Surprise! Despite Leaving For Universal, Taylor Sheridan Is Set To Write A Call of Duty Movie For Paramount
While Taylor Sheridan is known for his vast empire of television shows for Paramount+, his output on the film side has been as arid as a Texas drought. That is about to change.
Despite the recent headlines of Sheridan decamping the new David Ellison-owned studio for NBCUniversal, the cowboy isn’t done with Paramount just yet. And he is actually in the process of landing one of the highest-profile gigs of this career. Sheridan is in talks to write the adaptation of Call of Duty, one of the biggest video games of all time.
The dealmaking comes as Peter Berg, the man’s man director behind such movies as Lone Survivor, Deepwater Horizon and Friday Night Lights, is closing his deal to direct and also write the adaptation. Sheridan and Berg are longtime friends and have collaborated on Hell or High Water, the 2016 Chris Pine-starring crime thriller which received four Oscar nominations, including best picture and best screenplay, and the Jeremy Renner thriller Wind River.
Now this is interesting.
Right after calling it quits with paramount and moving to NBC, for reasons that included a lack of movie opportunities, Sheridan signs on to write their adaptation of the biggest multiplayer game of all time.
I don't totally see the vision for making a COD movie. They haven't given a fuck about the single player experience of these games for the better part of 20 years. As a result, the story kind of sucks ass (especially post-warzone). On top of that, video game adaptations obviously have a VERY spotty track record. That has changed a bit in recent days, but the bulk is still terrible.
However, if there was ever a guy to elevate the ceiling of this movie, it's Sheridan. This guy know how to write hyper-masculine and he's done plenty of military projects. On top of that, Peter Berg also obviously has some experience in the genre, most applicably in 'Lone Survivor'. The big thing will be what kind of vibe they go for. Hiring Sheridan tells me they're going for something beyond a stereotypical action movie.
The problem is that Call of Duty is the most stereotyped, flanderized garbage ever.
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Absolutely ridiculous garbage. But, again, this isn't what I imagine you get Sheridan and Berg to make. I'm still intrigued how this pairing came to be. Maybe Paramount is throwing him some sort of contractual bone in the long run for his move over to Universal.