You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games here
Arrowhead CCO and Helldivers 2 creative director, Johan Pilestedt, assures fans he is “giving feedback” on the movie’s script. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Justin Lin, the director of Fast and Furious 5, 6, and 9, will direct the Helldivers 2 movie. This announcement has fans sounding the alarm because The Hollywood Reporter specifically mentions that Lin has not played the game.
Per the Hollywood Reporter’s announcement, “Lin is not a gamer and leaned into that as a strength when pitching his take on the material”. According to unidentified insiders, Lin “aims to find the humanity in the characters and weave timely themes into the story, while building out a world and mythology”.
While Justin Lin is directing the film, its script writer is Gary Dauberman, who has penned scripts for horror movies such as 2017’s reboot of Stephen King’s IT and Annabelle Comes Home. Gary Dauberman also has a recent history of adapting PlayStation IPs for cinema, as he wrote the screenplay for Hollywood’s loose adaptation of the PlayStation console exclusive, Until Dawn.
It’s easy to understand the concern among Helldivers 2 fans, as Justin Lin hasn’t played the game and Gary Dauberman is a horror writer. Dauberman also made huge changes to Until Dawn by implementing a time loop that is nowhere to be found in developer Supermassive Games’ original story.
Responding to concerned fans, Arrowhead CCO and Helldivers 2 creative director, Pilestedt, says he is “feedbacking on the script right now”. Pilestedt is considered the brainchild behind Helldivers, acting as the creative director of the original game and its sequel before taking a “sabbatical” at the beginning of this year due to working on the IP for 11 years.
Helldivers 2 CCO praises movie made by fans
While we wait for the official Helldivers 2 movie to materialize, the community already has an amazing fan-film available to watch. It’s called For Liberty!, and it now sits at nearly 600,000 views. It was removed from YouTube because of the platform’s automatic system flagging its free download link, but thankfully, it is back up, available to watch in all of its glory.
The fan-film is made by Plot Coalition, who you should definitely subscribe to, especially as they plan more content in the future. It was completed over the course of 15 months, spearheaded by a “group of volunteers working on nights and weekends”. There was also “No AI-generated voices, video, or music used in the film,” and it was “built on a $0 budget,” according to The Veteran voice actor, Kevin Lauer.
Having seen the movie, Pilestedt shared it on X and encouraged the HD2 community to watch as he “really enjoyed it”. This is an incredible seal of approval for the creators of For Liberty!, so get the popcorn ready if you haven’t watched it yet.
Although Pilestedt is giving feedback for the script, Arrowhead “doesn’t have control over hiring”. Arrowhead also doesn’t have “final say,” but the developer’s CEO, Shams Jorjani, wants it to “kill as many A-list actors as possible”. Arrowhead would also love to see Craig Lee Thomas in the movie, a lesser-known actor who has brilliantly brought John Helldiver to life on stages such as The Game Awards in 2024.
About the Author
Helldivers 2
-
UnknownUnknown
- Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 5
- Genre(s): Action, Shooter, Third Person
