Amazon’s ‘Fallout’ Director Says It Would Have Been “A Fool’s Errand” For Series To Try And Appeal To Fans: “I Don’t Think You Really Can Set Out To Please The Fans Of Anything”
Spencer Baculi
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Welp, stick an irradiated fork in Amazon’s Fallout series – it’s done.
As if the revelation of a multi-opening ‘Iron Man-esque’ helmet for the supposedly-radiation proof Power Armor was not enough of a red flag for Amazon’s upcoming live-action TV adaptation of the popular RPG franchise, director Jonathan Nolan has admitted that the series was not made with fans in mind.
Nolan, who viewers may recognize as the creator of CBS’ Person of Interest and HBO’s Westworld as well as the brother of the Christian Bale-led Batman trilogy Christopher Nolan, offered this insight into Fallout’s direction during a recent press event held for the series.
As reported by UK-based consumer technology news outlet T3, Nolan’s appearance at the event saw him share his belief that trying to make the series in a way that would please long-time franchise fans was, ultimately, a futile effort.
“I don’t think you really can set out to please the fans of anything,” the director opined. “Or please anyone other than yourself.”
“I think you have to come into this trying to make the show that you want to make and trusting that, [with us being] fans of the game, we would find the pieces that were essential to us…and try to do the best version,” he added.
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To this end, Nolan then attempted to assuage fans’ fears regarding the series’ respect for its source material by pulling his aforementioned fan credentials, asserting “It started, for me, with Fallout 3, which devoured about a year of my life”.
(Unfortunately for Nolan, it should be noted that given Fallout 3 was the first game made by Bethesda rather than original developers Black Isle Studios and the massive amount of division amongst fans regarding which of the two companies handled the property better, his attempt to establish his ‘series fan cred’ likely had the opposite effect).
“I was an aspiring young writer at that point, and it almost derailed my entire career,” recalled the director. “It’s so ludicrously playable and fun… seriously, the games were just incredible.”
“It’s such a rare and unbelievable thing that I’ve gotten to do twice in my career, to take something that you love and get a chance to play in that universe, to create your own version,” he added. “The first go-round for me was Batman [Nolan helped pen all three entries in his brother’s cinematic Caped Crusader trilogy, though he was sadly left uncredited for Batman Begins], and this time with Fallout – a a series of games that I absolutely loved.”
Ultimately pressed by the crowd as to whether or not, for all his aversion to pleasing fans, he had at least produced a Fallout series that he was satisfied with, Nolan opined, “It’s kind of a fool’s errand to try to figure out how to make [other] people happy.”
“You’ve got to make yourself happy,” he concluded. “And I’ve made myself very happy with the show.”
Starring Ella Purnell as a Vault Dweller named Lucy and Walton Goggins as a ghoul named Cooper Howard, Amazon’s live-action take on The Wasteland is set to strike out on its own radiation-laden path on April 12th.
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