Rockstar Games, developer of the Red Dead franchise, does have a film subsidiary in its name. But apart from the short film Red Dead Redemption: The Man From Blackwater, which was produced in order to promote the first game, no further plans for a feature film adaptation have been made. The CEO of parent company Take-Two, Strauss Zelnick, made a statement back in 2016 that the company was hesitant to develop their original games into movies because the films could end up hurting the reputation of the games. A fair call, but disappointing for many fans of the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption series.
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Movies based on video games don’t have the best track record, but that hasn’t stopped fans imagining their own perfect movie scenarios for their favorite games. YouTube user Smasher has created a movie trailer concept for Red Dead Redemption featuring Game of Thrones star Kit Harington in the lead role.
Using shots compiled mainly from Harington’s western film Brimstone, the movie trailer does a great job of envisioning Harington in the lead role of John Marston. Harington has experience in horse-back riding and period pieces from his time on Game of Thrones and he even looks somewhat like Marsden. He would make an excellent choice should a live action Red Dead Redemption film ever go into development.
Harington also isn’t a stranger to video games, having played the villain in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and reprising his role as Jon Snow in the Telltale: Game of Thrones games. Harington has even appeared in another live-action video game adaptation, Silent Hill: Revelation, so he could be a potential front-runner for another video game role.
However, other fan top picks for John Marston have pointed to Keanu Reeves, who also bears a resemblance to Marston and is an actor with video game history. Whether a film could take the prequel route and follow Red Dead Redemption 2’s Arthur Morgan is also a question as both protagonists are well-loved by fans.
If Red Dead Redemption were to join the game to movie movement, expectations would be exceptionally high. But if done right, a film could help break the ‘bad video game movie’ precedent that has existed for so long.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is available now on PC, PS4, Stadia and Xbox One.
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