David F. Sandberg Said No More IP Films After “Very Crazy” Fan Reactions To ‘Shazam 2’, But ‘Until Dawn’ Brought Him Back In
According to former DCEU director David F. Sandberg, the backlash he received from certain fans over his work on Shazam! Fury of the Gods got so extreme that he ultimately chose to not only swear off any future superhero projects, but IP films all together – that was, until he read the script for the live-action adaptation of Supermassive Games’ ‘choose your own adventure’-styled video game Until Dawn.
Sandberg, who also directed the first and largely well-received entry in the DCEU Shazam! duology, spoke to his recent career moves while speaking to GamesRadar+‘s Amy West in promotion of said Until Dawn movie’s rapidly approaching release date.
Asked by West as to whether he felt any pressure when it came to properly handling its video game source material, the director beamed, “What I loved about the script [is] that it wasn’t trying to recreate the game.”
“Trying to condense 10 hours into two, or something like that,” he added. “But it is scary still, even though we’re doing a new thing.”
From there explaining “I mean, to be honest, fans can get very, very crazy and very angry with you,” Sandberg then revealed, “You can get, like, death threats and everything so after Shazam 2, I was like, ‘I never wanna do another IP-based movie because it’s just not worth it.'”
“But then I was sent this script, and I was like, ‘Ah, this would be so much fun to do, to do all these kinds of horrors? I kind of have to do it, and hope that the people see what we’re trying to do and like it,'” he detailed. “I really thought it was brilliant of the writers to come up with this time loop idea where the night starts over because then you do kind of get that feel of the game, when you’re replaying it and making different choices. I think it’s very much in the spirit of the game.”
“I think we would’ve gotten a lot of critique if we had tried to [recreate the game], because people would’ve been like, ‘It’s not as good. It’s not the same actors, because, you know, they’re older now,'” says Sandberg. “You wouldn’t be able to better the game, so you’d just be in a losing situation.”
Notably, outside of his brief and vague mention of “death threats”, the director did not get into any explicit detail regarding the more extreme fan behavior that was leveled his way, nor what said reactions were based on (i.e. the film’s quality, the ending of the DCEU, star Zachary Levi’s personal politics, etc.).
Originally released as an exclusive for the PlayStation 4, Until Dawn tells the story of eight young adults who, upon meeting at a cabin in the Canadian Rockies for their annual winter party trip, find themselves under assault by and forced to survive against a pack of actual wendigos, their monstrous forms the result of a curse that befalls anyone who engages in cannibalism while on the mountain’s terrain.
As noted above, Until Dawn plays out in a sort of ‘interactive movie’ fashion, with its main mechanical draw being its intricate decision system, the various selections made therein having significant effects on events as the story progresses.
And in going a long way to help bolster the game’s overall reputation, the groups’ wendigo dilemma is brought to life by a noted cast of Hollywood actors, including Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody), Hayden Panettiere (Heroes), Jordan Fisher (The Flash (The CW)), Brett Dalton (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) and Peter Stormare (Constantine).
But in a significant change from its source material, the Until Dawn movie will see the DCEU director focus on an entirely new plot and cast of characters, instead telling a story about a different group of young adults who find themselves caught in a time-loop scenario wherein each ‘loop’ ends with them being brutally murdered by a different monster (Interestingly, Storemare is set to connect the two by reprising his role as the mysterious therapist Dr. Alan Hill).
Penned by It and Annabelle film series scribe Gary Dauberman and The Invitation writer (and former G4 host) Blair Butler, Until Dawn hits theaters this Friday, April 25th.
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