The Hollywood Byte #15: The Comedy of Gaming

While watching video game movies like Double Dragon, Super Mario Bros. The Movie, and House of the Dead will certainly make gamers laugh, comedy was not the intent of the directors of those horrible video game translations. When gamers watch Press Start, the low budget film that explores the culture of video games, director Ed Glaser is aiming for the funny bone.

The film is currently shooting in Champaign and Chicago, Illinois with a cast of unknown actors. For that matter, no one has heard of Glaser either, who's the head of Dark Maze Films. Press Start, which is the independent studio's first feature, is being done for the love of games with a very small budget.

"As I warned some of the actors and other professionals who have been wonderful and kind enough to get involved with the project: to say that we're making this movie on a shoestring budget is to neglect noting that the shoestring is missing both plastic tips and that at least one end is frayed," said Glaser.

While Chicago theater-goers may recognize Peter Davis, who plays the villainous Count Nefarious Vile in the film, gamers will definitely know Daniel and Carlos Pesina, who played Johnny Cage and Raiden, respectively, in the original Mortal Kombat video games.

There are over 40 video game movies in production at the moment in Hollywood, but Press Start isn't really on anyone's radar. Glaser said that's an advantage.

"Usually, when a movie is adapted from a game, there's an attempt to ground it in a certain degree of reality," said Glaser. "Sure, The Rock may be running around a Martian research lab hunting demons. But we'd laugh if, in the midst of the chaos, he found a steak dinner or magical health potion lying out on the floor, and consumed it to heal his wounds. In a normal movie, there's no reason to retain those sorts of game mechanics. But in a comedy we can, because that absurdity is part of the charm."

Glaser and screenwriter Kevin Folliard grew up with video games in the era after the Atari crash, when Nintendo was reinventing the gaming industry with the Nintendo Entertainment System. With Press Start, the pair wanted to make a film that captured some of the nostalgia of the 8-bit and 16-bit games that they grew up with. The film references games from Donkey Kong to Halo.