‘Let Justin Lin work his magic’: Arrowhead CEO says the Helldivers movie director doesn’t need to have played the game
Some fans complained after it was reported that Lin doesn’t play video games
The CEO of Arrowhead Game Studios has asked Helldivers fans to give the director of its upcoming live-action movie a chance.
The Hollywood Reporter revealed this week that the Helldivers movie is set to be directed by Justin Lin, the director behind The Fast and the Furious parts 3, 4, 5, 6 and 9, as well as Star Trek Beyond.
However, the article’s note that “Lin is not a gamer and leaned into that strength when pitching his take on the material” has resulted in concern from some Helldivers fans, who believe that Lin should be familiar with the source material when taking on such a project.
As spotted by IGN, Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani addressed these concerns in the game’s official Discord server, telling fans that he had faith in Lin’s ability to deliver a great movie, and that they should too.
After one member of the Discord server offered to direct the film instead because they were a fan of the game, Jorjani replied: “Let Justin Lin work his magic.”
When another member asked Jorjani to “make sure the director plays the game at least once or at least sees some gameplay,” Jorjani assured them: “I trust Justin. He did a great job on the Star Trek movie.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter’s coverage, Lin “aims to find the humanity in the characters” and build out a world and mythology while infusing “timely themes” into the story.
Further reading
The Helldivers movie will be produced by Sony Pictures and PlayStation Productions, as well as Lin via his Perfect Storm Entertainment banner (which also co-produced such TV shows as Scorpion, S.W.A.T. and Warrior).
The film’s script was written by Gary Dauberman, best known for writing It, It: Chapter Two, the Annabelle series and this year’s movie adaptation of Until Dawn.
Helldivers 2 was Sony‘s biggest hit of last year, becoming PlayStation’s fastest-selling game launch ever, with sales “far exceeding expectations” at 12 million copies sold across PC and PS5 in its first 12 weeks and 15 million by November 2024.
