Max Payne, a video game adaptation from 20th Century Fox due later this year, will have elements of both the original game and its sequel, according to director John Moore. Moore told the press at Comic-Con on Thursday that essential elements to the story were taken from the “Max Payne” sequel, but the intent was never to take both games and mash them into one movie.
“Max can’t rest until he finds the third killer (of his wife and child),” said Moore. “I believe he does want to find him and then rest. You get the sense throughout the film that once Max gets this third guy, he’s done. But just at the end of the film he realizes that he wouldn’t be doing his wife and child, so he wants to live on.”
Max Payne stars Mark Wahlberg as Max, Mila Kundis as Mona Sax and Ludicris as Jim Bravura.
Wahlberg was hesitant to do the film after he learned it was based on a video game, but after reading the script and coming off of The Happening and The Lovely Bones, he said he was ready to crack some skulls.
“I love playing this character, especially after playing a science teacher and playing an accountant,” said Wahlberg. “It’s a nice change of pace.”
Moore said that one of his main goals with Mark and Max Payne was to build a character that people would reference, citing early Steve McQueen and Clint Eastwood’s Harry Callahan. Moore also said he drew inspiration from Lee Marvin’s character in Point Blank and purposefully impersonated his swagger in at least one scene in the film.
Wahlberg confessed he did not do many of the stunts in the film, laughingly referring to the ‘three guys that look just like him’ eager to get in there.
This was Mila Kundis’ first turn in an action film and she said she was excited to learn how to use the guns and batons her character employed.
“It was awesome,” said Kundis. “I’ve never done anything with action. I can barely walk without tripping. I never shot a gun, but now I can take one apart and put it together.”
Max Payne is due in theaters on October 17.
