Movie adaptations of video games are usually panned by critics and swept under the rug by audiences. Plus, the Western genre died out decades ago when moviegoers realized its myths about the Old West were just that, and Westerns have struggled at the box office ever since. So, it’s unlikely that aRed Dead Redemptionmovie would ever get made.
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But since the games each have a great story andWesterns are a wonderfully visual genre, it’s fun to imagine if Rockstar did go for aRed Deadmovie. There are plenty of directors out there who are well-suited to this universe.
10Robert Rodriguez
While he’s now best known for creating theSpy Kidsfranchise andadapting Frank Miller’s noir-tingedSin Citycomics for the screen, Robert Rodriguez got his start in the western genre with theEl Mariachitrilogy.
Grizzled antiheroes are Rodriguez’s bread and butter, from the title character inMacheteto the Gecko brothers inFrom Dusk Till Dawn, so John Marston would be right in his wheelhouse.
9Andrew Dominik
Andrew Dominik cemented himself as one of the foremost directors of revisionist Westerns when he deconstructed a popular Old West myth withThe Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Plus, even with non-Westerns likeKilling Them Softly, Dominik has shown his storytelling prowess and ability to depict violence in a gruesome, but stylish way.
If he reteamed withJesse Jamescinematographer Roger Deakins, then theRed Deadmovie’s depiction of the game’s brutal West could be breathtaking.
8Paul Thomas Anderson
Anderson’s movies are tragic, warts-and-all portraits of their lead characters. He could make aRed Deadmovie as a cinematic portrait of John Marston or Arthur Morgan with as much depth and nuance asThere Will Be Blood’s portrait of Daniel Plainview.
While Anderson has never made a full-blown Western, he’s been inspired by Westerns likeThe Treasure of the Sierra Madrethroughout his career.
7David Leitch
All the shootouts in theRed Deaduniverse would mean that a movie adaptation would be even more action-packed than the average Western, so maybe an action director is what it needs.
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After getting his start asan uncredited co-director ofJohn Wick, David Leitch has quickly made a name for himself as a blockbuster action filmmaker, withAtomic Blonde,Deadpool 2, andHobbs & Shawall under his belt.
6James Mangold
It may have technically been a superhero movie, but with its parallels toShane,Loganwas a pure neo-Western. James Mangoldused one genre to deconstruct another, challenging the comic book mythos by countering it with the Wild West mythos.
Mangold could giveRed Dead’s John Marston the same treatment he gave Wolverine in his final big-screen appearance: a grizzled, old antihero at the end of his road, trying to forget his past and find stability.
5The Coen Brothers
While they’re most famous for directing quirky pitch-black comedies likeFargoandRaising Arizona, the Coen brothers have also made some of the greatest Westerns in recent memory.
They’ve been all over the genre’s tonal spectrum, too, withtheir cerebral, nail-biting masterpieceNo Country for Old Men, their contemplative remake ofTrue Grit, and their somewhat zany anthology movieThe Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
4Quentin Tarantino
If the unforgettable characters andoperatic spectacles of bloodshedfound inDjango UnchainedandThe Hateful Eightare anything to go by, Quentin Tarantino would make an awesomeRed Dead Redemptionmovie.
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Tarantino would be unlikely to turn a video game into a movie, but he’s said that directors have to make at least three Westerns to consider themselves a Western director and, as it stands, he’s only made two.
3George Miller
If George Miller was tapped to helm aRed Dead Redemptionmovie, then he’d actually get stagecoaches and trains out in the desert and race them around and crash them and blow them up for real. Heused practical effects wherever possible inMad Max: Fury Road, possibly the greatest action movie of the decade, and glossed over the visuals with minimal CGI to sharpen them up.
The main problem with video game movies is that watching the story of a game play out isn’t as engaging as actually playing through it yourself, but with Miller’s visceral filmmaking style at the helm, aRed Deadmovie could be even more lifelike than the game.
2Lynne Ramsay
Lynne Ramsay is one of the greatest filmmakers working today. Her movies focus heavily on characters – usually pretty disturbed characters – and bring them to life with little details.
BothWe Need to Talk About KevinandYou Were Never Really Herecenter around questionable characters doing questionable things, and Ramsay keeps them compelling from start to finish.
1Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood famously retired from directing Westerns after helmingthe perfect swansong for the genrewith his masterpieceUnforgiven. After deconstructing the Western and putting it back together inUnforgiven, Eastwood resigned from the genre, fearing that he would eventually repeat himself.
But if he’d be willing to return to the genre to adaptRed Dead Redemption(which almost certainly wouldn’t happen), then he’d probably turn the story of John Marston into yet another revisionist classic.
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