If you could hire any director to make an Elden Ring movie, who would you pick?
As a devoted enthusiast, I could be content with the renowned fantasy directors such as Peter Jackson or Guillermo del Toro, or perhaps I’d opt for Miguel Sapochnik, the mastermind behind some of Game of Thrones’ most epic battles like Hardhome and Battle of the Bastards. For those seeking a more avant-garde approach, you could consider Robert Eggers (Nosferatu), Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things), or Bong Joon Ho (Mickey 17). These directors, much like Elden Ring’s creators at FromSoftware, thrive on the surreal, enigmatic, and eerie.
It’s unlikely that you would consider Alex Garland for adapting a game into a movie. Known for thought-provoking, methodical science fiction films like Ex Machina and Annihilation, as well as the unconventionally named war movies Civil War and Warfare, Garland seems an odd choice to adapt Hidetaka Miyazaki’s masterpiece, given their distinctly different styles. Yet, it’s Garland who film studio A24 has chosen for the task. Given his meticulous approach to filmmaking and original screenplay writing, it remains a mystery how he plans to make this adaptation work.
Initially, Garland and Elden Ring might appear as an unusual duo. Though he’s well-versed in the realm of sci-fi, Garland hasn’t ventured into high fantasy yet, a domain that can be quite challenging, especially when it comes to video game adaptations. Moreover, his storytelling approach differs significantly from that of FromSoftware. Works like Ex Machina and Annihilation are built on intricate plots, dialogues, and character development, whereas games such as Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring convey their stories mainly through item descriptions and the design of the game’s environment. (Critics often criticized Civil War, set in a future United States, for its shallow backstory).
Just because Garland hasn’t directed a fantasy film yet, it doesn’t necessarily mean he can’t. He has shown a knack for reinventing himself and exploring uncharted territories in the past – Civil War and Warfare are quite distinct from Ex Machina and Annihilation, which were themselves unlike his earlier work when he started directing. So, it’s not impossible that he might do it again.
In truth, creating an Elden Ring film wouldn’t be entirely novel ground for Garland, given his passion for video games. This fact may not be widely known, but he is indeed an enthusiastic gamer. His involvement in playing the Resident Evil series seems to have influenced the script for the 2002 horror movie “28 Days Later,” and the 2000 film “The Beach” – adapted from one of his novels – incorporates a scene inspired by video games, which Matt Patches of Polygon described as being remarkably similar to a potential Banjo-Kazooie movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
Warfare evokes surprisingly similar feelings to those experienced while playing Elden Ring: outnumbered, outmatched, overwhelmed, afraid for your life (or runes).
Rather than pretending to be passionate about the projects they’re hired for, just to appease the fans (I still can’t accept that M. Night Shyamalan watched any Avatar: The Last Airbender episodes), Neil Garland’s affection for The Last of Us, BioShock, and particularly Dark Souls comes across as genuine. He seems to understand what sets these series apart from others in the gaming world. In an interview with Gamespot back in 2020, Garland described Dark Souls as having “an embedded poetry within them”. He explained that a random conversation with a broken soul by a doorway could feel like you’ve stepped into an existential dream.
In terms of the “existential journey” concept for Elden Ring adaptation, Garland could choose a route similar to that of Annihilation, which was highly acclaimed for its vibrant and trippy visuals upon release. However, it’s not the only option. A less apparent yet potentially stronger approach would be to shape Elden Ring along the lines of Warfare, Garland’s intense Navy SEAL thriller set in Iraq. I propose this not because there’s a supernatural aspect to this film – quite the opposite, it’s been marketed as one of the most realistic war films ever made – but because watching it stirs up feelings similar to those you experience while playing Elden Ring: feeling outnumbered, under-equipped, overwhelmed, and fearful for your life (or runes).
Instead of depicting the war-ravaged town of Ramadi, imagine a setting that encompasses the ruins of Limgrave, Leyndell’s narrow streets, or Caelid’s harsh landscapes. This film focuses on the small, immediate experiences of the player’s character within this world, rather than delving into the extensive, grand narrative of Marika, Godrick, Radagon, and the Demigods. The story revolves around the Tarnished character’s struggle to navigate the Lands Between, so immersed in reaching the nearest safe point (Site of Grace) that they have forgotten their larger goal of becoming an Elden Lord, a title whose meaning remains unclear.
If reports are true that Garland intends to cast Kit Connor, an actor from Warfare, for his Elden Ring adaptation, it’s plausible that the movie might inherit a tense atmosphere similar to Warfare, and further explore the themes of fear, despair, and senseless violence that Connor has demonstrated he can effectively portray. Employing Warfare as a template for Elden Ring could capitalize on Garland’s expertise in delving into psychological aspects through intricately designed action sequences. Moreover, this approach would mirror the successful video game adaptation seen in season one of HBO’s The Last of Us, where the high-quality production was largely due to the creators recognizing and honoring what made the original game exceptional.
As a gamer, I’ve found that Elden Ring, much like FromSoftware’s other games, isn’t about being a superpowered hero who vanquishes colossal creatures through explosive cutscenes and thrilling quick time events. Instead, it’s an anti-power fantasy where we, the players, are mere nameless warriors, intimately familiar with the sting of defeat and relentlessly persistent against the foggy walls until we eventually triumph. If Guillermo del Toro wants his Elden Ring adaptation to match the greatness of his previous films, he’d be wise to convey that poignant sense of struggle and achievement. And from his work on Warfare, we can glimpse a taste of what could be when Elden Ring graces our cinema screens at last.
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2025-06-14 18:27