they hear, "Your favorite game is going to be adapted by some French guy." [Laughs]
EGM: It's impressive that you actually tackled the mythology of the games rather than creating a simpler story...was that something you intended from the project's outset? CG: Yes. Although, when we first decided to do Silent Hill, we wanted to base it on the second game. It was very natural, since that game is the favorite of every fan, and it's the one with the most beautiful world, and it's the most emotional one of all four. Every gamer who finished the game knows what I'm talking about... it's a very tragic and romantic game, and it's a beautiful adaptation of the myth of Orpheus- going to hell to bring back his love, Eurydice. It was not a real Silent Hill, though; the town serves as the background to the story, but it's not really about the mythology. So, when we decided to do the film, we realized that it was impossible to talk about Silent Hill and not talk about why this town is like that. So we realized that we had to adapt the first one. Of course, we were facing the fact that the characters that we love so much were designed for games, and not to be played by real actors. It became readily apparent when we began to write the script and had to deal with the [main] character, Harry Mason. We realized after two weeks in the writing process that Harry was actually motivated by feminine, almost maternal feelings. It's not that he's effeminate, but he's acting like a woman. So, if we wanted to keep the character, we would have to change other aspects of him...so to be true to the character, we changed Harry into Rose. Essentially, all the people who love Silent Hill are more interested in seeing the mood and atmosphere of the games rather than if a certain character is wearing pants or a dress. Also, when we decided to adapt the characters of Cybil and Dahlia, we found it difficult, mainly because they appear only sparsely in the game. When you have to create a narrative arc for these characters, you have to work really hard to make them work on the big screen. I didn't want to do what they did with Resident Evil: Apocalypse when they put Jill Valentine onscreen. I mean, that's a perfect example: I love Jill Valentine...in the game, but not onscreen. I mean, I'm sorry, but just dressing a girl like her doesn't make her the character.
EGM: Did you feel a need to clearly explain the Silent Hill mythology to the audience? CG: It's a delicate balance, because in the game we are basically following one character, and this character is more or less finding little clues that tell a backstory. In a film, we can change the perspective when we want. We can show what Silent Hill was like before it became a ghost town. We can show precisely what Silent Hill is like in reality-we've never seen that before. In the game, there are two Silent Hills: the Silent Hill of darkness and the Silent Hill of fog. But when you have to tell a story about something that happened 30 years ago in a town, and that town suddenly became like the Bermuda Triangle, you have to add two more dimensions: the reality and Silent Hill from 30 years ago. So basically, we had to deal with four dimensions, and jump between them at will. It makes the concept very exciting; it's very compelling to juggle the story between those different incarnations of the same place.
EGM: Akira, what do you think of the additions Christophe has made to Silent Hill world? Akira Yamaoka: After seeing the film, I think that Christophe has really expressed the core elements of Silent Hill, and he's really kept the themes alive in this new medium. Silent Hill is not just a horror game; there is human drama rooted very deeply in the story, and I feel that he expressed that very well with the visuals, sounds, and atmosphere in the film. By watching the film, I feel that you'll get a clearer and deeper understanding of the world of Silent Hill, more so than by simply playing the games.
EGM: Christophe, given your fandom, have you considered directing a game? CG: Yes, I'd like to try that one day. Because as a director who is also a gamer, I think that there are two different ways to tell a story, and sometimes it can be like a dialogue between a film and a game. I'd like to think that, like, a 40-year-old woman might enjoy the film and then realize that it's an adaptation of a videogame. Now, I don't expect her to play the game, but for her to realize that games are important and that they deal with human emotions, not only carnage. Most of the people have a very caricatured vision of videogamers, and actually, gamers are very intelligent. Games are a form of art. I realized that when I played through Silent Hill. Of course, I was a big fan of [Mario creator Shigeru] Miyamoto's work, and I consider him a true artist. Playing through The Legend of Zelda, for example, was a beautiful, poetic moment for me. Playing through Silent Hill is very serious-and adult, of course-and that was the moment that I realized that gaming would become an important medium for storytelling. The quality of immersion is very difficult to reach with cinema. And I feel that it's extremely stupid for films like Doom to come out and reflect poorly on games.
EGM: It doesn't help when a critic like Roger Ebert says that games are not art.... CG: F*** him. You know, I will say to this guy that he only has to read the critiques against cinema at the beginning of the 20th century. It was seen as a degenerate version of live stage musicals. And this was a time when visionary directors like Griffith were working. That means that Ebert is wrong. It's simple. Most people who despise a new medium are simply afraid to die, so they express their arrogance and fear like this. He will realize that he is wrong on his deathbed. Human beings are stupid, and we often become a**holes when we get old. Each time a new medium appears, I feel that it's important to respect it, even if it appears primitive or naïve at first, simply because some people are finding value in it. If you have one guy in the world who thinks that Silent Hill or Zelda is a beautiful, poetic work, then that game means something.
EGM: How did you tackle the concept of evil in Silent Hill? CG: Because Silent Hill comes from a part of the world where the line between good and evil is blurred more so than in the West, it's very interesting to deal with that. Since you haven't seen the film, I don't want to go too deeply into that, but I will say that for me, it was interesting to define what exactly is evil in the world of today. I think it's an important question to raise. Until five years ago, we were living in a world that was a product of the Second World War. It was very clear that we were on the good side. But many things have happened in the last few years, and now people aren't so sure about that. In Silent Hill, I don't attempt to answer these questions, but I do try to illustrate them. And I think it's one of the most important objectives of the horror genre, to ask the right questions. Horror is actually a very political genre. Silent Hill is a very disturbing game, because you're not just alone physically, but also alone morally. That's the world of today. Each day, we're forced to reevaluate our own morality.
EGM: You seem so passionate about this project...do you hope to helm a sequel? CG: Of course, I would love to come back. And of course, Silent Hill 3 is a direct continuation of the first game's plot...I think that it would be very possible to do a sequel to this film. As I said, Silent Hill is a complete mythology, and I did what I could in two hours, but I would love to tell much more about the Red Nurse, Claudia, and the Doctor. Plus, there is a fifth dimension of Silent Hill-how it existed in the 18th century, during the Salem witch-hunts. It's so big and so interesting, and I would love to jump back on the horse.
EGM: Akira, what has the whole Silent Hill movie project meant to you? AY: I never dreamed in my wildest dreams that Silent Hill would ever become a feature film, so I must say that I'm extremely grateful for the chance to work on this incredible project. The approach that we took when making the games was not typical- we were heavily influenced by films, and really wanted to touch the users' emotions. We wanted to touch their hearts deeply. That kind of emotional potential was generally reserved for other forms of art, but I think that we were able to succeed. And now, to see these filmmakers take inspiration from our game, that was a very emotional moment for me.
