Two writers from the Saw series and Pacific Rim turn their attention to God of War

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

After receiving a initial draft by David Self (ROAD TO PERDITION) and languishing in development Hades for a while screenwriting duo Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan (SAW IV, V, VI, and 3D) have been tapped to do a new draft of the script for Sony’s Playstation exclusive GOD OF WAR, a game which deals with a hardened Spartan warrior (Kratos is his name) who must quest to find Pandora’s box (which is carried in a temple on the back of the Titan Kronos) so that he might visit vengeance on Ares (the God of War) for causing Kratos to inadvertently kill his wife and daughter.  Oh, and Kratos wields blades attached to chains that have been burned into his arms. 

So while only in the drafting stage still, this nonetheless means that a GOD OF WAR movie is actually inching slowly towards reality. Which is kind of wild to imagine, though I’ve also been hearing about this project for years upon years now, so there’s that too. 

Now, when we reported several months ago on the duo having just returned from Toronto after doing a rewrite of PACIFIC RIM, some of you expressed concern that writers of the SAW franchise hadn’t thus far demonstrated the qualifications for this kind of character-infused, big-budget action-adventure gig. 

But herein lies the magic and mystery of Hollywood, as the pair wrote a spec called MONSTROPOLIS which we couldn’t possibly have known about that caught the eye of Del Toro and Legendary.  So some talented people have faith that these guys can craft character as a part of visceral action, and I’m willing to trust that.  Or maybe David Self’s character stuff will get left untouched and they’re just punching up the action/violence, which is cool too.  Either way – once again, this means GOD OF WAR is a tiny bit closer to actually happening.   Are you glad for that, or would you prefer to avoid the headache over whether even basic qualities of the game series will be honored? And is there a director out there who you’d love to see take on this material?

The screewnwriters in question.  I also think it was a supremely missed opportunity to not put that smile in a SAW movie.