As reported by Variety, the Split Fiction film is moving forward with Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria), along with Jon M. Chu (Wicked) as director. The script is being penned by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Deadpool & Wolverine).
The big question for fans of the game, is which of the two female leads will Sweeney play, and who will star in the other role? We don’t know yet, though Sweeney physically resembles the sweet, empathetic Zoe over than the more curt and pragmatic Mio.
In the game, Zoe is played by Elsie Bennett, and Mio is played by Kaja Chan.
Split Fiction‘s story is highly cinematic. Unpublished writers Zoe and Mio are invited to a Big Tech company for their first big publishing deal. But Rader is more interested in stealing their ideas via simulations of their creative worlds.
Zoe and Mio become trapped, and must work together to survive their own creations and put a stop to the machine (and the jerk CEO) that’s stealing their work.
The story hinges on the two lead characters, their clashing personalities, and genre interests. The pair explore fantasy and sci-fi worlds with a variety of gameplay styles, including run ‘n gun shooting, snowboarding, dragon-riding, and shape-shifting.
Many film rights for books and games are purchased every year, and many never become actual films. Relevant case in point: It Takes Two, the previous critically darling co-op game by Hazelight Studios, was also purchased for a film adaptation. That was three years ago, with no news since. Even outspoken studio head Josef Fares doesn’t have any updates on the film, in an interview with Eurogamer.
But with an attached star, director, and writing team, the Split Fiction movie sounds like it’s really happening. As a big fan of the game, hopefully the movie does it justice. And maybe, just maybe, we can see Josef “F*** the Oscars” Fares at the Academy Awards someday.
