Perhaps it’s a curse associated with the act itself, but more often than not, video game adaptations prove to be a tricky butterfly to pin. When Mad Max: Fury Road star Tom Hardy boarded Doug Liman’s Splinter Cell movie, all of the pieces appeared to be in place for a truly great actioner based on the covert operations of one Sam Fisher. With little update from the development, however, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the project was spinning its wheels as it searched to crack a formula so few have managed to perfect.
Upon promotion George Miller’s aforementioned, apocalyptic thriller, Hardy touched upon the status of the adaptation himself, revealing that while he himself is ready to assume the role of Fisher, the project is still awaiting a finalized script and permission to get the cameras rolling. Speaking with Collider, here’s what the actor had to say on the matter at hand.
“Yeah, there’s a draft being done right now and we’re still waiting for a window to go out and start shooting. I want to jump out of helicopters and run around wearing night vision goggles. I’m ready for that.”
Originally scheduled for a release in 2015, Liman’s rendition of Splinter Cell isn’t likely to make its initial due date. With a screenplay still to be finalized and shooting locations still to be scouted, the Hardy-led actioner probably won’t step in front of the cameras until the latter stages of this year, at the very earliest.
If time is what the studio needs to create a faithful and engaging adaptation, then we’re all for this prolonged creative process. So long as Splinter Cell doesn’t simmer in development for too long and risk losing its prize asset in Tom Hardy.